Those of our pleasures which come most rarely give the greatest delight.

Oh, are not the pleasures in life, in this daily round, trifling compared with the pains!

Those views of life which deify pleasure are less likely to yield it.

We can’t turn life into a pleasure. But we can choose such pleasures as are worthy of us and our immortal souls.

My experience is that one's pleasures don't bear thinking about.

What will you think of pleasures when you no longer enjoy them?

I am a man without many pleasures in life, a man whose few pleasures are small, but a man whose small pleasures are very important to him. One of them is eating. One reading. Another eating while reading.

In order to enjoy life, we should not enjoy it too much.

higher income is associated with a reduced ability to enjoy the small pleasures of life.

Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

The perfect joys of heaven do not satisfy the cravings of nature.

The pleasures that give most joy are the ones that most rarely come.

Our pleasures, however refined or easily acquired, are by their very nature fleeting. They begin to subside the instant they arise, only to be replaced by fresh desires or feelings of discomfort. You can’t get enough of your favorite meal until, in the next moment, you find you are so stuffed as to nearly require the attention of a surgeon — and yet, by some quirk of physics, you still have room for dessert. The pleasure of dessert lasts a few seconds, and then the lingering taste in your mouth must be banished by a drink of water. The warmth of the sun feels wonderful on your skin, but soon it becomes too much of a good thing. A move to the shade brings immediate relief, but after a minute or two, the breeze is just a little too cold. Do you have a sweater in the car? Let’s take a look. Yes, there it is. You’re warm now, but you notice that your sweater has seen better days. Does it make you look carefree or disheveled? Perhaps it is time to go shopping for something new. And so it goes. We seem to do little more than lurch between wanting and not wanting. Thus, the question naturally arises: Is there more to life than this? Might it be possible to feel much better (in every sense of better) than one tends to feel? Is it possible to find lasting fulfillment despite the inevitability of change? Spiritual life begins with

Pain is too strong and life is too brief, brother, to avoid the pleasures that don’t hurt us.