Quotes

José Rizal photo

“The world laughs at another man's pain.”

José Rizal (1861–1896) Filipino writer, ophthalmologist, polyglot and nationalist

"Song of the Wanderer", st.8 - translated by Nick Joaquin.

“No medical school has a pain curriculum…”

John Bonica (1917–1994) Anesthesiologist; pioneer in pain management

As quoted by Richard Weiner, "An interview with John J. Bonica, M.D." Pain Practitioner 1 (1989):2

“To prolong pain is to miss the next lesson.”

Signposts to Elsewhere (2008)

John Selden photo

“Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain.”

John Selden (1584–1654) English jurist and scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution, and of Jewish law

Pleasure.
Table Talk (1689)

Paulo Freire photo

“Liberation is thus a childbirth, and a painful one.”

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) educator and philosopher

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 1, on the oppressed

Marcus Aurelius photo

“Pain is the opposite of strength, and so is anger.”

Hays translation
XI, 18
Meditations (c. AD 121–180), Book XI

Khalil Gibran photo

“Much of your pain is self-chosen.”

Source: kniha The Prophet (Prorok), báseň On pain (O bolesti)

Roberto Clemente photo

“I want play but back hurt. If I no can play good, I no help team. So I wait until pain goes away. I no swing bat good, no run good, no catch ball like old times. I try but pain, she too much. Some days, no pain. Other days, pain all time. Some days pain so much I theenk maybe I quit baseball. But I need money so I play baseball.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted and paraphrased in "Aching Back Puts Clemente On Bench Again" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nUEqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BU4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7330%2C2562781 by Les Biederman, in The Pittsburgh Press (Friday, July 26, 1957), p. 20
Baseball-related, <big><big>1950s</big></big>, <big>1957</big>
Context: "I want play but back hurt. If I no can play good, I no help team. So I wait until pain goes away. I no swing bat good, no run good, no catch ball like old times. I try but pain, she too much. Some days, no pain. Other days, pain all time. Some days pain so much I theenk maybe I quit baseball. But I need money so I play baseball." Clemente doesn't even want to think of an operation on his back. He says he had two brothers and a sister who died following surgery and his family opposes operations.

Haruki Murakami photo
Stephen King photo
Henry Rollins photo
Narendra Modi photo
George W. Bush photo
Joseph E. Stiglitz photo
Matthew Stover photo
Lucinda Williams photo

“I think what informs my songwriting is my empathy with that. Maybe that’s what bothers people. It scares them to go to the edge of the well and look in. But it’s what they like also. And wouldn’t you rather feel the pain than not feel anything?”

Lucinda Williams (1953) American rock, folk, blues, and country music singer, songwriter and musician

On how suicide, sadness and melancholia informs Williams’ songwriting in “Lucinda Williams interview: 'I’ve earned the right to say what I like’” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/worldfolkandjazz/10074160/Lucinda-Williams-interview-Ive-earned-the-right-to-say-what-I-like.html in The Telegraph (2013 May 25)

Anacreon photo

“Nature gave horns to the bull,
Hoofs gave she to the horse.
To the lion cavernous jaws,
And swiftness to the hare.
The fish taught she to swim,
The bird to cleave the air;
To man she reason gave;
Not yet was woman dowered.
What, then, to woman gave she?
The priceless gift of beauty.
Stronger than any buckler,
Than any spear more piercing.
Who hath the gift of beauty.
Nor fire nor steel shall harm her.”

Anacreon (-570–-485 BC) Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns

Odes, XXIV.
Variant: The bull by nature hath his horns, The horse his hoofs, to daunt their foes; The light-foot hare the hunter scorns; The lion's teeth his strength disclose.The fish, by swimming, 'scapes the weel; The bird, by flight, the fowler's net; With wisdom man is arm'd as steel; Poor women none of these can get. What have they then?—fair Beauty's grace, A two-edged sword, a trusty shield; No force resists a lovely face, Both fire and sword to Beauty yield.