Today, the concentration of companies in our country has become a strategy from market participants to achieve their permanence in the competitive and globalized environment, to cover larger foreign markets seeking to invest in Mexico´s businesses, minimize economic risks and solve various financial problems.

During the first 4 months of the year, Mergers & Acquisitions (“M&A”) transactions have reached a value of USD$7.800 million, which has been an exponential recovery to the decline we had in 2022, due to high interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty. Mergers and Acquisitions in Latin America fell back 35.9% compared to 2021, in a period analyzed between January 2 and December 26, 2022. On those dates in the region there were deals for USD$106.9 billion, while in 2021 the figure rose to USD$168.3 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

According to comparative data on Mergers and Acquisitions in Mexico for the year 2022, we could observe a sharp decline in corporate deals in Latin America, which affected our country, due to high global interest rates and the withdrawal of many investors from emerging markets due to the war in Ukraine and the reduction of exposure in China due to its erratic policies by Covid-19. Stock offerings dropped 61% in Latin America, representing USD$13.4 billion, according to data provided by El Economista.

With the temporary closures due to the pandemic, there was a lack of maritime shipments. As a consequence of the above, companies seeked to optimize their logistics and bring their production closer to the country with the highest demand for products, which is the United States (nearshoring). The so-called nearshoring, a phenomenon of reconfiguring value chains from one country of origin to another, has been occurring in Mexico for decades. Companies from around the world have come to Mexico mainly because of the skilled labor force, lower production costs and ease of logistics compared to neighboring countries, which has allowed Mexico to recover economically.

For example, the renowned brand Apple, due to pandemic and human rights issues in China, decided to diversify and not buy products assembled in that country, opting instead to move closer to Mexico and India. This has caused a huge migration of suppliers, the United States remains the most popular market, with a boom for several international companies, according to Grupo Expansión.

In June 2023, in terms of Mergers and Acquisitions in our country, one transaction was announced by Mexican companies abroad, representing a reduction of 2 transactions in regard to the previous month. Compared to the same period last year, the volume of transactions decreased to 4.

The industrial sector led M&A activity in June with 9 transactions, representing 13% of total transactions during 2023, followed by Real Estate, Mining and IT, according to data provided by Seale & Associates.

The Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, Rogelio Ramirez de la O, revealed that the Mexican economy has experienced a great boost thanks to the arrival of foreign companies, with nearshoring, resulting in investments that exceed USD$13,000,000,000.00 so far this year.

The number of agreements that have been reached with foreign companies has increased 47% so far this year. This translates into an increase of M&A in our country, reaching a value of USD$7,800 million in the first 4 months of 2023, an increase of 189% over the USD$2,700 million of the same period last year, according to Grupo Expansión.

According to the quarterly report by TTR Data and Bloomberg, Mexico ranks third in Latin America behind Brazil and Chile.

Brazil leads the ranking of the most active countries in the region with 1,075 transactions (down 30%) and mobilized capital of USD$25,234 million (down 38%). It is followed by Chile with 223 transactions (up 21%) for USD$48,995 million (down 23%).

Mexico remains in the same position in the ranking with 203 transactions (down 23%) and capital raised of USD$10,639 million (down 9%). The M&A sector in our country could recover even more in 2024.

Global companies, from diverse industries such as technology, finance, consumer products and manufacturing, have become interested in our country because of all the business facilities we offer, mainly Asian companies. U.S. Companies have always stood out in foreign investment, followed by European companies. The Asian companies, which mainly have stood out in the automotive sector in Mexico, are exploring more industries to exploit in our country.

The transactions that are currently trending in Mexico are not venture capital, but developed businesses or those with a strong and mature market of many years. Of the 47 transactions that were presented up to April, 16 were Mexican companies that made negotiations abroad.

One of the sectors that has most interested foreign investors is technology sector. The USA has been encouraged to produce electronic chips locally, they want to create a market in another country and not depend solely on Taiwan. Although Mexico has no plans to create foundries for the creation of these chips, there will be several adjacent industries that will benefit from this industry.

According to Grupo Expansion´s data, in the first four months of this year, the industries that have had the biggest activity and development in terms of M&A of Mexican companies abroad with 43.8%, Information Technology (IT) with 12.5% the Financial sector with 12.5%, Consumer Products with 12.5% and Telecommunications with 6.3%.

Strategic acquisitions of U.S. transnational companies are the most frequent, above private equity. The Mexican Government is trying to favor the emergence of industrial parks by extending to Oaxaca or Veracruz, through the Isthmus Train Project and several business incentives.

In VAHG we provide legal services with great experience and knowledge in Mergers and Acquisitions, being leaders in this practice in Mexico. We are backed by a solid legal infrastructure with more than 30 years of combined experience, focused on promptly assisting our clients with the commitment and integration to the legal framework of Mergers and Acquisitions Practice.

For more information regarding our professional services, the M&A Team is at your disposal.

Fernando Hernández Gómez | Partner

Mergers & Acquisitions

                                                                                                +52 (33) 38171731 Ext 225 | fhernandez@vahg.mx

**The publication of this document does not constitute legal, accounting or professional advice of any kind, nor is it intended to be applicable to particular cases. This document only refers to laws applicable in Mexico.

In terms of foreign trade, nearshoring is the strategy by which companies relocate their operations to a nearby country, with a similar time zone, in order to make their supply chain more efficient, speed up delivery times and reduce costs, generating benefits for both parties, creating jobs and boosting the country’s economic development.

Nearshoring accelerated with the arrival of the COVID pandemic, a phenomenon that brought with it many mobility restrictions, border closures and delays in the flow of raw materials and finished products.

According to a Deloitte study, this market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3% by 2025. Likewise, according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) prognosis, Latin America and the Caribbean could increase global exports by USD$78 billion each year, of which USD$35.3 billion correspond to Mexico, that is to say 45%.

Some transnational manufacturing companies that have recently moved or are in the process of moving their operations from China to Mexico are: Yasaki, Foxconn, Panasonic, LG Electronics, Samsung, Intel, Tesla, General Motors, Ford Motor Co; Honeywell, Siemens, ABB, Eaton and Schneider Electric.

In addition to the manufacturing sector, which is in high demand worldwide, there are other industries that benefit from nearshoring, such as the technology industry, the automotive industry, the electrical industry and the electronics industry. Small and medium-sized companies in Mexico benefit greatly from this trend, especially those that have the capacity to become suppliers of companies that relocate their operations to our country.

Most economies no longer want to depend on Asia, Mexico is a country with a very interesting geographic location, furthermore being a country with many resources, its main border is with the United States, which makes it a country with an important strategic position.

Unfortunately, Mexico is only taking advantage of 15% of the total number of companies relocating to Latin America.

With the pandemic, offshoring logistics were greatly affected, since many of the U.S. suppliers are in Asia, including China, the predominant one. The interruption of operations in this country, as a result of the pandemic, demonstrated the great vulnerability of offshoring, due to the exclusivity of suppliers in these countries.

Faced with this situation, Mexico has been gaining ground, U.S. companies are increasingly adopting nearshoring and are concentrating on our country. One of the most recent cases is the company “Shein”, a global fashion giant, which has just announced the opening of a production plant in Mexico. Part of the retailer’s strategy to take advantage of nearshoring is to have another production center outside of China, reducing shipping times and lowering distribution costs for Shein’s customers in Latin America.

The state of Jalisco is the national leader in nearshoring. Guadalajara registered the highest demand for nearshoring during the first quarter of the year, with more than 77 thousand m2 marketed, positioning itself among the preferences of potential investors above the northeast region with cities such as Monterrey and Saltillo. The Government of Jalisco reaffirms its commitment to the implementation of diverse strategies to promote nearshoring as the public policy Jalisco Tech Hub Act to be a leader in Mexico and Latin America in the development, conversion, attraction and retention of talent through innovation and high technology.

Another example of nearshoring is the arrival of Tesla in Mexico, in Nuevo Leon, where foreign investment and reindustrialization in areas close to the United States was boosted. Nuevo Leon is becoming an electromobility hub in Mexico, which is why the Americas Mobility of the Future, an event dedicated to the mobility of the coming times, intelligent transportation, infrastructure and sustainable logistics, will be held. Nuevo Leon has benefited greatly from nearshoring, and expects to close the year attracting 8 billion dollars in foreign investment, twice of last year’s figure.

According to PwC Mexico analysts, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit has already announced that it will not present changes to tax laws in order to guarantee legal certainty and attract Foreign Direct Investment, thus taking advantage of nearshoring after the breakdown of value chains worldwide.

The Tax Administration Service (SAT) is aware that there are between 40 and 800 companies based in Asia that intend to move to Mexico. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) projects that Mexico could add USD$35 billion in exports as a result of the relocation of supply chains. The additional amount is equivalent to 2.6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is higher than the estimated of the rest of the 25 economies that the Americas will receive as the total sum, according to the information provided by El Economista.

At VAHG we provide legal services with great experience and knowledge in the Real Estate Practice, being leaders in this Practice in Mexico. We are backed by a solid legal infrastructure with more than 30 years of combined experience, focused on timely assisting our clients with the commitment and integration within the legal framework in Real Estate.

For more information regarding our professional services, the Real Estate Team is at your service.

Today, August 9th, is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. Because of the importance they represent, the General Assembly of the United Nations decided in December 1994 to designate this day for this celebration.

Indigenous People are custodians of a great wealth of traditions, languages and cultural expressions that are very characteristic of their places of origin. Particularly in Mexico there are more than 11 million indigenous inhabitants distributed in more than 60 towns, who speak more than 300 linguistic varieties and are protected by Article 2 of our Constitution, since they conserve their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions.

Recently, the term “cultural appropriation” has emerged, which is intrinsically related to the collective cultural expressions of Indigenous People, since it is understood as the adoption or use of elements of a culture by members of another community, usually without understanding or respecting its meaning, and even without the consent of the members of the original culture, which can be perceived as a disrespectful or exploitative attitude.

On January 24th, 2020, the Federal Copyright Law (“LFDA”) was amended, including the Chapter “On Popular Cultures and Traditional Cultural Expressions”, which in summary protects the exploitation of those copyright works derived from popular cultures or expressions of traditional cultures, belonging to the indigenous people and communities referred to in Article 2 of the Constitution.

The procedure foreseen in the LFDA establishes that as in any copyrighted work, recognition must be granted to the original author, in addition to the need to obtain written permission from the community or people to which a certain traditional cultural expression belongs to. Additionally, it is foreseen that in case there is any doubt as to the community or people to whom written authorization must be requested, support may be requested from the Ministry of Culture, accompanied by the National Institute of Indigenous People.

Even the Ministry of Culture itself can issue a technical opinion to authorize the request to use a traditional cultural expression, being in turn, part of the collegiate body that can resolve disputes in this matter.

In addition, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in its Article 31 mentions the following:

1. Indigenous people have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literature, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property of such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.
2. Together with indigenous people, the States shall take effective measures to recognize and protect the exercise of these rights.”

This Declaration of the General Assembly is not a normative instrument of international law; however, it is a document that accredits the commitment of some Member States to carry out internal measures (at the national level) to implement the principles of law contained therein.

It is a source of pride to have legal regulations that seek to give visibility and protect the expressions of the Indigenous People and their Culture, in order to prevent the dilution of their valuable traditions and crafts that ultimately represent a country rich in culture and plurality.

In VAHG we provide Intellectual Property services related to copyrights and the necessary counseling to be able to respectfully and legally use the traditional copyright expressions of the Indigenous People of our country. For legal advice you can contact our Intellectual Property Team.

The labor of the Intellectual Property Area at VAHG has been centered for many years in the care and strengthening of the Appellation of Origin “Tequila” (“AOT”), through the design of protection strategies and the strive against illegality within the national and international market. In addition, we have focused our efforts in supporting individuals and companies that participate or wish to participate in the Tequila industry, including those involved in plantation, production and commercialization, up to its exportation.

In VAHG we have sought to fight against imitations and products that deceive and endanger consumers, as well as we have undertaken legal means to eradicate counterfeiting and adulteration of product, and mainly, to avoid the illegal use of the AOT.

It is our priority to prevent the misuse of the AOT, by raising awareness and making available to people the necessary information to join the industry and be able to participate within the legal framework and applicable standards, both within Mexico and the rest of the world.

The compliance goal is to protect the safety of consumers, to be able to guarantee the traceability and quality of the product and thus safeguard the health of all people who wish to enjoy a good drink of Tequila.

Therefore, we have provided our services to benefit the different sectors of the Tequila Industry, highlighting activities such as:

1. Drafting of agave purchase agreements and Tequila maquila.
2. Support in the review and drafting of new Co-responsibility agreements for authorized Tequila producers, and their registration with the corresponding bodies. 3. Support for Tequila retailers to properly engage with the Tequila Industry.
3. Drafting of new license agreements for the use of Tequila brands and their registration with the authorities.
4. Obtaining letters of consent for trademarks in countries where the use of Tequila requires compliance with the rules of the Certification Mark.
5. Registration of trademarks for the sale of Tequila in compliance with the applicable legal framework.
6. Support with the issuance of certificates of Tequila exportation.
7. Review ofcompliancerequirements within the legal framework for Tequila products and products with Tequila as an ingredient.
8. Counseling on product labeling matters.
9. Counseling on the engagement of foreign brands, usage rules, Tequila exports, among others.

In VAHG we provide guidance and counseling services for the proper engagement and integration with the Tequila Industry and derivative services, such as those mentioned above, accumulating more than 30 years of joint experience in the field. For more information regarding the legal framework of Tequila, or a quote on our professional services, VAHG’s Intellectual Property team is at your service.

For further information, please contact:

**The publication of this document does not constitute legal, accounting or professional advice of any kind, nor is it intended to be applicable to particular cases. This document only refers to laws applicable in Mexico.

Mental health and well-being are essential for the professional development of lawyers. The legal profession can be highly stressful, demanding, and emotionally exhausting, which can have a negative impact on the mental health and well-being of lawyers. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified these challenges, with the transition to remote work and the lack of social interaction.

It is important to note that good mental health and well-being not only benefit the individual but also the company, as it can improve productivity, reduce absenteeism, and improve the quality of work. Some recommendations to improve the well-being and mental health of lawyers are:

1. SET TIME BOUNDARIES to balance work and personal life.

It is recommended that lawyers establish realistic limits on work and rest time to avoid burnout and stress. This allows them to rest adequately and balance their personal and professional lives.

2. REGULAR EXERCISE (STAY ACTIVE) to improve mental health.

Lawyers can incorporate an exercise routine into their daily lives to improve their physical and emotional well-being. Regular exercise can improve mental health and reduce stress.

3. RELAXATION PRACTICES: Meditation and relaxation exercises to reduce stress and anxiety.

Relaxation and meditation practices can help reduce stress and anxiety, improve mental clarity, and increase resilience. Lawyers can incorporate these practices into their daily lives to improve their emotional well-being.

4. LEARNING TO DELEGATE tasks to reduce workload.

5. SUPPORT NETWORK to reduce stress and anxiety.

It is important for lawyers to have a support network. Connecting with other lawyers and sharing experiences can be helpful in reducing stress and anxiety.

6. DIGITAL DISCONNECTION: taking time to disconnect from work.

Taking time to disconnect from work can help reduce stress and improve productivity. Lawyers can schedule regular breaks in their daily lives to avoid fatigue and burnout.

7. SETTING REALISTIC GOALS to avoid excessive anxiety and stress.

Lawyers may feel pressure to meet high expectations and tight deadlines, but setting realistic goals allows them to focus on the most important tasks and reduce their workload.

8. SEEKING PROFESSIONAL HELP if necessary.

In some cases, stress and anxiety may be too much to handle alone. Lawyers should be willing to seek professional help if they feel they need additional support.

In conclusion, mental health and well-being are crucial for the professional development of lawyers. By following these recommendations, lawyers can improve their emotional and physical well-being, which in turn can improve their productivity and quality of work. By incorporating these changes into their lifestyle, lawyers can improve their ability to handle stress and have a successful and satisfying career

World Intellectual Property Day

World Intellectual Property Day was established for the first time on April 26, 2000 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”), with the purpose of promoting and disseminating innovation and creativity internationally.

The dissemination of Intellectual Property is a key exercise in the development and protection of technology, science, art and commerce, since it is the area of Law that studies how to protect ideas in each of these branches that are highly relevant to the lives of all people.

This year 2023, the theme of World Intellectual Property Day is “Women and Intellectual Property: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity”, where WIPO “celebrates the can-do attitude of women inventors, creators and entrepreneurs around the world and their pioneering work”. This event is an opportunity to commemorate creators, innovators and those who drive science and technology in the world.

The focus of this year’s event is that according to WIPO figures, the percentage of patent ownership filed by women since 2020 is 16.5%. In Mexico, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (“IMPI”) calculated in 2021 that women file 34% of trademarks, and women made only 14% of inventions .

In VAHG, we join the commemoration of this event and take the opportunity to offer our Intellectual Property services to promote the protection of trademarks, patents and inventions, trade secrets, copyrights and related rights, reservations of rights, and advice on protection of appellations of origin and achieve greater participation of women inventors, creators, artists and entrepreneurs in Mexico and worldwide.

In case you require additional information or if you would like VAHG to provide you with advice for the protection of Intellectual Property, whether as a trademark, invention, copyright or any of the above listed, please do not hesitate to contact us.

** The publication of this document does not constitute legal, accounting or professional advice of any kind, nor is it intended to be applicable to particular cases. This

document only refers to laws applicable in Mexico.

For further information, please contact:

Mariana González Sánchez

On the other hand

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

On the other hand

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

On the other hand

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

On the other hand

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

On the other hand

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

On the other hand

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.

But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.