Pleasure Quotes

...when we say we're looking for a spiritual adviser, we're really looking for someone to tell us what to do with our bodies. Decisions of the flesh. We forget to learn from pleasure as well as pain.

~ Anne Michaels

Of four infernal rivers that disgorge/ Into the burning Lake their baleful streams;/Abhorred Styx the flood of deadly hate,/Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep;/Cocytus, nam'd of lamentation loud/ Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon/ Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage./ Far off from these a slow and silent stream,/ Lethe the River of Oblivion rolls/ Her wat'ry Labyrinth whereof who drinks,/ Forthwith his former state and being forgets,/ Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.

~ John Milton

Pleasure, I remind myself, is inseparable from its lawfully wedded mate, pain.

~ T.c. Boyle

The excess of pleasure is pain

~ Almeida Garrett

Generosity without delicacy, like wit without judgement, generally gives as much pain as pleasure.

~ Fanny Burney

You see, when you're excited, your body has trouble telling the difference between pain and pleasure.

~ Cherise Sinclair

In the world of animals, pain serves an equivocal role. Parental nips and swipes are common tools in upbringing. And socially, pain is sometimes used to maintain hierarchies of dominance. But this animal use of pain seems somewhat restrained, at least in contrast with the human situation. Here the capacity for pain is often used to systematically exploit and oppress at intensities often far beyond those seen in the behaviour of our nearest primate relatives. At the same time, at least in western culture, pain is rarely used for pleasure. Is it little wonder that all pain is viewed as intrinsically evil? Or that the pain-pleasure of leatherspace has been labelled torture?

~ Geoff Mains

Obsession is the evil genie who turns pleasure into pain.

~ Marty Rubin

It is better to seek the pain of heaven than the pleasure of hell.

~ Lailah Gifty Akita

The pleasure of sins is pain in the soul.

~ Lailah Gifty

We resent the thought that anything can please us when someone we love is no longer here to share the pleasure with us, and we almost feel as if we were unfaithful to our sorrow when we find out interest in life returning to us.

~ L.m. Montgomery

For convenience sake, we deny the truth and look past it. Instant pleasure transforms quietly into immense pain.

~ Amitav Chowdhury

Thankfully, the nature of pain reminds us of what the ease of pleasure foolishly allows us to forget.

~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

I wanted to see her sad. Taste her tears. I wanted to know what she sounded like when she cried. In pain, in pleasure, in both.

~ T.m. Frazier

Whatever may be my activity in a given moment (whether I am composing, or whether I am making love . . .), I feel pleasure if there is an obstacle placed in my path but one not greater than my ability to overcome. If circumstances paralyze my energy, I suffer. From this point of view, pleasure and pain accompany every moment of our life, even if we try to disregard them.

~ Alexander Scriabin

Parallel to tenderness and cruelty, the cataracts of pleasure and pain are interrelated. Painful and pleasurable sensations instruct us of our physical boundaries. The collective scorecard of physical pain and pleasurable sensations define the evolving self. Our internal clockworks comprised of remembrances of times past, both painful and pleasurable, provide each of us with a telling emotional autobiography. What we primarily recall – pain or pleasure – is revelatory. How we act with kindness and tenderheartedly, or hardheartedly and cruelly is equally telling.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

The more pleasure a universe can yield, other things being equal, the more beneficent and generous is its general nature; the more pains its constitution involves, the darker and more malign its total temper. To deny this would seem impossible, yet it is done daily; for there is nothing people will not maintain when they are slaves to superstition; and candor and a sense of justice are, in such a case, the first things lost.

~ George Santayana

To make love is to give birth to death.

~ Stephanie M. Wytovich

The youth who, like a woman, loves to adorn his person, has renounced all claim to wisdom and to glory; glory is due to those only who dare to associate with pain, and have trampled pleasure under their feet.

~ François Fénelon

It was one of those rare times of shared happiness, of perfect contentment. We had a feeling of expectation, that what was already wonderful would only get better and better as time went on. These moments are one of the rarest, most fragile things in the world. You have to seize the day; you have to recall all the rotten, dirty things you endured to earn this peace. You have to remember to enjoy each minute, each hour, because although you may feel like it's going to last forever, the world plans otherwise. You want to be grateful for every precious second, but you simply can't do it. It's not in human nature to live life to the fullest. Haven't your ever noticed that equal amounts of pain and joy are not, in fact, equal in duration? Pain drags on until you wonder if life will ever be bearable again; pleasure, though, once it's reached its peak, fades faster than a trodden gardenia, and your memory searches in vain for the sweet scent.

~ George Alec Effinger

Deep pain awakens the pleasure of wonder.

~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Love has no fear, willing to take on anyone. But how much we fear love!

~ Anthony Liccione

Pain and pleasure, it's a sweet delectable combination. ~ Alexander Hudson

~ Joshua Erik Rossi

High heels? Painful pleasure.

~ Christian Dior

The principle is this: that in everything worth having, even in every pleasure, there is a point of pain and tedium that must be survived, so that the pleasure may revive and endure. The joy of battle comes after the first fear of death; the joy of reading Virgil comes after the bore of learning him; the glow of the seabather comes after the icy shok of the sea bath.

~ G.k. Chesterton

We are, or rather our natural desire to evade pain and to attain pleasure is, the primary reason we do or say every single thing we do or say.

~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Life had taught her that consequences were ugly and painful, and seldom worth the pleasure they had been bartered for.

~ Amy Harmon

In life you find pleasure. In life you find pain. Pain and pleasure is an example of the duality in life. Enjoy them both, they are part of the ride. The key is to not turn the pain into something else - regret.

~ J.r. Rim

Pleasure and pain are on the same side of the coin of human experience. The opposite is indifference or numbness.

~ R. N. Prasher

I've written you sixty-seven love poems.Here’s another one for you.But really, for me.These poems are the candles that I light with the fire you have ignited in me.I place this candle here and another thereso even if the stars have argued with the moonand are sulking away in a corner, you can still find your way to me.Sixty-eight poems now. What does the future hold for us?Joy? Disappointment? Gentle caresses? And subtle neglect?I hope the good is more than the bad. Much more. For what is the point of loveif by lighting these candlesour own flame loses its brightness?I know the good is more than the bad. Much more.I cannot wait to write you sixty-nine.

~ Kamand Kojouri

Man loves pleasure. But women desire purposeful commitment.

~ Lailah Gifty Akita

God created the institution of marriage for mutual happiness and pleasure.

~ Sunday Adelaja

Praying is the purest pleasure.

~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Is there any pure pleasure like praying?

~ Lailah Gifty Akita

I take pleasure in an excellent work done.

~ Lailah Gifty Akita

I like a good story and I also like staring at the sea-- do I have to choose between the two?

~ David Byrne

Until we know who we are and why we are here, no amount of success, fame, money, or pleasure will provide much satisfaction.

~ James C. Dobson

Scary to be vulnerable, to open your heart but, oh, the out of this world feeling as you savor the pleasure!

~ Virginia Toole

She placed her hand on her chest and thought, 'So this is what the poets write about'.

~ Kamand Kojouri

The true pleasure of living is hidden in the heart of  a man, So whatever you do, do it heartily, and you'll be happy! :)

~ Bradley B. Dalina