Pleasure quotes
1.2K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside pleasure — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"They establish distinctions and reserves which I cannot apply to myself, for I exist only as a whole; my only claim is to be natural, and the pleasure I feel in an action, I take as a sign that I ought to do it."
"Vain is the hope of finding pleasure in that which one has hitherto disdained; as when the warrior hopes to find pleasure in the joys of the sedentaries."
"Women find little pleasure in the society of women."
"It can never be wrong to give pleasure."
"Make the upcoming hour overflow with joy, and let pleasure drown the brim."
"Thou mak'st me merry: I am full of pleasure; let us be jocund"
"The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet."
"For where thou art, there is the world itself, With every several pleasure in the world, And where thou art not, desolation."
"All love's pleasure shall not match its woe."
"'Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed, When not to be, receives reproach of being, And the just pleasure lost, which is so deemed, Not by our feeling, but by others' seeing."
"Your conscience is no defense against you sins; however, it can unfortunately deny you the pleasure of enjoying them."
"We sell the thrones of angels for a short and turbulent pleasure."
"For me work is an absolute necessity, indeed I can't really drag it out, I take no more pleasure in anything than in work, that's to say, pleasure in other things stops immediately and I become melancholy if I can't get on with the work."
"It very seldom happens to a man that his business is his pleasure."
"So scanty is our present allowance of happiness that in many situations life could scarcely be supported if hope were not allowed to relieve the present hour by pleasures borrowed from the future."
"Friendship may well deserve the sacrifice of pleasure, though not of conscience."
"Pleasure that is obtained by unreasonable and unsuitable cost must always end in pain."
"We all live upon the hope of pleasing somebody, and the pleasure of pleasing ought to be greatest, and at last always will be greatest, when our endeavours are exerted in consequence of our duty."
"The liberty of using harmless pleasure will not be disputed; but it is still to be examined what pleasures are harmless."
"The friendship which is to be practised or expected by common mortals, must take its rise from mutual pleasure, and must end when the power ceases of delighting each other."
