... When Princes devote themselves rather to pleasure than to arms, they lose their dominions.

Life does not agree with philosophy: There is no happiness that is not idleness, and only what is useless is pleasurable.

In Rome the statues, in Paris the paintings, and in Prague the buildings suggest that pleasure can be an education.

Pleasure from the senses seems like nectar at first, but it is bitter as poison in the end.

Presents are made for the pleasure of who gives them, not the merits of who receives them.

“The first sure symptom of a mind in health Is rest of heart and pleasure felt at home.”

“Happiness is so nonsynonymous with joy or pleasure that it is not infrequently sought and felt in grief and deprivation.”

“To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make.”

The vacancy left by absence of worship is filled by mere killing of time and by boredom, which is directly related to inability to enjoy leisure; for one can only be bored if the spiritual power to be leisurely has been lost. There is an entry in Baudelaire... "One must work, if not from taste then at least from despair. For, to reduce everything to a single truth: work is less boring than pleasure.

Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain. What was once foolishness to us—a crucified God—must become our wisdom and our power and our only boast in this world.