50 Quotes About Experiencing Pain

Experiencing pain is an intrinsic part of the human journey, a threshold through which we often find deeper meaning, resilience, and transformation. While challenging, pain can teach us invaluable lessons about ourselves and the world around us. In this collection, we explore 50 poignant quotes that delve into the multifaceted nature of pain—its ability to inspire growth, foster empathy, and ultimately, illuminate the path to healing. Whether you're seeking solace or understanding, these quotes offer a tapestry of perspectives from writers, philosophers, and thinkers who have captured the essence of enduring and transcending pain. Join us as we navigate the complex emotions and insights that accompany this universal experience.

1. “I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.” - Edgar Allan Poe

2. “So instead of ignoring the pain, I called out to it, reaching for more. Pain is part of who I am. It’s the defining characteristic of a Shifter’s transformation. Pain is what I suffer from my enemies. It is what I deal out to those who break our laws. It is what I protect my charges from. Pain is what I inherited from fate, that fickle bitch who gave me a mouth and fists, then put me in a world that wanted only my womb and my cradled arms.” - Rachel Vincent

3. “Love SorrowLove sorrow. She is yours now, and you musttake care of what has beengiven. Brush her hair, help herinto her little coat, hold her hand,especially when crossing a street. For, think,what if you should lose her? Then you would besorrow yourself; her drawn face, her sleeplessnesswould be yours. Take care, touchher forehead that she feel herself not soutterly alone. And smile, that she does notaltogether forget the world before the lesson.Have patience in abundance. And do notever lie or ever leave her even for a momentby herself, which is to say, possibly, again,abandoned. She is strange, mute, difficult,sometimes unmanageable but, remember, she is a child.And amazing things can happen. And you may see,as the two of you gowalking together in the morning light, howlittle by little she relaxes; she looks about her;she begins to grow.” - Mary Oliver

4. “Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there are no heroes.” - George Orwell

5. “Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you, --will invite you to add something to the pleasure of others, --or to diminish something of their pains.” - Jeremy Bentham

6. “It’s the same with people who say, ‘Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ Even people who say this must realize that the exact opposite is true. What doesn’t kill you maims you, cripples you, leaves you weak, makes you whiny and full of yourself at the same time. The more pain, the more pompous you get. Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you incredibly annoying.” - Rob Sheffield

7. “In order to rise from its own ashes, a Phoenix first must burn.” - Octavia Butler

8. “Perhaps not willingly, but pain can make a man do things he wouldn't willingly do.” - Anne Bishop

9. “Pain is the feeling. Suffering is the effect the pain inflicts. If one can endure pain, one can live without suffering. If one can withstand pain, one can withstand anything. If one can learn to control pain, one can learn to control oneself. ” - james frey

10. “Every pain is a lesson.” - Frank Delaney

11. “And then I became aware of all the magnificent silk wrapped around my body, and had the feeling I might drown in beauty. At that moment, beauty itself struck me as a kind of painful melancholy.” - Arthur Golden

12. “It was the sheer variety of the pain that stopped me from crying out. It came from so many places, spoke so many languages, wore so many dazzling varieties of ethnic costume, that for a full fifteen seconds I could only hang my jaw in amazement.” - Hugh Laurie

13. “And then a throb hits you on the left ide of the head so hard that your head bobs to the right...There's no way that came from inside your head, you think. That's no metaphysical crisis. God just punched you in the face.” - Andrew Levy

14. “In a world gushing blood day and night, you never stop mopping up pain.” - Aberjhani

15. “She seemed dressed in all of me, stretched across my shame.All the torment and the pain leaked through and covered me.I'd do anything to have her to myself.Just to have her for myselfNow I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do when she makes me sane.She is everything to me.The unrequited dreamA song that no one sings.The unattainable, Shes a myth that I have to believe inAll I need to make it real is one more reasonI don't know what to do, I don't know what to do when she makes me sad.” - Slipknot

16. “Martin said, "It feels as though part of my self has detached and gone to Amsterdam, where it—she—is waiting for me. Do you know about phantom-limb syndrome?" Julia nodded. "There's pain where she ought to be. It's feeding the other pain, the thing that makes me wash and count and all that. So her absence is stopping me from going to find her. Do you see?” - Audrey Niffenegger

17. “If I can see pain in your eyes then share with me your tears. If I can see joy in your eyes then share with me your smile.” - Santosh Kalwar

18. “Sometimes, pain is all that lets you know you're alive.” - Robert Jordan

19. “What if my greatest disappointments, or the aching of this life, is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?” - Laura Story

20. “Many animals experience pain, anxiety and suffering, physically and psychologically, when they are held in captivity or subjected to starvation, social isolation, physical restraint, or painful situations from which they cannot escape. Even if it is not the same experience of pain, anxiety, or suffering undergone by humans- or even other animals, including members of the same species- an individual's pain, suffering, and anxiety matter.” - Marc Bekoff

21. “If my eyes have pain, I close them; If my body aches, I rest it; If my heart breaks, I mend it; If my soul is lost, I pray for it” - Jeremy Aldana

22. “The sun rises bright and beautiful as if it feels no pain.It must not see, it must not hear, it can't possibly or it would not be able to overcome so defiantly.My bed creaks and whines when I leave it behind.I don't know why it tries so hard to hold onto me but yet I continue to try and overcome.I put on my shirt, my pants that fit me, find my socks and glue my heel back to my boot.My gloves are lost, my coat is torn but my scarf still keeps me warm and so I continue to try and overcome.Work has no pride, no place for me but I have no other place to be.My broken dreams continue to rise, my hopes continue to fade but still I try to overcome.A broken window and a gas tank on E, it's not Friday so I have to walk each day for at least another three.And so I walk while the world cries and pleas and tries to swallow me but still I continue and try to overcome.My lock on my door only turns halfway, but I don't have anything to steal anyway.My fridge is bare but my cabinet still holds three so I continue to try and overcome.The news haunts me, the weather threatens to rain down on me but another day has gone by.And I have overcome, I have overcome … I have overcome - the sun has nothing on me.” - Jennifer Loren

23. “...I wondered why so much had been written about love's pain and so little about the glorious relief of being delivered from love's pain.” - Irene Hunt

24. “I have stopped painting. I stand in front of the easel, brush in hand, but my mind is blank. It is as if I have been struck by a strange kind of blindness.” - Linda Olsson

25. “Suffering often draws us closer to God. Instead of being a sign of God's punishment or distance, suffering can purify us, lead us into the heart of God, and transform our souls.” - Allen R. Hunt

26. “Leaving would imply suitcases and empty drawers, and late birthday cards with ten-dollar bills stuffed inside.” - Julie Kagawa

27. “No intentes enterrar el dolor: se extenderá a través de la tierra, bajo tus pies; se filtrará en el agua que hayas de beber y te envenenará la sangre. Las heridas se cierran, pero siempre quedan cicatrices más o menos visibles que volverán a molestar cuando cambie el tiempo, recordándote en la piel su existencia, y con ella el golpe que las originó. Y el recuerdo del golpe afectará a decisiones futuras, creará miedos inútiles y tristezas arrastradas, y tú crecerás como una criatura apagada y cobarde. ¿Para qué intentar huir y dejar atrás la ciudad donde caíste? ¿Por la vana esperanza de que en otro lugar, en un clima más benigno, ya no te dolerán las cicatrices y beberás un agua más limpia? A tu alrededor se alzarán las mismas ruinas de tu vida, porque allá donde vayas llevarás a la ciudad contigo. No hay tierra nueva ni mar nuevo, la vida que has malogrado malograda queda en cualquier parte del mundo.” - Lucía Etxebarria

28. “But what if all the tranquility, all the comfort, all the contentment were now to come to a horrifying end?” - Franz Kafka

29. “The cure for pain is in the pain.” - Rumi

30. “We all have scars, Kere. Inside and out. Wounds that go so deep, they leave a permanent mark on us. But that doesn’t make them ugly or revolting. They were hard lessons learned and for better or worse, they changed us. No matter how hard you try to hide them, they will always be there. And I think your scars are beautiful because they are what have made you the man I care about.” - Zarya Starska” - Sherrilyn Kenyon

31. “Because everything worth having hurts.” - Laurell K. Hamilton

32. “An Overall Feeling of Doom that One Cannot Ever Escape no Matter What One Does” - Lemony Snicket

33. “Somewhere beyond the pain, you turn around and realize that life is beautiful.” - T.L. Rese

34. “I thought about how stupid it is, that all of us are born destined to desire somebody else, though desire brings with it such disappointment and pain. Humankind's history must be scored bloody with heartbreak. This hankering for affection is a blight upon us.” - Sonya Hartnett

35. “I think what hurts the most is that I just really want to belong. I want to stand inside the circle of other people and be noticed for the right things, but it seems like the wrong things are always bigger. And all the advie I've ever read --smile more, be yourself, dream big, stay positive--seems to have some darker side that's never mentioned.” - Jane Devin

36. “It was sadness, lostness, and the worst thing about it was the way it seemed like a default—like it was there all the time, and all her other expressions were just an array of masks she used to cover it up.” - Laini Taylor

37. “Oh, honey, of course it hurts! Beauty is pain. But you don't want to look like a troll, do you?” - Libba Bray

38. “I'd like to die listening to a piece of music. I imagine this as so easy, so natural, but naturally it's quite impossible. Notes stab too softly. The wounds they leave behind may smart, but they don't fester. Melancholy and pain trickle out instead of blood. When the notes cease, all is peaceful within me again.” - Robert Walser

39. “لولا الألم لكان المرض راحة تحبب الكسل، ولولا المرض لافترست الصحة أجمل نوازع الرحمة في الإنسان، ولولا الصحة لما قام الإنسان بواجب ولا بادر إلى مكرمة، ولولا الواجبات والمكرمات لما كان لوجود الإنسان في هذه الحياة معنى.” - مصطفى السباعي

40. “Do not Forget PAIN, You Endure in it's presence!!” - Abhijeet Sawant

41. “...his soul (was) ringing like a well-struck bell. But it was a bell that rang with more than joy and adoration — there was the sound there too of anger and resentment. She would not look at him because she did not want to be in his presence. She hated him and he (how could he not?) hated her in return.” - Paul Hoffman

42. “...Again she did not seem to hear, still looking into Cale’s eyes. Then slowly, hopelessly, she dropped her gaze. “I understand,” she said. It was that, of course, that pierced him as if she had stabbed him through the heart. To him it was the sound of lost faith and it was unendurable. He felt he’d become a kind of god in her eyes, and it was simply impossible to give up her adoration.” - Paul Hoffman

43. “You really think joy is easier to come by than pain? What have you had more of?” - Laini Taylor

44. “... and for the first time he realized the pain inevitable in any human relationship - pain suffered and pain inflicted. How foolish we were to be afraid of loneliness.” - Graham Greene The Heart of the Matter

45. “You’re my favorite subject, Love. I’ll start with your eyes. I fell in love with those first. One look was like a punch to the guy. You have these ageless eyes on such a young face. I just knew that you had seen bad things, and from the start, I knew that you could understand pain. Understand feeling hopeless and helpless and alone. I fell in love with your eyes first because I looked into their depths and saw the other half of my soul.” - R.K. Lilley

46. “The thing was, if I had found a way to escape- even for just a little while- I knew the pain would be there waiting for me when I got back.” - Neal Shusterman

47. “You'll see some bad things, but if you didn't see them, they'd still be happening.” - Paula Fox

48. “…If one who slays one is a murderer then he who slays a thousand is not a hero,' said Lalu.” - Mulk Raj Anand

49. “The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live in. The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment He has scattered broadcast...The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God...Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.” - C.S. Lewis

50. “You go to bed different... tossing and turning is the norm... you wake to a sunny day but clouds follow you wherever you go. You wonder if you are strong enough to climb out of the depression you are living in and your prayers to God seem empty because you are sooo very tired of telling him the same thing over and over again..... if we are really being real... there may even be moments after impact you forget how to pray... maybe you don't even want to.” - Erica Stone