Pleasures - Quotes

A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. - Walter Gagehot

Anticipation of pleasure is, in itself, a very considerable pleasure. - David Hume

As a grim skull lies covered beneath the fairest face; so does an abyss of torment lie beneath the surface of the glittering sea of sensual pleasure and dissipation. - William Scott Downey

As an experience, pleasure is ... a filling up of the cup, the supplying of a need. And the deeper the draft upon vital resources, the greater the fulfilment of desire. - William Ernest Hocking

Do not be in a hurry to rush into the pleasures of the world like the young antelope who danced herself lame when the main dance was yet to come. - Chinua Achebe

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it. - Thomas Jeffeson

During the course of our life we now and then enjoy some pleasures so inviting, and have some encounters of so tender a nature, that though they are forbidden, it is but natural to wish that they were at least allowable. - Jean de la Bruyere

Every moment of pleasure in life has to be purchased by an equal moment of pain. - Danilo O’Dell

Every nerve that can thrill with pleasure, can also agonize with pain. - Horace Mann

Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire. - Marcus Fabius Quintilian

How much pleasure will you allow yourself? Many people have an invisible quota in their minds for the amount of joy they will permit themselves to experience. They become so busy living life that they view pleasure as a luxury they simply do not have time for. Things like lovemaking or playing take a back-seat to the everyday motions of living. However, your life simply will not work as well when you deny yourself pleasure. The old adage of all work and no play making you dull is quite true; you may find yourself living a rather colorless life if you do not pause every now and then to indulge your senses. Pleasure is like the oil that keeps the machine of your life running smoothly. Without it, the gears stick and you will most likely break down. - Cherie Carter-Scott

If by giving up small pleasures, great happiness is to be found, the wise should give up small pleasures, seeing the prospect of great happiness. - The Buddha

If pleasure is what you want, do not suppress the desire. Seek it intelligently. - Huston Smith

In diving to the bottom of pleasure we bring up more gravel than pearls. - Honor De Balzac

Man will endure a lot of pain to obtain a little pleasure. - Unknown

Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it. - Benjamin Franklin

People seem to enjoy things more when they know a lot of other people have been left out of the pleasure. - Russell Baker

Past pleasures are of as little comfort to a man as the money in his neighbour’s pocket. - Abraham Miller

Pleasure and action make the hours seem short. - Iago

Pleasure and pain seem to have been accidentally cast in the same mould. - Lewis F. Korns

Pleasure is a harmony – that is, a fitting together – a fitting of an external object with a mood or want within ourselves. - Herbert Maxwell

Pleasure is a hedonistic reflex, a burning impulse to abandon rational thought altogether and immerse oneself in the moment. - Gene Wallenstein

Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within. - Eckhart Tolle

Pleasure is labour too, and tires as much. - William Cowper

Pleasure is the business of the young, business the pleasure of the old. - Fluke Greville

Pleasure is the flower that fades, remembrance is the lasting perfume. - Bruce Lee

Pleasure is the physical manifestation of joy. - Cherie Carter-Scott

Pleasure is the sun of the morning, the cloud of the meridian, and the storm of the evening. - William Scott Downey

Pleasure is the structure of society. From childhood until death we are secretly, cunningly or obviously pursuing pleasure. So whatever our form of pleasure is, I think we should be very clear about it because it is going to guide and shape our lives. It is therefore important for each one of us to investigate closely, hesitantly and delicately this question of pleasure, for to find pleasure, and then nourish and sustain it, is a basic demand of life and without it existence becomes dull, stupid, lonely and meaningless. - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. The flowers which scatter their odours from time to time in the paths of life, grow up without culture from seeds scattered by chance. - Samuel Johnson

Pleasure derived from labor is the sweetest of all pleasures. - Richard L. Evans

Pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man. - Muhammad Ali

Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. - Samuel Johnson

Pleasure to me is wonder – the unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability. To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite; these are to me the springs of delight and beauty. - H. P. Lovecraft

Pleasure, like a kind of bait, is thrown before everything which is really bad, and easily allures greedy souls to the hook of perdition. - Epictetus 

So called pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments. - Seneca

That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest. - Henry David Thoreau

The choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation. - Martin Farquhar Tupper

The excess of delight palls our appetites rather than pleases. - Wellins Calcott

The fact that all animals and men pursue pleasure is some indication that it is in some way the highest good. - Aristotle

The majority of mankind would seem to be beguiled into error by pleasure, which, not being really a good, yet seems to be so. So that they indiscriminately choose as good whatsoever gives them pleasure, while they avoid all pain alike as evil. - Aristotle 

The more a man finds his sources of pleasure in himself, the happier he will be. . . . The highest, most varied and lasting pleasures are those of the mind. - Arthur Schopenhauer

The pleasure of any incident, whether it is of a sunset, or sexual, or any sensory pleasure, is recorded and thought over. So thought as pleasure plays a tremendous part in our life. Something happened yesterday which was a most lovely thing, a most happy event, it is recorded; thought comes upon it, chews it and keeps on thinking about it and wants it repeated tomorrow, whether it be sexual or otherwise. So thought gives vitality to an incident that is over. - Jiddu Krishnamurti

The pleasure we derive from doing favors is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altogether worthless. It is a pleasant surprise to ourselves. - Eric Hoffer

The pleasure which we most rarely experience gives us greatest delight. - Epictetus

The pleasure-pain mechanism in the body of man – and in the bodies of all the living organisms that possess the faculty of consciousness – serves as an automatic guardian of the organism's life. The physical sensation of pleasure is a signal indicating that the organism is pursuing the right course of action. The physical sensation of pain is a warning signal of danger, indicating that the organism is pursuing the wrong course of action, that something is impairing the proper function of its body. - Ayn Rand

They that seldom take pleasure, seldom give pleasure. - Fluke Greville

True pleasures are paid for in advance; false pleasures afterwards, with heavy and compound interest. - John Lubbock

We are prone to seek immediate pleasure or good, however small, rather than remote pleasure or good, however vast. - Horace Mann

We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. - Alan Watts 

When happiness was a matter of pleasure, and pleasure a matter of taste, one could be happy simply by rolling in filth. - Darrin M. McMahon

Why not seize the pleasure at once, how often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparations. - Jane Austen

Your body can be one of the greatest sources of pleasure when you open your five senses fully and experience the physical wonder of being alive. Pleasure can come in the form of sight, like when you see a magnificent sunset, or taste, like when you eat a favourite food. It can come as a glorious musical sound or the soft touch of a lover. The only secret to learning the lesson of pleasure is to make time and space for it in your life. - Cherie Carter-Scott