No gains without pains.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1745 ed.)
(Source)
Franklin recapped this in his final Poor Richard Improved (1758 ed.): "There are no Gains, without Pains." This was in turn reprinted in abridged Way to Wealth (1773).
Sometimes erroneously cited to Poor Richard (1734 ed.); that has something different in structure and meaning: "Hope of gain / Lessens pain."
See also Breton (1577) and Herrick (1648).
Quotations about:
no pain no gain
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SUSAN: The world is hard, they must take pain that look for any gayn.
Nicholas Breton (c. 1545/53 - c. 1625/26) English Renaissance poet and prose writer [Britton; Brittaine]
Workes of a Young Wyt (1577)
(Source)
First record of something resembling "No pain, no gain" in English.
The way to bliss lies not on beds of down,
And he that has no cross deserves no crown.Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English poet
Esther, Sec. 9, Meditation 9 (1621)
No pain, no palm;
No thorns, no throne;
No gall, no glory;
No cross, no crown.William Penn (1644–1718) English writer, philosopher, politician, statesman
“No Cross, No Crown” (1682)
Originally written while a prisoner in the Tower of London (1668-69). See Quarles (1621), Breton (1577).
