Sorry. Didn’t realize the quote would be taken this way and an explanation would be needed. But I will give it a shot.

Of course you need to listen to your body if you are overdoing it. Any experienced lifter or fitness enthusiast knows this. The quote to me means that while a certain level of pain accompanies any lifting routine that builds muscle it’s worth it. Any time you are tearing down muscle there will always be some pain that will present itself. But the whole process of tearing down muscle builds muscle during the healing and recovery.

Khalil Gibran could say that... He died when he was 48... Before the onset of arthritis. I was bulletproof that that age also!

Pain is a warning you are damaging your body. A child in the first grade knows this.

Pain could also be your body telling you that you are overdoing the exercise, and starting to cause damage. Remember when the 'burn' was made fashionable by a film star guru of the gym, until the medical establishment shot the idea to blazes.