--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To torture a man you have to know his…" description: "\"To torture a man you have to know his pleasures.\" — Stanislaw Lem" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/907/stanislaw-lem-7367_man_to-torture-a-man-you-have-to-know-his-pl_2375947.jpg" --- # To torture a man you have to know his pleasures. ![“To torture a man you have to know his pleasures.” quote by Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/907/stanislaw-lem-7367_man_to-torture-a-man-you-have-to-know-his-pl_2375947.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/907/stanislaw-lem-7367_man_to-torture-a-man-you-have-to-know-his-pl_2375947.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/907/stanislaw-lem-7367_man_to-torture-a-man-you-have-to-know-his-pl_2375947.jpg) > “To torture a man you have to know his pleasures.” [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Understanding a person's desires is essential for effective coercion or manipulation. **In simple terms:** Know desires to control. Key Takeaway Use insight responsibly. Themes psychology power ethics Mood cautious reflective Type philosophical warning When to use this quote - interrogation - political oppression - personal relationships Key Concepts Manipulation coercion human nature Questions to Reflect On - Is it ever ethical to exploit someone's pleasures? - What safeguards prevent misuse? A Different Perspective Such knowledge can be abused, leading to moral corruption. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Know Pleasures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know-pleasures-576758/) [Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man/) [Man Know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-know/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [Pleasures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasures/) [Torture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/torture/) [Torture Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/torture-man-5867485/) ## Related quotes > [Of troubles know I none, Of pleasures know I many - I rove beneath the sun, Without a single penny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-farjeon/of-troubles-know-i-none-of-pleasures-know-i-many-i-rove-beneath-the/) [Eleanor Farjeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-farjeon/) > [If you torture a man as I was tortured he will learn more about love than you could ever ­imagine, and that has left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-yarris/if-you-torture-a-man-as-i-was-tortured-he-will-learn-more-about-love/) [Nick Yarris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-yarris/) > [Take a journey into the things which you are carrying, the known- not into the unknown-into what you already know: your pleasures, your delights,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jiddu-krishnamurti/take-a-journey-into-the-things-which-you-are-carrying-the-known-not/) [Jiddu Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jiddu-krishnamurti/) > [“People who interfered in your life always did it for your own good and I figured it out finally that what they wanted was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hemingway/people-who-interfered-in-your-life-always-did-it-for-your-own-good/) [Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hemingway/) > [“Fates, we will know your pleasures: That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time And drawing days out, that men stand upon.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/fates-we-will-know-your-pleasures-that-we-shall-die-we-know-tis-but/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [My position is such that there is no necessity for me to enter into competition with struggling humanity. As to expensive and ruinous pleasures,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henryk-sienkiewicz/my-position-is-such-that-there-is-no-necessity-for-me-to-enter-into/) [Henryk Sienkiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henryk-sienkiewicz/) > [Most pleasures embrace us but to strangle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/most-pleasures-embrace-us-but-to-strangle/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [It is only a poor sort of happiness that could ever come by caring very much about our own pleasures. We can only have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-is-only-a-poor-sort-of-happiness-that-could-ever-come-by-caring/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [In order to increase his pleasures, man has intentionally added to the number and pressure of his needs, which in their original state were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/in-order-to-increase-his-pleasures-man-has-intentionally-added-to-the/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [One of life's few really reliable pleasures: to have a family you love, and to leave them for a week.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mignon-mclaughlin/one-of-life-s-few-really-reliable-pleasures-to-have-a-family-you-love/) [Mignon McLaughlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mignon-mclaughlin/) > [Mental pleasures never cloy; unlike those of the body, they are increased by reputation, approved by reflection, and strengthened by enjoyment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/mental-pleasures-never-cloy-unlike-those-of-the-body-they-are/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [...pleasure, of course, is a slippery word… Our pleasures ultimately belong to us, not to the pleasure's so](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/pleasure-of-course-is-a-slippery-word-our-pleasures-ultimately-belong/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [The greatest of all pleasures is the pleasure of learning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-greatest-of-all-pleasures-is-the-pleasure-of-learning/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [For let me tell you, that the more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me is the pleasure and charm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/for-let-me-tell-you-that-the-more-the-pleasures-of-the-body-fade-away/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [The pleasures and the cares of the luckiest ambition, even of limitless power, are nothing next to the intimate happiness that tenderness and love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stendhal/the-pleasures-and-the-cares-of-the-luckiest-ambition-even-of/) [Stendhal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stendhal/) ## More by Stanislaw Lem > [That human existence should repeat itself, well and good, but that it should repeat itself like a hackneyed tune, or a record a drunkard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/that-human-existence-should-repeat-itself-well-and-good-but-that-it/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“. . . according to Lem's Law, 'No one reads; if someone does read, he doesn't understand; if he understands, he immediately forgets' --…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/according-to-lem-s-law-no-one-reads-if-someone-does-read-he-doesn-t/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Futurologists have been multiplying like flies since the day Herman Kahn made Cassandra's profession "scientific," yet somehow not one of them has come out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/futurologists-have-been-multiplying-like-flies-since-the-day-herman/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [When the Universe was not so out of whack as it is today, and all the stars were lined up in their proper places,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/when-the-universe-was-not-so-out-of-whack-as-it-is-today-and-all-the/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Psychoanalytic doctrine reveals the pig in man, a pig saddled with a conscience; the disastrous result is that the pig is uncomfortable beneath that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/psychoanalytic-doctrine-reveals-the-pig-in-man-a-pig-saddled-with-a/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [In Riemann, Hilbert or in Banach space Let superscripts and subscripts go their ways. Our symptotes no longer out of phase, We shall encounter,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/in-riemann-hilbert-or-in-banach-space-let-superscripts-and-subscripts/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [This is another lie. We are only seeking Man. We have no need of other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/this-is-another-lie-we-are-only-seeking-man-we-have-no-need-of-other/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. (tr. by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-appearances-the-times-the-age/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Cannibals prefer those who have no spines..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/cannibals-prefer-those-who-have-no-spines/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Of the two powers, the two categories that take possession of us when we enter the world (from where?), space is by far the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/of-the-two-powers-the-two-categories-that-take-possession-of-us-when/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“What was civilization ever, really, but the attempt by man to talk himself into being good? Only good mind you. The rest had to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/what-was-civilization-ever-really-but-the-attempt-by-man-to-talk/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [He who has had, has been, but he who hasn't been, has been had.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/he-who-has-had-has-been-but-he-who-hasn-t-been-has-been-had/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“We know, but cannot grasp, that above and below, beyond the limits of perception or imagination, thousands of millions of simultaneous transformations are at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/we-know-but-cannot-grasp-that-above-and-below-beyond-the-limits-of/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. Man can serve his age or rebel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-appearances-the-times-the-age-2/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [People make filthy things with the freedom they regained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/people-make-filthy-things-with-the-freedom-they-regained/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) [Explore all 89 Stanislaw Lem quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) ## More Man quotes > [I want the municipality to be a helping hand to the man with a desire of sympathy, to help the fallen when it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burns/i-want-the-municipality-to-be-a-helping-hand-to-the-man-with-a-desire/) [John Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burns/) > [That old man dies prematurely whose memory records no benefits conferred. 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It's a great activity, it's a great sport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-mitrione/fighting-s-fun-man-it-s-a-great-activity-it-s-a-great-sport/) [Matt Mitrione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-mitrione/) > [I really think there's no difference between an art piece made by a man and one made by a woman. Is it a good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marina-abramovic/i-really-think-there-s-no-difference-between-an-art-piece-made-by-a/) [Marina Abramovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marina-abramovic/) > [“Well, God be with you,’ she said as she finally left him. ’I’m sure He is,’ he replied. 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