Disease is oft the tax of pleasure.

Pleasure can carry a cost to health: something enjoyable in the moment may be followed by illness.

Calling disease a “tax” presents it as a price that pleasure sometimes exacts. The proverb urges caution, not the rejection of all enjoyment.

Use the proverb to caution someone that an enjoyable choice may have unwelcome consequences for their health, particularly when they are overlooking that possibility.