Quotes

“My dead go on suffering in me the pain of living.”

Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet

Mis muertos siguen sufriendo el dolor de la vida en mí.
Voces (1943)

“Pain—one of the most pressing issues of out time.”

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

(1974) as quoted by Dennis C. Turk, Donald Meichenbaum, Myles Genest, Pain and Behavioral Medicine: A Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective (1983) p. 73

Ba Jin photo

“It was as if I heard a painful sound saying: "This must be ended."”

Ba Jin (1904–2005) Chinese novelist

Preface to The Autumn in the Spring (May 1932)
Context: The unreasonable social system, the marriage without freedom, the yoke of traditional ideas, and the family autocracy, destroyed we don't know how many young souls. In my twenty eight years, I already had it accumulated so many, so many shadows. In that autumn smile, in that smiling which was the same as crying, I saw the young people's corpses in the whole past generation. It was as if I heard a painful sound saying: "This must be ended."

Doris Lessing photo

“What is so painful about that time is that nothing was disastrous.”

Anna Wulf, in "Free Women: 1"
The Golden Notebook (1962)
Context: What is so painful about that time is that nothing was disastrous. It was all wrong, ugly, unhappy and coloured with cynicism, but nothing was tragic, there were no moments that could change anything or anybody. From time to time the emotional lightning flashed and showed a landscape of private misery, and then — we went on dancing. <!-- 128

Plutarch photo

“Marius said, "I see the cure is not worth the pain."”

Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

Life of Caius Marius
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

John Keats photo

“Pleasure is oft a visitant; but pain
Clings cruelly to us.”

Bk. I, l. 906
Endymion (1818)

Bobbejaan Schoepen photo

“Happiness is the moment when one doesn't feel pain.”

Bobbejaan Schoepen (1925–2010) musician, performer

HUMO, (2005)

Barack Obama photo

“It's not enough to trade a prison of powerlessness for the pain of an empty stomach.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2012, Yangon University Speech (November 2012)
Context: It's not enough to trade a prison of powerlessness for the pain of an empty stomach. But history shows that governments of the people and by the people and for the people more powerful in delivering prosperity.

Dante Alighieri photo

“As the thing more perfect is, the more it feels of pleasure and of pain.”

Source: The Divine Comedy (Božská komedie)

Franklin D. Roosevelt photo

“I have a terrific pain in the back of my head.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States

Last words spoken while having his portrait painted on April 12 1945 before losing consciousness and dying shortly after.
Disputed

Scott Adams photo

“Communism is the most painful path between capitalism and capitalism.”

Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer

Dilbert https://dilbert.com/strip/1989-12-12, Tuesday December 12, 1989

Hermann Hesse photo

“We cannot evade life's course, but we can school ourselves to be superior to fortune and also to look unflinchingly upon the most painful things.”

Source: Gertrude (1910), p. 236
Context: It was no different with my own life, and with Gertrude's and that of many others. Fate was not kind, life was capricious and terrible, and there was no good or reason in nature. But there is good and reason in us, in human beings, with whom fortune plays, and we can be stronger than nature and fate, if only for a few hours. And we can draw close to one another in times of need, understand and love one another, and live to comfort each other. And sometimes, when the black depths are silent, we can do even more. We can then be gods for moments, stretch out a commanding hand and create things which were not there before and which, when they are created, continue to live without us. Out of sounds, words, and other frail and worthless things, we can construct playthings — songs and poems full of meaning, consolation and goodness, more beautiful and enduring than the grim sport of fortune and destiny. We can keep the spirit of God in our hearts and, at times, when we are full of Him, He can appear in our eyes and our words, and also talk to others who do no know or do not wish to know Him. We cannot evade life's course, but we can school ourselves to be superior to fortune and also to look unflinchingly upon the most painful things.

Thomas Paine photo
Mohamed Nasheed photo
John Elkann photo

“I am a big believer of what Darwin discovered in the Galapagos, proving that the species most responsive to change will survive over apparently stronger or more intelligent competitors.”

John Elkann (1976) Italian businessman

"Letter to shareholders" http://www.exor.com/?p=lettera_presidente_dettaglio&s=exor&lang=en, Exor, April 2011

Brian Wilson photo

“All of us have the privilege of making music that helps and heals — to make music that makes people happier, stronger and kinder. Don't forget: music is God's voice.”

Brian Wilson (1942) American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer

At the induction ceremony of The Beach Boys into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (January 1988) · Video of acceptance speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZSAQX2uuUY