Masochism is not a word a lot of people know, but it does have a pretty big meaning. A lot of people that do know the meaning may associate masochism with sadism but they are completely different words that stand on opposite sides.
A masochist is when a person gets pleasure out of feeling pain, while a sadist is a person that gets pleasure out of inflicting pain onto another person.
Aside from the s*xual part of the word, you can also be a masochist in your everyday life without it resulting in s*xual pleasure. If you are a masochist you may judge yourself for your feelings, be attracted to narcissistic people, not know when to say “no”, fail to stand up for yourself, or if something in your life is going too good you will most likely run away from it because you feel you are unworthy of that good thing.
Masochism Quotes
“Acting is a masochistic form of exhibitionism. It is not quite the occupation of an adult.” – Laurence Olivier
“Heart always wins out over the mind. The heart, although reckless and suicidal and a masochist all on its own, always gets its way.” – J.A. Redmerski
“In the end, you need to be a little masochistic to be a goalkeeper. A masochist and egocentric as well.” – Gianluigi Buffon
“In good old Colonial Dunsboro, masochism is a valuable job skill. It is in most jobs.” – Chuck Palahniuk, ‘Choke’
“I ache for the touch of your lips dear, but much more for the touch of your whips dear.” – Tom Lehrer
““Pain makes me grow. Growing is what I want. Therefore, for me pain is pleasure.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
“‘It’s not your fate to be well treated,’ Ignatius cried. ‘You’re an overt masochist. Nice treatment will confuse and destroy you.’” – John Kennedy Toole
“Golfers have a tendency to be very masochistic. They like to punish themselves for some reason. A lot of them like tough courses.” – Jack Nicklaus
“Everyone in a decadent society, Lorrain urges, is guilty. Everyone loves masking murder and everyone takes masochistic pleasure in the risk of discovery and punishment.” – Jennifer Birkett
“There’s something perverse about women…they’re all masochists at heart.” – Henry Miller
“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.” – Stephenie Meyer
“Or maybe I’m a masochist and I like girls who are as annoying as h*ll! Don’t try to analyze me, Jenna. I am what I am.” – Mary E. Pearso
“People think I take some sort of masochistic pleasure out of putting out music that’s gonna be unpopular.” – Billy Corgan
“The temptation is always there: to punish oneself. To make oneself miserable.” – Marty Rubin
“You can raise welts like nobody else, as we dance to the Masochism Tango.” – Tom Lehrer
“But when I lose my temper, I find it difficult to forgive myself. I feel I’ve failed. I can be calm in a crisis, in the face of death or things that hurt badly. I don’t get hysterical, which may be masochistic of me.” – Emma Thompson
“If God is real, I think he might be some kind of masochist. I imagine he sits there up on his cloud, long white robes flowing, drinking a forty of Mickey’s and smoking a Winston as he flips me the bird and plans what he’ll do next to piss me off.” – T.J. Klune
“I admire when people take the harder path, not because they are masochistic and want to beat themselves up, but because you actually kind of learn more and I think you grow more.” – Josh Hartnett
“Have you ever loved someone you knew was wrong for you? Someone who hurt you over and over again but you could forgive them because losing them would hurt even more?” – Tom Taylor, ‘Injustice: Gods Among Us, Vol. 1’
“Lesbians, homosexuals, masochism, sadism are not perversions. Actually, there are only two perversions: hockey on grass and ballet on ice.” – Faina Ranevskaya
“To suffer unecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic.” – Viktor E. Frankl
“When an evil masochist dies, does he go to h*ll, or would heaven be a better punishment?” – Steven Wright
“The margins for restaurants to make money are very, very narrow. It’s a tough business, and to be a chef is a little bit masochistic.” – Anne Burrell
“Masochism is the art of turning punishments into rewards.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“When blended with sexuality, the death instinct is transformed into more harmless impulses expressed in sadism or masochism.” – Erich Fromm
“The thrill of terror is passive, masochistic, and implicitly feminine. It is imaginative submission to overwhelming superior force.” – Camille Paglia
“Look at you. Why is the only woman you ever cared about a world-class criminal – are you a masochist?” – Arthur Conan Doyle
“Like neurotics obsessed with amputating their own healthy limbs, middle-class blacks concerned with ‘keeping it real’ are engaging in gratuitously self-destructive and violently masochistic behavior.” – Thomas Chatterton Williams
“As his inner masochist came to bloom against the door of Cooper’s trailer, Chenco felt like he’d pulled his chest cavity wide open and stood ready for Steve. He wanted this, he got off on this, not so much with his d*ck but with something so deep inside him it made d*cks seem cheap.” – Heidi Cullinan, ‘Tough Love’
“I have always had the urge to open forbidden doors: with a curiosity and an obstinacy that verge on masochism.” – Jeanne Moreau
Sigmund Freud already discovered that suffering gives us pleasure – in a strange masochistic way. The tyranny of choice exploits that weakness. Consumer culture exhausts us. We suffer. We destroy ourselves. And we just can’t stop.” – Renata Salecl
“What is the appropriate response to finding out a potential lover is a complete freaky sadist or masochist?” – E.L. James
Related: The 69 Best Freaky Quotes
“If you play tennis it is to have these moments, moments of adrenaline, where it gets dangerous. It is a bit masochistic.” – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
“Hitler reacted primarily in a sadistic fashion toward people, but masochistically toward fate, history, the ‘higher power’ of nature.” – Erich Fromm, ‘The Art of Loving’
“This might sound masochistic or narcissistic‚ I don’t know‚ but when I’m not playing the game‚ the validations I feel about life are always through the hardships. I relate more to sadness‚ in a lot of ways‚ when I’m not playing.” – Abby Wambach
“For those with drive, wit, vision, ego and a masochistic outlook, there is always room.” – K Callan
“A sadist is a masochist who follows the golden rule.” – Thomas Cathcart
“I have only an appetite for masochistic truth, and only box-office collection figures interest me.” – Mahesh Bhatt
“Inside every sadist is a masochist, cringing to taste his own medicine.” – Roger Ebert, ‘I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie’
“If there wasn’t a word for it, would we realize our masochism as much?” – David Levithan
“All of my roles have had their own unique set of challenges, and I enjoy that in some perverse, masochistic way. I’m always dying though! Maybe I have some kind of fetish.” – Jared Leto
“I’m not a masochist. I’m simply into trying to enjoy what I do, because otherwise there’s no point.” – Marilyn Manson
“I’m not a masochistic reader. If something is just too dense or not enjoyable, even though I’m told it should be good for me, I’ll put it down. That said, most of what I read would be considered high-end or good for you, I suppose. But, I also think that reading should be enjoyable.” – Josh Radnor
“How socially inept or masochistic would you have to be to want to get involved with online dating?” – A.D. Aliwat, ‘In Limbo’
“The quality which makes man want to write and be read is essentially a desire for self-exposure and masochism. Like one of those guys who has a compulsion to take his thing out and show it on the street.” – James Jones
“I’m pretty masochistic. I kill myself for my craft. Literally.” – Jared Leto
“Whoever came up with the term ‘Funny Bone’ must have been a masochist, because hitting it is not funny at all …” – Gary Hopkins
“I love the masochistic aspect of eating seething, real Sichuan food in Sichuan Province.” – Anthony Bourdain
“The pain, I can assure you, will be exquisite.” – Clive Barker, ‘The Forbidden’
“Jogging, I believe they call it. It seems to be an epidemic psychological illness afflicting Americans these days. A form of masochism, like the flagellantes in the Middle Ages.” – David Lodge
“I admire when people take the harder path, not because they are masochistic and want to beat themselves up, but because you actually kind of learn more and I think you grow more.” – Josh Hartnett
“Women have two choices: Either she’s a feminist or a masochist.” – Gloria Steinem
Summary
A lot of these quotes are based on the more s*xual meaning of the word, so if you were looking for that type of quote you have come to the right place. Some of these quotes however, talk about being a masochist in the terms of being unworthy, a failure, and/or undeserving.
Maybe you just want to make sure you aren’t the only one that feels this way, or that enjoys pain, these quotes will make you trust that you are not alone in your masochist ways.
Related: Marilyn Manson Quotes
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