“Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.”

— William Faulkner, book If I Forget Thee

Source: The Wild Palms

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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William Faulkner214

American writer 1897–1962

Margaret Landon (1903–1993) writer, missionary

“Work. Like pain, I sensed that this was an experience I would want to avoid as often as possible.”

Joanne Harris book The Gospel of Loki

Source: The Gospel of Loki

“freedom would be not to choose between black and white but to abjure such prescribed choices.”

Theodor W. Adorno (1903–1969) German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist known for his critical theory of society

“It takes courage… to endure the sharp pains of self discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Source: A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

“EVERY STUDENT MUST CHOOSE ONE OF TWO PAINS: THE PAIN OF SELF-DISCIPLINE OR THE PAIN OF REGRET OF NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES.”

Ahmed Omaar

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
Source: Letter from the Birmingham Jail
Context: We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."