Quotes Tagged "pleasures"

Without pain, how could we know joy?' This is an old argument in the field of thinking about suffering and its stupidity and lack of sophistication could be plumbed for centuries but suffice it to say that the existence of broccoli does not, in any way, affect the taste of chocolate.

I was surrounded by friends, my work was immense, and pleasures were abundant. Life, now, was unfolding before me, constantly and visibly, like the flowers of summer that drop fanlike petals on eternal soil. Overall, I was happiest to be alone; for it was then I was most aware of what I possessed. Free to look out over the rooftops of the city. Happy to be alone in the company of friends, the company of lovers and strangers. Everything, I decided, in this life, was pure pleasure.

Uncompromising purpose and the search for eternal truth have an unquestionable sex appeal for the young and high-minded; but when a person loses the ability to take pleasure in the mundane--in the cigarette on the stoop or the gingersnap in the bath--she had probably put herself in unnecessary danger.

If we shift as we age toward appreciating everyday pleasures and relationships rather than toward achieving, having, and getting, and if we find this more fulfilling, then why do we take so long to do it? Why do we wait until we’re old? The common view was that these lessons are hard to learn. Living is a kind of skill. The calm and wisdom of old age are achieved over time.

Why not seize the pleasure at once? -- How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!

hours hours and hours snap up our pleasures

No sane man can afford to dispense with debilitating pleasures. No ascetic can be considered reliably sane.

No sane man can afford to dispense with debilitating pleasures; no ascetic can be considered reliably sane.

If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.

That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.

In everything, satiety closely follows the greatest pleasures.

After having won a scepter, few are so generous as to disdain the pleasures of ruling.

The greatest pleasures are only narrowly separated from disgust.

'Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures.

By definition, comfort foods are rich and creamy or evocative of childhood pleasures.

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

Illusion is the first of all pleasures.

Our pleasures were simple - they included survival.

True, Heaven prohibits certain pleasures; but one can generally negotiate a compromise.

Pleasures are always children, pains always have wrinkles.