He that loves pleasure must for pleasure fall. Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus
Come live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove. Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
It is only by enlarging the scope of one’s tastes and one’s fantasies, by sacrificing everything to pleasure, that the unfortunate individual called Man, thrown despite himself into this sad world, can succeed in gathering a few roses among life’s thorns. Marquis de Sade
Pleasure cannot be shared; like Pain, it can only be experienced or inflicted, and when we give Pleasure to our Lovers or bestow Charity upon the Needy, we do so, not to gratify the object of our Benevolence, but only ourselves. For the Truth is that we are kind for the same reason as we are cruel, in order that we may enhance the sense of our own Power. Aldous Huxley, After Many a Summer Dies the Swan
She was cold by nature, self-love predominating over passion; rather than being virtuous, she preferred to have her pleasures all to herself. Émile Zola, Pot-Bouille
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. Edgar Allan Poe, Poems and Essays
Old boys have their playthings as well as young ones; the difference is only in the price. Benjamin Franklin
The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudices. Frederick the Great
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more. Lord Byron
But pleasures are like poppies spread;
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed.
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white – then melts forever. Robert Burns, Tam o’ Shanter
In travelling
I shape myself betimes to idleness
And take fools’ pleasure. George Eliot, The Spanish Gypsy
A happy people with few and simple pleasures. Whisky Galore! 1949 ***** starring Basil Radford & Joan Greenwood & James Robertson Justice & Gordon Jackson & Wylie Watson & Catherine Lacey & Jean Cadell & Bruce Seton & Henry Mollison & Morland Graham & John Gregson & Gabrielle Blunt et al, director Alexander Mackendrick, opening commentary
Pleasure of life, what is’t? only the good hours
Of an ague. John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
Business first; pleasure afterwards. William Makepeace Thackeray
Ever let the fancy roam,
Pleasure never is at home. John Keats, Fancy, 1820
O sweet Fancy! let her loose;
Summer’s joys are spoilt by use. ibid.
Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike. John F Kennedy
Pleasure’s a sin, and sometimes sin’s a pleasure. Lord Byron, Don Juan
My one guilty pleasure is a good rack of ribs. House of Cards s1e1: Chapter 1, Frank at Freddy’s BBQ Joint, Netflix 2013
You churchmen know how to renounce pleasures, don’t you? Suburra: Blood on Rome s3e3: The Party, Amedeo to Cardinal, Netflix 2022