60 Pleasure Quotes to Bring You Contentment & Happiness

When the things that usually bring you happiness don’t anymore, read this list of pleasure quotes and brighten your mood!

We live for pleasure. Eating, drinking, touching, and hearing give us a little rush of happiness. These activities are considered the most basic forms of pleasure.

But, as time passes, people seek pleasure in more profound aspects of life. They start looking for it in their jobs, relationships, hobbies, and even within themselves.

People begin to desire adventure in their lives, and because of that, more people are looking for ways to escape their routines.

Pleasure is life’s elixir that carries people through the day. It also keeps them from straying too far from the path of happiness.

But, sometimes, pursuing pleasure leads to dark places such as drugs, alcohol, and unhealthy relationships.

To prevent these circumstances from happening and to learn more about the concept of pleasure, read the entire collection below!

We’re sure you’ll find a quote that will resonate with your heart’s desires.

Let’s begin!

And don’t forget to check out these happiness quotes and desire quotes.

Best Pleasure Quotes

1. “Simply enjoy life and the great pleasures that come with it.” – Karolina Kurkova 

2. “Give them pleasure. The same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.” – Alfred Hitchcock

3. “Pleasure is the only thing one should live for, nothing ages like happiness.” – Oscar Wilde

4. “A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” – Walter Bagehot

5. “Every moment has its pleasures and its hope.” – Jane Austen

6. “Many of us pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that we hurry past it.” – Søren Kierkegaard

7. “I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.” – John D. Rockefeller Jr.

8. “Pleasure can impact your happiness for better or worse, but it is not happiness.” – James Randall Robison

9. “Pleasures take to themselves wings and fly away; true knowledge remains forever.” – Dorothea Dix 

10. “As far as pleasures, you’ve got to have limits. You shouldn’t have too much of good things, so you’ll always have a desire for more, and you won’t get bored.” – Compay Segundo

Famous Quotes About Pleasure

11. “The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” – Leonardo da Vinci

12. “Pleasure is the physical manifestation of joy.” – Cherie Carter-Scott

13. “The sweetest pleasures are those which are hardest to be won.” – Casanova

14. “There is no such thing as a guilty pleasure.” – Douglas Wilson

15. “The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones.” – Erin Morgenstern

16. “Innocent pleasures are got by virtue and well-earned wealth.” – Dayananda Saraswati

17. “Worldly pleasures, such as flow from greatness, riches, honors, and sensual gratifications, are infinitely worse than none.” – David Brainerd

18. “Simple pleasures were all the pleasures that I knew as a child.” – Willie Stargell

19. “Real pleasure comes from overcoming challenges, feeling confidence in your abilities, and experiencing the power this brings.” – Robert Greene

20. “If pleasure is what you want, do not suppress the desire. Seek it intelligently.” – Huston Smith

Also read: Famous Quotes, Positive Quotes

Deep Pleasure Quotes to Ponder On

21. “I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.” – Oscar Wilde

22. “Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.” – Samuel Johnson

23. “Pleasures are like poppies spread: you seize the flower, its bloom is shed.” – Robert Burns

24. “Pleasure only starts once the worm has got into the fruit; to become delightful, happiness must be tainted with poison.” – Georges Bataille

25. “Pleasures don’t last like the snow falls in the river, a moment white—then melts forever.” – Minette Walters

26. “Pleasure is the first good. It is the beginning of every choice and every aversion. It is the absence of pain in the body and of troubles in the soul.” – Epicurus

27. “Pleasure’s a moth, that sleeps by day and dances by false glare at night; but joy’s a butterfly, that loves to spread its wings in nature’s light.” – William Henry Davies

28. “Pleasure to me is wonder—the unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability. To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite; these are to me the springs of delight and beauty.” – H. P. Lovecraft

Also read: Having Fun Quotes, Contentment Quotes

Pleasure Quotes for Those Who Seek Contentment in Love

29. “The greatest pleasure of life is love.” – Euripides

30. “The pleasures of love are always in proportion to our fears.” – Stendhal

31. “If we seek the pleasures of love, passion should be occasional, and common sense continual.” – Robertson Davies

Also read: True Love Quotes

Short Pleasure Quotes That Will Give You Life-Changing Advice

32. “We enjoy thoroughly only the pleasure that we give.” – Alexandre Dumas

33. “What we learn with pleasure we never forget.” – Louis Mercier

34. “Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.” – Seneca

35. “We tire of those pleasures we take, but never of those we give.” – John Petit-Senn

36. “To make pleasures pleasant shortens them.” – Charles Buxton

37. ”We go on in our pleasures thinking they’re going to last forever.” – Billy Graham

38. “Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr

39. “The greatest pleasures are only narrowly separated from disgust.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero

40. “A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered.” – C. S. Lewis

Pleasure Quotes for People With Regrets

41. “The only pain pleasure is the pleasure of the pain.” – Anne Rice

42. “Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain.” – John Selden

43. “Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains.” – Democritus

44. “The pleasure is there; between your expectations and regrets.” – Bryant McGill

Pleasure Quotes That Tackle One’s Fulfillment in Life

45. “There’s no point in living without the pleasure of living.” – B.S. Murthy

46. “The more worldly pleasure we enjoy, the less satisfied and contented we are with life.” – Billy Graham

47. “The choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation.” – Benjamin Disraeli

48. “The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount.” – Joseph Addison

49. “Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of those tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. And if you don’t collect all these tiny successes, the big ones don’t really mean anything.” – Norman Lear

50. “Pleasure is an affectivity with pretensions to break the forms of being without recognizing its unending need for being.” – Elisabeth Louise Thomas

Pleasure Quotes for Work

51. “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” – Aristotle

52. “When work is a pleasure, life is a joy! When work is a duty, life is slavery.” – Maxim Gorky 

53. “Work without pleasure will cause pressure that cannot be measured.” – Adedayo Olabamiji

54. “The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and find in it our pleasure.” – Francoise Bertaut de Motteville

More Quotes About Pleasure

55. “Man’s pleasure is a short time growing, and it falls to the ground as quickly.” – Anonymous

56. “The pleasures arising from thinking and learning will make us think and learn all the more.” – Aristotle

57. “Tranquil pleasures last the longest; we are not fitted to bear the burden of great joys.” – Christian Nestell Bovee

58. “There are no pleasures in a fight, but some of my fights have been a pleasure to win.” – Muhammad Ali

59. “I deserved to find pleasure that surpassed my imagination, better than any I had experienced.” – Eric Jerome Dickey

60. “There is a pleasure when a sore is scratched, but to be without sores is more pleasurable still. Just so, there are pleasures in worldly desires, but to be without desires is more pleasurable still.” – Nagarjuna 

Did This Collection Make You Think About the Most Pleasurable Aspects of Your Life?

Pleasure is a part of our every day. Without it, we wouldn’t be motivated to do anything at all. This is also why we strive to find pleasurable things in every aspect of life.

For example, humans look for pleasure within themselves. They cultivate their hobbies and work on their talents. Outside of that, people engage in social interactions, intellectual pursuits, and spiritual experiences.

These activities will eventually lead to the growth of each individual. But, in today’s busy world, people get so caught up in the hustle and grind that they sometimes forget about the things that bring them true contentment. Continuing down this road might lead to people missing out on opportunities to grow and learn.

On the flip side, some people are drowning in destructive pleasures. This includes being addicted to drugs, alcohol, gambling, and other vices.

People must remember that pleasure is inherently good. But, like everything else, too much of anything will never lead to true happiness. We must think about our choices and always strive to have a balance between our needs and wants.

With that, we hope this list was able to inform you of the pros and cons of pleasure. Always consider every aspect, but also don’t be afraid of grabbing opportunities!

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Karen Danao

Hi, I’m Karen, a content curator and writer for Quote Ambition; I’m also a marketing and advertising professional. Beyond the keyboard and the screen, I’m someone who’s out to enjoy every bit that life has to offer!

Poetry, philosophy, history, and movies are all topics I love writing about! However, my true passion is in traveling, photography, and finding common ground to which everyone from different cultures can relate.

With the many places I’ve been to, I found that love, inspiration, and happiness are some things that bring people together. No matter how different we are on the outside, I’m a true believer that our emotions don’t lie; if you dig deep into our psyche, we’re all the same inside.

This belief was further amplified when I joined Quote Ambition. Through the quotes I’ve read, collected, organized, and written about, I found that humans are resilient, creative, and compassionate.

We take from each others’ hearts and courage, and it’s through our individual experiences that we learn how to rise above our challenges and pain. In so many ways, Quote Ambition is a platform that allows people from all over the world to gain the inspiration they need anytime, anywhere!

You can find me on MuckRack and LinkedIn.