How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph). We used Constance Garnett's translation.
Quote #7
And why are you so firmly, so triumphantly, convinced that only the normal and the positive – in other words, only what is conducive to welfare – is for the advantage of man? Is not reason in error as regards advantage? Does not man, perhaps, love something besides well-being? Perhaps he is just as fond of suffering? Perhaps suffering is just as great a benefit to him as well-being? Man is sometimes extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering, and that is a fact. There is no need to appeal to universal history to prove that; only ask yourself, if you are a man and have lived at all. As far as my personal opinion is concerned, to care only for well-being seems to me positively ill-bred. Whether it's good or bad, it is sometimes very pleasant, too, to smash things. (1.9.3)
The Underground Man now asks us to assign an intrinsically positive value to suffering. Now he doesn't justify this claim with reasons; suffering isn't valuable because it alleviates boredom or because it proves free will – it's just plain enjoyable for its own sake.
Quote #8
And yet I think man will never renounce real suffering, that is, destruction and chaos. Why, suffering is the sole origin of consciousness. […] If you stick to consciousness […] you can at least flog yourself at times, and that will, at any rate, liven you up. Reactionary as it is, corporal punishment is better than nothing. (1.9.3)
The line "suffering is the sole origin of consciousness" is just one of several supporting arguments the Underground Man gives to support the claim that suffering and consciousness goes hand in hand. He also claims that suffering is only enjoyable if one is conscious of it, and that consciousness is the cause of his suffering.
Quote #9
I chanced to look into the glass. My harassed face struck me as revolting in the extreme, pale, angry, abject, with dishevelled hair. "No matter, I am glad of it," I thought; "I am glad that I shall seem repulsive to her; I like that." (2.5.26)
The Underground Man starts torturing Liza even before they have sex the first time; he takes an obvious pleasure in making her miserable.