Rebecca Solnit Quotes

Nature has placed in the front part of man, as he moves, all those parts which when struck cause him to feel pain; and this is felt in the joints of the legs, the forehead and the nose, and has been so devised for the preservation of man, because if such pain were not felt in these limbs they would be destroyed by the many blows they receive.

Pain is the basic mechanism built into us by millions of years of evolution which safeguards us by warning when something threatens our survival.

Pain is a message, and you can choose to ignore that message.

If you take a needle and stick her in the booty and take a needle and stick me in the booty, we're both going to say ouch.

Do you know what pain is, Cammie? It’s the body’s physical response to imminent harm. It is the mind’s way of telling us to move our hand off the stove or let go of the broken glass.

We have emotions for a reason; for instance, imagine pain. You have pain so that if you touch something that's hot, or if you slam your hand with a hammer, you will pull your hand away and not do that again.

I come from a violent background. So I became hard. I realised that I had made myself that way to deal with a feeling of abandonment and shame.

I don't care what you do to me, but I don't want you to hurt me. I've had enough hurt already in my life. More than enough. Now I want to be happy.

How do you know yer alive if you don't hurt?

Nature gave us pain as a messaging device to tell us that we are approaching, or that we have exceeded, our limits in some way.

Pain is always preferable to numbness.

A pinch is a pinch. If you pinch my right nipple, I'm going to say, 'ouch.' If I pinch your right nipple, you're going to say 'ouch.' A foul is a foul and a flagrant is a flagrant.

Pain, I came to feel, might well prove to be the sole proof of the persistence of consciousness within the flesh, the sole physical expression of consciousness. As my body acquired muscle, and in turn strength, there was gradually born within me a tendency towards the positive acceptance of pain, and my interest in physical suffering deepened.

I've always protected myself when it comes to love. And maybe that's the problem. By not letting myself get hurt now, it ripples into much bigger pain later.

All pain is the same. Only the details are different.

God never allows pain without a purpose.

Pain is the body's way of ridding itself of weakness.

My skin burns where it meets his. It feels better than good, but it sets off a strange aching in my chest.

You show you care, you die.You show you fear, you die.You show nothing, maybe you live.

Sometimes, pain is all that lets you know you're alive.

A lump in the throat is worth two on the head.

It was as if pain were a room he had entered and the door had been locked behind him.

One thing I'm recognizing more and more in myself - and looking to change - is going down more of a self-destructive path when I feel pain. I'm trying to avoid that as much as possible. That is an impulse, when I feel out of control.

It’s precisely because of the pain, the we can get the feeling, through this process, of really being alive—or at least a partial sense of it.