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3707f62 To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life. books escape good-habits life pleasure reading refuge W. Somerset Maugham
11318c9 Face your life, its pain, its pleasure, leave no path untaken. life pain pleasure Neil Gaiman
8e2eec7 You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure. past pleasure remembrance Jane Austen
aec3d72 Sleep my little baby-oh Sleep until you waken When you wake you'll see the world If I'm not mistaken... Kiss a lover Dance a measure, Find your name And buried treasure... Face your life Its pain, Its pleasure, Leave no path untaken. choice dance identity individuality life love name pain pleasure sleep treasure Neil Gaiman
8ca38fe If I didn't care for fun and such, I'd probably amount to much. But I shall stay the way I am, Because I do not give a damn. fame pleasure Dorothy Parker
f8fe7b5 So she thoroughly taught him that one cannot take pleasure without giving pleasure, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every last bit of the body has its secret, which brings happiness to the person who knows how to wake it. She taught him that after a celebration of love the lovers should not part without admiring each other, without being conquered or having conquered, so that neither is bleak or glutted or has the bad feeling of being used or misused. making-love pleasure respect sensuality sex touch Hermann Hesse
1275fb0 Kiss a lover, Dance a measure, Find your name And buried treasure. Face your life, It's pain, It's pleasure, Leave no path untaken. dancing life love name neil-gaiman pain personality pleasure the-graveyard-book treasure Neil Gaiman
9b8a1b1 ...when pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure. memory pain pleasure Jane Austen
06157b2 People go on marrying because they can't resist natural forces, although many of them may know perfectly well that they are possibly buying a month's pleasure with a life's discomfort. force-of-nature marriage matrimony nature pleasure self-deception Thomas Hardy
d3d498a Her in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn--that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness--that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling. fall nature pleasure poets seasons walking Jane Austen
df03f2e I find I am much prouder of the victory I obtain over myself, when, in the very ardor of dispute, I make myself submit to my adversary's force of reason, than I am pleased with the victory I obtain over him through his weakness. ardor argument changed-mind dispute force open-mind pleasure pride reason victory weakness Michel de Montaigne
e7dc604 He that loves pleasure must for pleasure fall. pleasure Christopher Marlowe
2cc0572 And yet it takes only the smallest pleasure or pain to teach us time's malleability. pleasure time Julian Barnes
e1f49e3 The world looks like something God had just imaged for his own pleasure, doesn't it? god pleasure L.M. Montgomery
ff6d4fa He went to the church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and for, and patted the children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of homes, and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed of any walk, that anything, could give him so much happiness. (p. 119) happiness pleasure Charles Dickens
6926abf You have a hierarchy of values; pleasure is at the bottom of the ladder, and you speak with a little thrill of self-satisfaction, of duty, charity, and truthfulness. You think pleasure is only of the senses; the wretched slaves who manufactured your morality despised a satisfaction which they had small means of enjoying. You would not be so frightened if I had spoken of happiness instead of pleasure: it sounds less shocking, and your mind wonders from the sty of Epicurus to his garden. But I will speak of pleasure, for I see that men aim at that, and I do not know that they aim at happiness. It is pleasure that lurks in the practice of every one of your virtues. Man performs actions because they are good for him, and when they are good for other people as well they are thought virtuous: if he finds pleasure in giving alms he is charitable; if he finds pleasure in helping others he is benevolent; if he finds pleasure in working for society he is public-spirited; but it is for your private pleasure that you give twopence to a beggar as much as it is for my private pleasure that I drink another whiskey and soda. I, less of a humbug than you, neither applaud myself for my pleasure nor demand your admiration. pleasure values W. Somerset Maugham
a5ba3bf But there must be some pleasure in condemning everything--in perceiving faults where others think they see beauties.' 'You mean there is pleasure in having no pleasure. pleasure voltaire Voltaire
4cf1b66 His eyes are open, watching my flushed face, my ragged breathing. I try to stop myself from making embarrassing noises. It's more intimate than the way he's touching me, to be looked at like that. I hate that he knows what he's doing and I don't. I hate being vulnerable. I hate that I throw my head back, baring my throat. I hate the way I cling to him, the nails of one hand digging into his back, my thoughts splintering, and the single last thing in my head: that I like him better than I've ever liked anyone and that of all the things he's ever done to me, making me like him so much is by far the worst. hate intimacy like love pleasure sex vulnerable Holly Black
84c4d60 Come live with me and be my Love, And we will all the pleasures prove pleasure poetry Christopher Marlowe
030eaf9 I have a sense that God is unfair and preferentially punishes his weak, his dumb, his fat, his lazy. I believe he takes more pleasure in his perfect creatures, and cheers them on like a brainless dad as they run roughshod over the rest of us. He gives us a need for love, and no way to get any. He gives us a desire to be liked, and personal attributes that make us utterly unlikable. Having placed his flawed and needy children in a world of exacting specifications, he deducts the difference between what we have and what we need from our hearts and our self-esteem and our mental health. cruelty dumb fat god lazy love pleasure weak George Saunders
64cefaf It is in fact the height of selfishness to merely consume what others create and to retreat into a shell of limited goals and immediate pleasures. goals pleasure selfishness Robert Greene
c0fa064 One declaims endlessly against the passions; one imputes all of man's suffering to them. One forgets that they are also the source of all his pleasures. passion pleasure suffering Denis Diderot
4406fff I don't regret for a single moment having lived for pleasure. I did it to the full, as one should do everything that one does. There was no pleasure I did not experience. pleasure regret Oscar Wilde
4aee859 Ask him why there are hypocrites in the world.' 'Because it is hard to bear the happiness of others.' 'When are we happy?' 'When we desire nothing and realize that possession is only momentary, and so are forever playing.' 'What is regret?' 'To realize that one has spent one's life worrying about the future.' 'What is sorrow?' 'To long for the past.' 'What is the highest pleasure?' 'To hear a good story. hinduism pleasure poetry sorrow Vikram Chandra
49c536d The most total opposite of pleasure is not pain but boredom, for we are willing to risk pain to make a boring life interesting. catholicism christianity jesus-shock philosophy pleasure spirituality theology Peter Kreeft
bcda3d6 That pleasure which is at once the most pure, the most elevating and the most intense, is derived, I maintain, from the contemplation of the beautiful. pleasure Edgar Allan Poe
2d25609 ...when we say we're looking for a spiritual adviser, we're really looking for someone to tell us what to do with our bodies. Decisions of the flesh. We forget to learn from pleasure as well as pain. pleasure Anne Michaels
4f68290 With her eyes alone she could give this response, this absolutely erotic response, as if febrile waves were trembling there, pools of madness... something devouring that could lick a man all over like a flame, annihilate him, with a pleasure never known before. fever pleasure romance sex sexy Anaïs Nin
a939c86 Even when they did not look at each other or speak to each other, he could feel a powerful current between them. eyes pleasure romance skin Anaïs Nin
dccf0d0 Yes, faith; it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say 'Father, as it please you.' But yet for all that, cousin, let him be a handsome fellow, or else make another curtsy and say 'Father, as it please me. courtship dignity empowerment happiness husbands independence love marriage marriage-proposal matrimony pleasure self-determination wooing William Shakespeare
6929cbf Remember the botched brothel-visit in L'Education sentimentale and remember its lesson. Do not participate: happiness lies in the imagination, not the act. Pleasure is found first in anticipation, later in memory. happiness life memory pleasure Julian Barnes
0522c42 Usually, there is nothing more pleasing that returning to a place where you have endured hardship. pleasure return travel Tahir Shah
b5004c1 You see, nothing matters except pleasure - which is the opposite of happiness, its tragic part, I expect. pleasure tragedy Lawrence Durrell
c86d402 We read the pagan sacred books with profit and delight. With myth and fable we are ever charmed, and find a pleasure in the endless repetition of the beautiful, poetic, and absurd. We find, in all these records of the past, philosophies and dreams, and efforts stained with tears, of great and tender souls who tried to pierce the mystery of life and death, to answer the eternal questions of the Whence and Whither, and vainly sought to make, with bits of shattered glass, a mirror that would, in very truth, reflect the face and form of Nature's perfect self. These myths were born of hopes, and fears, and tears, and smiles, and they were touched and colored by all there is of joy and grief between the rosy dawn of birth, and death's sad night. They clothed even the stars with passion, and gave to gods the faults and frailties of the sons of men. In them, the winds and waves were music, and all the lakes, and streams, and springs,--the mountains, woods and perfumed dells were haunted by a thousand fairy forms. They thrilled the veins of Spring with tremulous desire; made tawny Summer's billowed breast the throne and home of love; filled Autumns arms with sun-kissed grapes, and gathered sheaves; and pictured Winter as a weak old king who felt, like Lear upon his withered face, Cordelia's tears. These myths, though false, are beautiful, and have for many ages and in countless ways, enriched the heart and kindled thought. But if the world were taught that all these things are true and all inspired of God, and that eternal punishment will be the lot of him who dares deny or doubt, the sweetest myth of all the Fable World would lose its beauty, and become a scorned and hateful thing to every brave and thoughtful man. autumn beautiful birth brave death delight deny doubt dreams effort eternity fable fairy fear gods grief hateful haunted hope joy king-lear lake life love mountains music mystery nature pagan passion past perfection philosophies pleasure poetic punishment questions religion-myths sacred-books scorn shakespeare smiles spring summer tears tender thought throne true truth william-shakespeare winter woods Robert G. Ingersoll
0c7ae53 It is necessity and not pleasure that compels us. [Italian: Necessita c'induce, e non diletto.] necessity pleasure Dante Alighieri
7b914bb We don't value craftsmanship anymore! All we value is ruthless efficiency, and I say we deny our own humanity that way! Without appreciation for grace and beauty, there's no pleasure in creating things and no pleasure in having them! Our lives are made drearier, rather than richer! How can a person take pride in his work when skill and care are considered luxuries! We're not machines! We have a human need for craftsmanship! art beauty care craftsmanship creating efficiency grace handmade human machines pleasure quality quantity skill value Bill Watterson
25a157d JACK Your duty as a gentleman calls you back. ALGERNON My duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures in the smallest degree. humor pleasure Oscar Wilde
c40fa28 "The greatest joy is joy in God. This is plain from Psalm 16:11: "You [God] will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever." Fullness of joy and eternal joy cannot be improved. Nothing is fuller than full, and nothing is longer than eternal. And this joy is owing to the presence of God, not the accomplishments of man. Therefore, if God wants to love us infinitely and delight us fully and eternally, he must preserve for us the one thing that will satisfy us totally and eternally; namely, the presence and worth of his own glory. He alone is the source of full and lasting pleasure. Therefore, his commitment to uphold and display his glory is not vain, but virtuous. God is the one being for whom self-exaltation is an infinitely loving act. If he revealed himself to the proud and self-sufficient and not to the humble and dependent, he would belittle the very glory whose worth is the foundation of our joy. Therefore, God's pleasure in hiding this from "the wise and intelligent" and revealing it to "infants" is the pleasure of God in both his glory and our joy." faith glory god joy pleasure John Piper
d428c3f It is clear that men accept an immediate pain rather than an immediate pleasure, but only because they expect a greater pleasure in the future. Often the pleasure is illusory, but their error in calculation is no refutation of the rule. You are puzzled because you cannot get over the idea that pleasures are only of the sense; but, child, a man who dies for his country dies because he likes it as surely as a man eats pickled cabbage because he likes it. humor life pleasure W. Somerset Maugham
60ef454 "Until-as often happened during those first months travel, whenever I would feel such happiness-my guilt alarm went off. I heard my ex-husband's voice speaking disdainfully in my ear: So this is what you gave up everything for? This is why you gutted our entire life together? For a few stalks of asparagus and an Italian newspaper? I replied aloud to him: "First of all," I said, "I'm very sorry, but this isn't your business anymore. And secondly, to answer you question...yes." food humor pleasure travel Elizabeth Gilbert
27702db I concentrate on what I am going to say to Vivi, instead of thinking of Cardan. I do not want to consider what happened between us. I do not want to think about the way his muscles moved or how his skin felt or the soft gasping sounds he made or the slide of his mouth against mine. I definitely don't want to think about how hard I had to bite my own lip to keep quiet. Or how obvious it was that I'd never done any of the things we did, no less the things we didn't do. desire pleasure sex Holly Black
8cc1de6 "Our country in general assumes that "the pursuit of happiness" really means "the pursuit of pleasure" and that therefore pleasure is the greatest good." happiness pleasure Madeleine L'Engle
4f620cf He never treated her as a wife. He wooed her over and over again, with presents, flowers, new pleasures. french-eroticism pleasure romance woo Anaïs Nin
d33d263 Man cannot spend all his time doing evil, and even in the company of pirates there must be some sweet moments on their sinister ship when you feel as if you were aboard a pleasure yacht. pirates pleasure red-inn Honoré de Balzac
8c4aab4 Western man had relearned-what the rest of the world had never forgotten-that there was nothing sinful in leisure as long as it did not degenerate into mere sloth. pleasure relax Arthur C. Clarke
815fe04 ...A mother is the one who fills your heart in the first place. She teaches you the nature of happiness: what is the right amount, what is too much, and the kind that makes you want more of what is bad for you. A mother helps her baby flex her first feelings of pleasure. She teaches her when to later exercise restraint, or to take squealing joy in recognizing the fluttering leaves of the gingko tree, to sense a quieter but more profound satisfaction in chancing upon an everlasting pine. A mother enables you to realize that there are different levels of beauty and therein lie the sources of pleasure, some of which are popular and ordinary, and thus of brief value, and others of which are difficult and rare, and hence worth pursuing. mothers pleasure Amy Tan
6de9451 Why does the forbidden always add that edge of sweetness? edge excitement forbidden pleasure romance sweet taboo Robin Hobb
7a685b9 She wanted me to remember that pleasure is political--for the capacity to relax and play renews the spirit and makes it possible for us to come to the work of writing clearer, ready for the journey. (bell hooks about Toni Cade Bambara) pleasure toni-cade-bambara writing Bell Hooks
548a7c9 He felt the full warmth of that pleasure from which the proud shut themselves out; the pleasure which not only goes with humiliation, but which almost is humiliation. Men who have escaped death by a hair have it, and men whose love is returned by a woman unexpectedly, and men whose sins are forgiven them. Everything his eye fell on it feasted on, not aesthetically, but with a plain, jolly appetite as of a boy eating buns. He relished the squareness of the houses; he liked their clean angles as if he had just cut them with a knife. The lit squares of the shop windows excited him as the young are excited by the lit stage of some promising pantomime. He happened to see in one shop which projected with a bulging bravery on to the pavement some square tins of potted meat, and it seemed like a hint of a hundred hilarious high teas in a hundred streets of the world. He was, perhaps, the happiest of all the children of men. For in that unendurable instant when he hung, half slipping, to the ball of St. Paul's, the whole universe had been destroyed and re-created. pleasure G.K. Chesterton
6cce58c Above Constance's desk were nude photographs of women in 1930s France, draped in provocative poses. She had put them there for Bob's viewing pleasure and in return he had placed African art of naked men above his desk for her. african-art bob-dubois constance-dubois desks france kitty-logan nakedness pleasure Cecelia Ahern
5fb286d At the same time, eroticism in the home requires active engagement and willful intent. It is an ongoing resistance to the message that marriage is serious, more work than play; and that passion is for teenagers and the immature. We must unpack our ambivalence about pleasure, and challenge our pervasive discomfort with sexuality, particularly in the context of family. Complaining of sexual boredom is easy and conventional. Nurturing eroticism in the home is an act of open defience. eroticism marriage passion pleasure sexuality Esther Perel
a60392c If you would really study my pleasure, mother, you must consider your own comfort and convenience a little more than you do. convenience mother pleasure Anne Brontë
5f8c42d After the gratifications of brutish appetites are past, the greatest pleasure then is to get rid of that which entertained it. battle-of-the-sexes don-quixote dorothea humor life love lust pleasure sex truth Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
165e845 I may be permitted, like the doctors, to cure a greater evil by a less, for I shall not fall seriously in love with the young widow, I think, nor she with me - that's certain - but if I find a little pleasure in her society I may surely be allowed to seek it; and if the star of her divinity be bright enough to dim the lustre of Eliza's, so much the better, but I scarcely can think it falling-in-love pleasure society Anne Brontë
45aae90 From books all I seek is to give myself pleasure by an honourable pastime: or if I do study, I seek only that branch of learning which deals with knowing myself and which teaches me how to live and die well... pleasure study Michel de Montaigne
7050a12 Of an artistic temperament, I deny that I am; yet I must possess something of the artist's faculty of making the most of present pleasure. pleasure present temperament Charlotte Brontë
5dd5c14 "Happy?" asked Aquilina, with dreadful look, and a smile full of pity and terror. "Ah, you do not know what it is to be condemned to a life of pleasure." happiness loneliness love pleasure relationships sadness sorrow Honoré de Balzac
a2a0369 In order to understand the intensity of ritual forms, one must rid oneself of the idea that all happiness derives from nature, and all pleasure from the satisfaction of a desire. On the contrary, games, the sphere of play, reveal a passion for rules, a giddiness born of rules, and a force that comes from ceremony, and not desire. fun games joy play pleasure religion rules seduction sex Jean Baudrillard
d75ba4f startled the world many years ago by stating in effect that if the amount of pleasure obtained from each be equal there is nothing to choose between poetry and push-pin. Since few people now know what push-pin is, I may explain that it is a child's game in which one player tries to push his pin across that of another player, and if he succeeds and then is able by pressing down on the two pins with the ball of his thumb to lift them off the table he wins possession of his opponent's pin. [...] The indignant retort to 's statement was that spiritual pleasures are obviously higher than physical pleasures. But who say so? Those who prefer spiritual pleasures. They are in a miserable minority, as they acknowledge when they declare that the gift of aesthetic appreciation is a very rare one. The vast majority of men are, as we know, both by necessity and choice preoccupied with material considerations. Their pleasures are material. They look askance at those who spent their lives in the pursuit of art. That is why they have attached a depreciatory sense to the word aesthete, which means merely one who has a special appreciation of beauty. How are we going to show that they are wrong? How are we going to show that there is something to choose between poetry and push-pin? I surmise that chose push-pin for its pleasant alliteration with poetry. Let us speak of lawn tennis. It is a popular game which many of us can play with pleasure. It needs skill and judgement, a good eye and a cool head. If I get the same amount of pleasure out of playing it as you get by looking at 's 'Entombment of Christ' in the Louvre, by listening to 's 'Eroica' or by reading 's 'Ash Wednesday', how are you going to prove that your pleasure is better and more refined than mine? Only, I should say, by manifesting that this gift you have of aesthetic appreciation has a moral effect on your character. benthem eliot george-eliot jeremy-bentham ludwig-van-beethoven pleasure titian utilitarianism W. Somerset Maugham
68db973 Hobbies are for pleasure, but rituals keep you going. pleasure rituals David Mitchell
27f168d Why had peace given place so soon to turmoil? To two separate solitudes? Because peace had been without thought? Without...integrity? How could she have felt like that without love? Was love essential? Did it even exist - the love she had dreamed of her life? If it did, it was too late now for her to find it. Must she make do with this instead, then? Only this? Pleasure without love? peace pleasure Mary Balogh
ea64fd2 Each one of us is left to choose our own quality of life and take pleasure where we find it with the understanding that, like Mom used to say, sooner or later something's gonna get you. pleasure David Sedaris
ba7bae7 Generally speaking, though, Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one. pleasure relax Elizabeth Gilbert
28473ee Wine is like many of the fine experiences in life which take time and experience to extract their full pleasure and meaning. life meaning-of-life pleasure wine Douglas Preston
b33a883 The memory of the pain did not destroy the reality of the pleasure; grief did not obliterate joy. inspirational joy memories memory pain past-and-present pleasure reality Orson Scott Card
427d291 If hot food is they key to maintaining an expedition's stamina, then low grade gut-rot alcohol is the key to sustaining its sense of pleasure. alcohol expedition food journey pleasure sustenance Tahir Shah
c0ea337 The principle is this: that in everything worth having, even in every pleasure, there is a point of pain and tedium that must be survived, so that the pleasure may revive and endure. The joy of battle comes after the first fear of death; the joy of reading Virgil comes after the bore of learning him; the glow of the seabather comes after the icy shok of the sea bath. pleasure G.K. Chesterton
715c9b5 He was familiar enough with pleasure to know it might become jaded or reluctant; but joy was literally foreign to him, a word he would never easily pronounce, an exhilaration that had some other reckless nationality. For this reason, Caro's wholeness in love, her happiness in it, made her exotic. love pleasure Shirley Hazzard
edc26f7 He wished someone in the course of history had thought of striking that word and all its derivatives from the English Language - happy, happier, happiest, happiness. What the devil did the words really mean anyway? Why not just the word pleasure, which was far more... well, pleasant. pleasure Mary Balogh
3e91d77 I've read de Sade, and Anais Nun, and , and the . First you have to have pleasure-- pain. pleasure Caitlin Moran
8875a4d There had been an attempt to humiliate him. It had not succeeded. He had paid, but pain, like pleasure, has no duration. Pride was an entity more persistent. pain pleasure pride Jack Vance
edf7ad2 An image flashed across her mind of two rams flinging their heads against each other on a rocky mountainside. What did the girl rams do? Faint with pleasure? Clap their cloven hooves? Lean against some nearby boulders, with little tubs of mountain grass, discussing the battle? discussing girl-rams pleasure rams Edward St. Aubyn
a84c192 My confessions did nothing to alter this situation, but for the first time in my life I felt that somebody actually knew me. Three somebodies, to be exact. Two were roaming the highway in a Cadillac, doing God knows what with a CB radio, but the other was as close to me as my own skin, and I could now feel the undiluted pleasure of her company. honesty knowing-someone pleasure truth David Sedaris
565b66b But if nostalgia means the powerful recollection of strong emotions--and a regret that such feelings are no longer present in our lives--then I plead guilty . . . And if we're talking about strong feelings that will never come again, I suppose it's possible to be nostalgic about remembered pain as well as remembered pleasure. And that opens up the field, doesn't it? julian-barnes memory nostalgia pain pleasure the-sense-of-an-ending Julian Barnes
f7256b7 Like the pleasure of friendship, the pleasure in beauty is curious: it aims to understand its object, and to value what it finds. curious disinterest friendship love pleasure value Roger Scruton
09284d2 They will not disappoint you, and you will look upon them more charitably. Men seek but one thing in life--their pleasure pleasure society W. Somerset Maugham
a34701b It was a sordid scene. Philip leaned over the rail, staring down, and he ceased to hear the music. They danced furiously. They danced round the room, slowly, talking very little, with all their attention given to the dance. The room was hot, and their faces shone with sweat. It seemed to Philip that they had thrown off the guard which people wear on their expression, the homage to convention, and he saw them now as they really were. In that moment of abandon they were strangely animal: some were foxy and some were wolflike; and others had the long, foolish face of sheep. Their skins were sallow from the unhealthy life the led and the poor food they ate. Their features were blunted by mean interests, and their little eyes were shifty and cunning. There was nothing of nobility in their bearing, and you felt that for all of them life was a long succession of petty concerns and sordid thoughts. The air was heavy with the musty smell of humanity. But they danced furiously as though impelled by some strange power within them, and it seemed to Philip that they were driven forward by a rage for enjoyment. They were seeking desperately to escape from a world of horror. The desire for pleasure which Cronshaw said was the only motive of human action urged them blindly on, and the very vehemence of the desire seemed to rob it of all pleasure. The were hurried on by a great wind, helplessly, they knew not why and they knew not whither. Fate seemed to tower above them, and they danced as though everlasting darkness were beneath their feet. Their silence was vaguely alarming. It was as if life terrified them and robbed them of power of speech so that the shriek which was in their hearts died at their throats. Their eyes were haggard and grim; and notwithstanding the beastly lust that disfigured them, and the meanness of their faces, and the cruelty, notwithstanding the stupidness which was the worst of all, the anguish of those fixed eyes made all that crowd terrible and pathetic. Philip loathed them, and yet his heart ached with the infinite pity which filled him. He took his coat from the cloak-room and went out into the bitter coldness of the night. dance fate horror pity pleasure sordid W. Somerset Maugham
5e0bcc3 I was a married woman! she said. Why does every generation believe it is the discoverer of pleasure? Your father was a spectacular lover. Even through the wall, I could hear the triumph in her voice. marital-satisfaction mothers-and-daughters pleasure Karen Essex
c4f7b9c "You're rather good at this, aren't you?" And she didn't just mean his reading of Gerrard. Vane's grin converted to a rakish smile. "I'm rather good at lots of things." His voice had lowered to a rumbling purr. He leaned closer. Patience tried, very hard, to ignore the vise slowly closing about her chest. She kept her eyes on his, drawing ever nearer, determined that she wouldn't- absolutely would not- allow her gaze to drop to his lips. As her heartbeat deepened, she raised one brow challengingly. "Such as?" By the time Patience reached that conclusion, she was utterly breathless- and utterly enthralled by the heady feelings slowly spiraling through her. Vane's confident possession of her lips, her mouth, left her giddy- pleasurably so. His hard lips moved on hers, and she softened, not just her lips, but every muscle, every limb. Slow heat washed through her, a tide of simple delight that seemed to have no greater meaning, no deeper import. It was all pleasure, simple pleasure. With a mental sigh, she lifted her arms and draped them over his shoulders. He shifted closer. Patience thrilled to the slow surge of his tongue against hers. Boldly, she returned the caress, the muscles beneath her hands tensed. Emboldened, she let her lips firm against his, and reveled in his immediate response. Hard transmuted to harder; lips, muscles, all became more definite, more sharply defined. It was fascinating- she became softer- he became harder. And behind his hardness came heat- a heat they both shared. It rose like a fever, turning the swirling pleasure hot. Beyond the caress of his lips, he hadn't touched her, yet every nerve in her body was heating, simmering with sensation. The warm tide spread, swelled; the temperature increased. And she was flushed, restless- wanting." passion patience-and-vane pleasure Stephanie Laurens
6918311 Even connoisseurship can have politics, Slow Food wagers, since an eater in closer touch with his senses will find less pleasure in a box of Chicken McNuggets than in a pastured chicken or a rare breed of pig. It's all very Italian (and decidedly un-American) to insist that doing the right thing is the most pleasurable thing, and that the act of consumption might be an act of addition rather than subtraction. naturalism pleasure Michael Pollan
0255c57 She had no idea how George delighted in her funny ways, or watched her through the window as she stood outside, finishing an apple or nibbling sunflower seeds. She did not register his glances, his quick inventory of her clothes, his pleasure in her face and wrists. She did not know his heart. delight jess-and-george pleasure Allegra Goodman
cd631a5 Still others reflected on how quickly the food could be snatched from a man's table, or the child from a woman's breast, or the wife from a man's bedcloset, that no strength of grasp could hold these goods in place. And others remarked to themselves how sweet these goods were, in spite of that, and saw that pleasure lost in every moment is pleasure lost forever. happiness lost pleasure Jane Smiley
794eb9b "Stop." She covered her breast with her own hand. "That's no' a healer's touch." His smile was sin incarnate. "Ye've the right of it there, lass. That's a lover's touch. And ye've had only the smallest bit of the pleasure, only a taste of what I would give ye an' ye allow it." "No," She scrambled to her feet to put some distance between them. "An' ye try to take me, I'll scratch yer eyes out, Rob MacLaren." "I'd not take ye. Not a step further than ye wish. I ken ye're a virgin and wanting to stay that way," he said earnestly. "But there's great delight for a man in the giving of pleasure, ye see. And ways around a maidenhead that'll leave ye still pure when we're done." She'd forgotten to breathe as he spoke. Now she sucked in a quick breath. "Shall I pleasure ye, Elspeth?" highlander-romance pleasure suggestive Connie Mason
3dfd5b8 "Elspeth reached up a tentative hand to comfort him, palming the cheek that wasn't covered with woad. He wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her closer. Her lips parted. His tongue swept in. Her belly clenched, and a warm glow settled between her legs. He left her lips and began kissing her chin, her cheeks, her neck. "Ach! Ye're sweet, lass." Pity dissipated like morning mist. Instead, little wisps of pleasure followed his mouth's path. The stubble of his beard grazed the tops of her breasts, and her nipples tightened almost painfully. She sucked her breath over her teeth to keep from crying out in pleasure and surprise when his palm covered her breast, the pressure sweet even through the stiff boning of her pink silk bodice." highlander-romance physical-pleasure pleasure sensational Connie Mason
bcedeb3 Gasping desperately, she clenched her hands on his shoulders, fingers sinking deep. His lips firmed, he suckled gently- Patience felt the earth quake. The heat of his mouth shocked her- the wet sweep of his tongue scalded her. She gave a strangled cry. That sound, keenly feminine, acutely evocative, caught and focused Vane's attention. Focused every hunter's instinct. Desire heightened, need escalated. His demons turned frenzied- her siren's song lured them on. Urged him on. Compulsion swelled- tense, turbulent, powerful. Desire seethed hotly. He drew a ragged breath- And remembered- all he'd nearly forgotten, all her wild responses had driven from his mind. This was one seduction he had to, need to, manage perfectly- this time, there was meaning beyond the act. Seducing Patience Debbington was too important to rush- conquering her senses, her body, was only the first step. He didn't want her just once- he wanted her for a lifetime. Dragging in a shuddering breath, Vane caught hold of his reins and hauled his impulses up short. Something in him wailed with frustration. He shut his mind to the relentless pounding of his arousal. And set himself to soothe hers. He knew how. There were planes of warm desire on which women could float, neither driven, nor quiescent, but simply buoyed on a sea of pleasure. With hands and lips, mouth and tongue, he soothed her fever flesh, took the sting from her aches, the edge from her passion, and eased her into that pleasured sea. Patience was beyond understanding- all she knew was the peace, the calm, the profound pleasure that welled and washed through her. Content, she flowed with the tide, letting her senses stretch. The whirling that had disoriented her slowed; her mind steadied. Full consciousness, when it came, was no shock; the continuing touch of Vane's hands, the artful caress of his lips, his tongue, were familiar- no threat. passion patience-and-vane pleasure sensations Stephanie Laurens
4af6496 ... both pleasure and devotion require a stress-free space in which to flourish... life love pleasure Elizabeth Gilbert
ff9a490 For Sade, all tenderness is false, a deceit, a trap; all pleasure contains within itself the seeds of atrocities; all beds are minefields. pleasure tenderness Angela Carter
c854ae6 Whoever thought that pleasure makes you happy? pleasure Hanif Kureishi
3427e0c Then there are the fully intentional pleasures, which, although in some way tied up with sensory or perceptual experience, are modes of exploration of the world. Aesthetic pleasures are like this. Aesthetic pleasures are contemplative - they involve studying an object OUTSIDE of the self, to which one is GIVING something (namely, attention and all that flows from it), and not TAKING, as in the pleasure that comes from drugs and drinks. Hence such pleasures are not addictive - there is no pathway to reward that can be short-circuited here, and a serotonin injection is not a cheap way of obtaining the experience of PARISFAL or THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. beauty contemplation pleasure study Roger Scruton
1d0f154 "Put it this way, George," he suggested, when he had savoured the night air for a moment. "You traveling on business, or for pleasure in this thing? Which is it? Smiley's reply was also slow in coming, and as indirect: "I was never conscious of pleasure," he said. "Or perhaps I mean: of the distinction." pleasure John le Carré
abddbd3 I don't want eternal life. I want a little joy, a large amount of pleasure, and a swift death once I lose the appetite for either. life pleasure purpose David Gemmell
96a8bf0 She found pleasure in memories, as an old woman might have done. pleasure Jean Rhys
32ff2f8 Tiramisu for desert. pleasure tiramisu Elizabeth Gilbert
6612c36 ... the appreciation of pleasure can be an anchor of one's humanity. life pleasure Elizabeth Gilbert
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