Well, those were Jesus's words...so we probably don't want to underestimate what hell will be like. 

I think CS Lewis's "the great divorce" paints a very logical picture of it....separation, insubstantiality of everything (a thinness), and distance.

God can and does use all the tricks in the book to draw us to Him.

For some reason, His love and the promise of infinite love doesn't seem to move everyone.  Witness the world!

So he can use our own concern with going to hell and to suffering to help us turn back toward Him.

But God also doesn't lie.