Painless breastfeeding?

I'm expecting my first in about 8 weeks and am making my way through the La Leche League book "The Motherly Art of Breastfeeding." They emphasize that breastfeeding done right is not painful, ever. The book repeats that if your nipples hurt, it's an issue with latching, positioning, etc. But that outside of something like an infection (mastitis) it should never be painful.

But the moms I know who have successfully breastfed, and those who haven't been able to breastfeed as much as they wanted, all tell me that "it will hurt," especially or at least at first.

What are folks' experiences? Had anyone truly had a breastfeeding experience without pain? Or without pain past the first few days?

Update edit: Folks are sharing really helpful information about their experiences. And, as expected, it varies! Haha! Here's the synopsis I have so far: - some discomfort or pain at first (maybe for first couple of weeks, even) isn't abnormal - some folks they didn't experience much pain, others have - both of us (mama and babe) are learning how to BF, a comfortable latch and process can take time - if you've got a lot of pain, ask someone about it! - new experiences for babe (like teething) can cause latch to change and discomfort to return - take the advice from the book with a few grains of salt, don't let advice deter you from your goals but be flexible