My suspicion is that this is an unavoidable human dilemma, that people will always want to avoid pain, to avoid those who are in pain, and so will be vulnerable to anyone or anything that seems to promise permanent avoidance.
It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain.
Man’s main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life.
If you practice in accord with your individual capacity, little by little you will find more pleasure and joy in it. As you gain inner strength, your positive actions will gain in profundity and scope.
If you seek to serve people more than to gain power, you will not only serve people, you will gain influence.
Succeed in not fearing the lion, and the lion will fear YOU. Say to suffering, 'I will that you shall become a pleasure,' and it will prove to be such-- and even more than a pleasure, it will be a blessing.
The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.
The Lord has told me that the last generation before His final coming will consist of His choicest children since the creation of the earth. But you will face a world filled with much pain and evil. Men...will gain great power over God's children. Youth such as yourselves will have a great responsibility to build up a pure and undefiled people in the midst of all this pain.
The pleasure of those who injure you lies in your pain. Therefore they will suffer if you take away their pleasure by not feeling pain
The pleasure of those who injure you lies in your pain. Therefore they will suffer if you take away their pleasure by not feeling pain.
Ease, a neutral state between pain and pleasure ... if it is not rising into pleasure will be falling towards pain.
We tend to run our whole life trying to avoid all that hurts or displeases us, noticing the objects, people, or situations that we think will give us pain or pleasure, avoiding one and pursuing the other.
To avoid pain, they avoid pleasure. To avoid death, they avoid life.
My definition of success is to live your life in a way that causes you to feel a ton of pleasure and very little pain - and because of your lifestyle, have the people around you feel a lot more pleasure than they do pain.
We can endure much more than we think we can; all human experience testifies to that. All we need to do is learn not to be afraid of pain. Grit your teeth and let it hurt. Don't deny it, don't be overwhelmed by it. It will not last forever. One day, the pain will be gone and you will still be there.
Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain - and since labor is pain in itself - it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it. When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.