proverb · Words worth keeping
Pains are the wages of ill-pleasures.
Pains are the wages of ill-pleasures.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying presents pain as payment for harmful pleasures. Its wage metaphor makes an unwanted consequence appear to follow an earlier indulgence.
What the words are saying
Ill-pleasures qualifies the activity being criticised, but does not define it. A useful application examines a concrete choice and its consequences instead of assuming that anyone in pain has acted badly. The metaphor can prompt responsibility where a connection is actually known; it cannot turn suffering into evidence of guilt.
Everyday example
Someone recognises that a chosen habit repeatedly disrupts shared plans and changes the behaviour instead of dismissing the consequences.
When to use it
Use it to discuss a known consequence of an identified harmful choice.
What it does not mean
Pain does not prove wrongdoing or establish a moral cause of illness.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 1207 · Pains
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English