"Change is never painful, only the resistance to change is painful"
Painful quotes
358 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside painful — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"The mind, conditioned as it is by the past, always seeks to re-create what it knows and is familiar with. Even if it is painful, at least it is familiar. The mind always adheres to the known. The unknown is dangerous because it has no control over it. That's why the mind dislikes and ignores the present moment."
"Illusions are like umbrellas - you no sooner get them than you lose them, and the loss always leaves a little painful wound."
"But the upside of painful knowledge is so much greater than the downside of blissful ignorance."
"Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change."
"And when the Patrician was unhappy, he became very democratic. He found intricate and painful ways of spreading that unhappiness as far as possible."
"Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future."
"But if you've ever felt love, you'll know how painful it is to suffer for love."
"Memory is sweet. Even when it’s painful, memory is sweet."
"There is no surer or more painful way to learn a rule than to be penalized once for breaking it."
"I tried sex once with a woman and that woman was Gala. It was overrated. I tried sex once with a man and that man was the famous juggler Federico Garcia Lorca [the Spanish Surrealist poet]. It was very painful."
"To say "no" is painful, but much better than a "yes" that brings regrets."
"It's so painful to be next to someone you feel strongly about and know you can't say the things you want to."
"Criticism is painful when it's not done with love."
"Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live in every experience, painful or joyous, to live in gratitude for every moment, to live abundantly."
"But without painful experiences, we dont grow"
"Faith upholds a Christian under all trials, by assuring him that every painful dispensation is under the direction of his Lord."
"Shyness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that are not overstimulating. Shyness is inherently painful; introversion is not."
"Being tall and big was probably more painful than being black."
"...the painful intensity of my sensations, even when they're happy ones; the blissful intensity of my sensations, even when they're sad."
"Although it's painful at the time, most of the things that people have said about us negatively - some of them are true and you can work on them, and the ones that you don't agree with, you don't work on."