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349a94e Without pain, how could we know joy?' This is an old argument in the field of thinking about suffering and its stupidity and lack of sophistication could be plumbed for centuries but suffice it to say that the existence of broccoli does not, in any way, affect the taste of chocolate. suffering joy chocolate pleasures John Green
329befd If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible. If he has to make a choice, may he make it now. Then I will either wait for him or forget him. pain suffering hope love waiting Paulo Coelho
0534fe6 Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity. suffering Paulo Coelho
92d2b9d Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape. suffering heart life Charles Dickens
d2f68b1 She was a genius of sadness, immersing herself in it, separating its numerous strands, appreciating its subtle nuances. She was a prism through which sadness could be divided into its infinite spectrum. mourning suffering sorrow sadness Jonathan Safran Foer
1d36433 When you've suffered a great deal in life, each additional pain is both unbearable and trifling. suffering Yann Martel
4172a0d "People pontificate, "Suicide is selfishness." Career churchmen like Pater go a step further and call in a cowardly assault on the living. Oafs argue this specious line for varying reason: to evade fingers of blame, to impress one's audience with one's mental fiber, to vent anger, or just because one lacks the necessary suffering to sympathize. Cowardice is nothing to do with it - suicide takes considerable courage. Japanese have the right idea. No, what's selfish is to demand another to endure an intolerable existence, just to spare families, friends, and enemies a bit of soul-searching." suicide suffering selfishness guilt David Mitchell
90b6c20 At some point we all look up and realize we are lost in a maze. suffering John Green
1086842 Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. suffering raskolnikov Fyodor Dostoyevsky
d29cec3 "She said, "It's not life or death, the labyrinth." "Um, okay. So what is it?" "Suffering," she said. "Doing wrong and having wrong things happen to you. That's the problem. Bolivar was talking about the pain, not about the living or dying. How do you get out of the labyrinth of suffering?... Nothing's wrong. But there's always suffering, Pudge. Homework or malaria or having a boyfriend who lives far away when there's a good-looking boy lying next to you. Suffering is universal. It's the one thing Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims are all worried about." suffering philosophy labyrinth pudge John Green
bb0ebf6 Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied. irony suffering histrionics mrs-bennett hysterics Jane Austen
7605254 When you compare the sorrows of real life to the pleasures of the imaginary one, you will never want to live again, only to dream forever. pain suffering living fantasy life Alexandre Dumas
cb06671 Men are never convinced of your reasons, of your sincerity, of the seriousness of your sufferings, except by your death. So long as you are alive, your case is doubtful; you have a right only to their skepticism. suffering skepticism Albert Camus
f7787ec There is the solitude of suffering, when you go through darkness that is lonely, intense, and terrible. Words become powerless to express your pain; what others hear from your words is so distant and different from what you are actually suffering. suffering John O'Donohue
129846d We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, 'Blessed are they that mourn,' and I accept it. I've got nothing that I hadn't bargained for. Of course it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality, not imagination. mourning grief suffering reality personal-experience others experience C.S. Lewis
1b67f69 There is an ancient tribal proverb I once heard in India. It says that before we can see properly we must first shed our tears to clear the way. suffering wisdom revelation proverb Libba Bray
27626f1 Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain. suffering life Thomas Hardy
77b803a He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears. suffering paradox suffer Michel de Montaigne
b4b7b63 She had become accustomed to being lonely. She was used to walking alone and to being considered 'different.' She did not suffer too much. loneliness suffering comfort inspirational girls Betty Smith
64b1a38 Pain is the feeling. Suffering is the effect the pain inflicts. If one can endure pain, one can live without suffering. If one can withstand pain, one can withstand anything. If one can learn to control pain, one can learn to control oneself. pain suffering withstand James Frey
791b8a3 but something always went wrong, and the relationship would end precisely at the moment when she was sure that this was the person with whom she wanted to spend the rest of her life. After a long time, she came to the conclusion that men brought only pain, frustration, suffering and a sense of time dragging. suffering Paulo Coelho
cf9a2d2 The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference. evolution suffering fear science indifference design starvation disease purpose natural-selection Richard Dawkins
87d9723 I'm rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss. I'm tired of bein on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain. Not never havin no buddy to go on with or tell me where we's comin from or goin to or why. I'm tired of people bein ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I'm tired of all the times I've wanted to help and couldn't. I'm tired of bein in the dark. Mostly it's the pain. There's too much. If I could end it, I would. But I can't. suffering john-coffey sins Stephen King
814e447 Time is not the great teacher. Experience is. A man may live a whole life, but if he never leaves his home to experience that life, he dies knowing nothing. A mere child who has suffered and lived can be the wiser of the two. time suffering wisdom Lynsay Sands
51e20f5 You will suffer, son of Hades!' What else is new? Nico thought. suffering humour life nico-di-angelo Rick Riordan
07ebd7b Joy is sometimes a blessing, but it is often a conquest. Our magic moment help us to change and sends us off in search of our dreams. Yes, we are going to suffer, we will have difficult times, and we will experience many disappointments -- but all of this is transitory it leaves no permanent mark. And one day we will look back with pride and faith at the journey we have taken. suffering joy disappointment Paulo Coelho
1203176 Perhaps watching someone you love suffer can teach you even more than suffering yourself can. suffering Dodie Smith
e2a60b7 "Our tendency in the midst of suffering is to turn on God. To get angry and bitter and shake our fist at the sky and say, "God, you don't know what it's like! You don't understand! You have no idea what I'm going through. You don't have a clue how much this hurts." suffering jesus god cross crucifixtion hurt Rob Bell
82859c5 There are so many ways of being despicable it quite makes one's head spin. But the way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people's pain. pain suffering James Baldwin
69acdf0 is the statement of an intellectual who underrates toothaches. is a truth much more universally valid, and it applies to everything that's alive. My self does not differ substantially from yours in terms of its thought. Many people, few ideas: we all think more or less the same, and we exchange, borrow, steal thoughts from one another. However, when someone steps on my foot, only I feel the pain. The basis of the self is not thought but suffering, which is the most fundamental of all feelings. While it suffers, not even a cat can doubt its unique and uninterchangeable self. In intense suffering the world disappears and each of us is alone with his self. Suffering is the university of egocentrism. suffering truth feeling thinking thought Milan Kundera
d394f37 I began to understand that suffering and disappointments and melancholy are there not to vex us or cheapen us or deprive us of our dignity but to mature and transfigure us. suffering maturity melancholy Hermann Hesse
1366f2c How can one be well...when one suffers morally? suffering Leo Tolstoy
7ad5f23 Our past may explain why we're suffering but we must not use it as an excuse to stay in bondage. suffering past Joyce Meyer
8d19fbd "Pitiful is the person who is afraid of taking risks. Perhaps this person will never be disappointed or disillusioned; perhaps she won't suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow. But when that person looks back - and at some point everyone looks back - she will hear her heart saying, "What have you done with the miracles that God planted in your days? What have you done with the talents God bestowed on you? You buried yourself in a cave because you were fearful of losing those talents. So this is your heritage; the certainty that you wasted your life." suffering risks wasted Paulo Coelho
0fbd61e God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever. suffering inspirational brokenness renewal Vance Havner
210bb20 Sometimes one has suffered enough to have the right to never say: I am too happy. suffering suffer Alexandre Dumas
07969bf Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our souls, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives. suffering darkness Paulo Coelho
f53b4c3 If happy I can be I will, if suffer I must I can. suffering optimism happiness William Faulkner
6b6f604 Contrary to what we may have been taught to think, unnecessary and unchosen suffering wounds us but need not scar us for life. It does mark us. What we allow the mark of our suffering to become is in our own hands. pain suffering love redemption scars bell hooks
a749063 Break what must be broken, once for all, that's all, and take the suffering on oneself. suffering raskolnikov sonia Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1b0e784 The pain of severe depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish can no longer be borne. The prevention of many suicides will continue to be hindered until there is a general awareness of the nature of this pain. suicide pain suffering depression prevention awareness depressed mental-illness psychology mental-health William Styron
adf390c There never can be a man so lost as one who is lost in the vast and intricate corridors of his own lonely mind, where none may reach and none may save. mind suffering Isaac Asimov
3143e0d Until you have suffered much in your heart, you cannot learn humility. eastern-orthodoxy suffering christianity spirituality inspirational humility Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
8797864 For who would dare to assert that eternal happiness can compensate for a single moment's human suffering suffering Albert Camus
744d24b As one grows weaker one is less susceptible to suffering. There is less hurt because there is less to hurt. suffering weak weakness Jack London
cb03685 Life is sufferin true suffering god love inspirational humility Jordan B. Peterson
5ff2f01 [...] Everyone tries to make his life a work of art. We want love to last and we know that it does not last; even if, by some miracle, it were to last a whole lifetime, it would still be incomplete. Perhaps, in this insatiable need for perpetuation, we should better understand human suffering, if we knew that it was eternal. It appears that great minds are, sometimes, less horrified by suffering than by the fact that it does not endure. In default of inexhaustible happiness, eternal suffering would at least give us a destiny. But we do not even have that consolation, and our worst agonies come to an end one day. One morning, after many dark nights of despair, an irrepressible longing to live will announce to us the fact that all is finished and that suffering has no more meaning than happiness. suffering love Albert Camus
a62102a Whether you like it or not, you are committed to the human endeavor. I cannot ally myself with such a purely negative goal as avoidance of suffering. Suffering is a chance you take by the fact of being alive. suffering persistence William S. Burroughs
dd404ea Nothing good came free. Even love. You paid for all things. And if you were poor, suffering was your currency. suffering poor Khaled Hosseini
f3226eb "Right, you've got a crooked sort of cross..." He consulted Unfogging the Future. "That means you're going to have 'trials and suffering' -- sorry about that -- but there's a thing that could be the sun... hang on... that means 'great happiness'... so you're going to suffer but be very happy..." "You need your Inner Eye tested, if you ask me," said Ron, and they both had to stifle their laughs as Professor Trelawney gazed in their direction." suffering happy humor ron-weasley J.K. Rowling
5857556 Ah! What pleasure it must be to a woman to suffer for the one she loves! suffering women love self-sacrifice purity girls Honoré de Balzac
3b4d916 Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself. pain suffering nature life C.S. Lewis
5f9383d REMEMBER YOUR GREATNES existence giant living-achievement loss struggles suffering suzy-kassem poem courage poetry human achieve beauty confidence strength success life wisdom inspirational winners born great affirmation eye loser egg sperm winner big attitude survivor winning obstacles small competition odds greatness successful birth pains race warrior victory losing fears win Suzy Kassem
cb306ca No one is ever holy without suffering. suffering Evelyn Waugh
094831a "Goodbye, Room." I wave up at Skylight. "Say goodbye," I tell Ma. "Goodbye, Room." Ma says it but on mute. I look back one more time. It's like a crater, a hole where something happened. Then we go out the door." motherhood suffering love loyalty Emma Donoghue
f17a79e [S]he believed that the Buddhists were right-that if you want, you will suffer; if you love, you will grieve. (68) want grief suffering love buddhism desire Anne Lamott
923aecd I want an infinitely blank book and the rest of time. suffering writing Jonathan Safran Foer
0fc36bd "Without a word or hesitation, Pain took the mop from Nick. Suffering moved to pick up glass. "Wow. Where have you two been all my life?" Pain quirked and eyebrow as he mopped the floor. "Walking hand in hand with you. Haven't you noticed?" suffering Sherrilyn Kenyon
aec3e5d God creates us free, free to be selfish, but He adds a mechanism that will penetrate our selfishness and wake us up to the presence of others in this world, and that mechanism is called suffering. suffering selfishness William Nicholson
176ae3a Perhaps it is only human nature to inflict suffering on anything that will endure suffering, whether by reason of its genuine humility, or indifference, or sheer helplessness. suffering evil Honoré de Balzac
3237455 The problem with all students, he said, is that they inevitably stop somewhere. They hear an idea and they hold on to it until it becomes dead; they want to flatter themselves that they know the truth. But true Zen never stops, never congeals into such truths. That is why everyone must constantly be pushed to the abyss, starting over and feeling their utter worthlessness as a student. Without suffering and doubts, the mind will come to rest on cliches and stay there, until the spirit dies as well. Not even enlightenment is enough. You must continually start over and challenge yourself. suffering spirit learning life truth perpetual student zen mastery Robert Greene
71df784 The point is, Ilsa Hermann had decided to make suffering her triumph. When it refused to let go of her, she succumbed to it. She embraced it. suffering triumph Markus Zusak
8415f0e I don't understand why it's a sin if you love something and want to keep it from having to suffer. suffering Jodi Picoult
0712eb0 "We live by revelation, as Christians, as artists, which means we must be careful never to get set into rigid molds. The minute we begin to think we know all the answers, we forget the questions, and we become smug like the Pharisee who listed all his considerable virtues, and thanked God that he was not like other men. Unamuno might be describing the artist as well as the Christian as he writes, "Those who believe they believe in God, but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself." suffering doubt faith god christian-living Madeleine L'Engle
b83f615 Buddha says there are two kinds of suffering: the kind that leads to more suffering and the kind that brings an end to suffering. suffering Terry Tempest Williams
c5e2cee -- This world is full of trouble, umfundisi. -- Who knows it better? -- Yet you believe? Kumalo looked at him under the light of the lamp. I believe, he said, but I have learned that it is a secret. Pain and suffering, they are a secret. Kindness and love, they are a secret. But I have learned that kindness and love can pay for pain and suffering. There is my wife, and you, my friend, and these people who welcomed me, and the child who is so eager to be with us here in Ndotsheni - so in my suffering I can believe. -- I have never thought that a Christian would be free of suffering, umfundisi. For our Lord suffered. And I come to believe that he suffered, not to save us from suffering, but to teach us how to bear suffering. For he knew that there is no life without suffering. Kumalo looked at his friend with joy. You are a preacher, he said. suffering inspirational paton country cry beloved Alan Paton
d2ef30f Suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it by seasons. We can only record its moods, and chronicle their return. With us time itself does not progress. It revolves. It seems to circle round one centre of pain. suffering Oscar Wilde
f9abf6b As long as one suffers one lives. suffering Graham Greene
a6c0f97 We all suffer from dreams. suffering false-hope illusions Bernard Cornwell
30e633d The negation of severe suffering was the nearest approach to happiness I expected to know. Besides, I seemed to hold two lives - the life of thought, and that of reality. suffering happiness negation Charlotte Brontë
b8c41cb God will never disappoint us... If deep in our hearts we suspect that God does not love us and cannot manage our affairs as well as we can, we certainly will not submit to His discipline. ...To the unbeliever the fact of suffering only convinces him that God is not to be trusted, does not love us. To the believer, the opposite is true. pain suffering goodness trust Elisabeth Elliot
c8489fd Was there a language of loss? Did everyone who suffered speak a different dialect? suffering Jodi Picoult
c0fa064 One declaims endlessly against the passions; one imputes all of man's suffering to them. One forgets that they are also the source of all his pleasures. suffering passion pleasure Denis Diderot
802a42b Only a Woman, divine, could know all that a woman can suffer. woman suffering virgin-mary Willa Cather
71047e5 Were we incapable of empathy - of putting ourselves in the position of others and seeing that their suffering is like our own - then ethical reasoning would lead nowhere. If emotion without reason is blind, then reason without emotion is impotent. suffering reason philosophy Peter Singer
6e1c779 If desire causes suffering, it may be because we do not desire wisely, or that we are inexpert at obtaining what we desire. Instead of hiding our heads in a prayer cloth and building walls against temptation, why not get better at fulfilling desire? Salvation is for the feeble, that's what I think. I don't want salvation, I want life, all of life, the miserable as well as the superb. If the gods would tax ecstasy, then I shall pay; however, I shall protest their taxes at each opportunity, and if Woden or Shiva or Buddha or that Christian fellow--what's his name?--cannot respect that, then I'll accept their wrath. At least I will have tasted the banquet that they have spread before me on this rich, round planet, rather than recoiling from it like a toothless bunny. I cannot believe that the most delicious things were placed here merely to test us, to tempt us, to make it the more difficult for us to capture the grand prize: the safety of the void. To fashion of life such a petty game is unworthy of both men and gods. suffering prayer religion repression salvation desire Tom Robbins
cd0e062 Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question. suffering Julian Barnes
fa86aa9 There is a yearning that is as spiritual as it is sensual. Even when it degenerates into addiction, there is something salvageable from the original impulse that can only be described as sacred. Something in the person (dare we call it a soul?) wants to be free, and it seeks its freedom any way it can. ... There is a drive for transcendence that is implicit in even the most sensual of desires. suffering freedom buddhism transcendence desire Mark Epstein
08041ac For all the pain you suffered, my mama. For all the torment of your past and future years, my mama. For all the anguish this picture of pain will cause you. For the unspeakable mystery that brings good fathers and sons into the world and lets a mother watch them tear at each other's throats. For the Master of the Universe, whose suffering world I do not comprehend. For dreams of horror, for nights of waiting, for memories of death, for the love I have for you, for all the things I remember, and for all the things I should remember but have forgotten, for all these I created this painting--an observant Jew working on a crucifixion because there was no aesthetic mold in his own religious tradition into which he could pour a painting of ultimate anguish and torment. pain suffering asher-lev hasidic hasidic-judaism judaism paint torment painting jewish jew Chaim Potok
17d0dc7 Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. suffering love love-of-god Elisabeth Elliot
18ada89 It is when suffering finds a voice and sets our nerves quivering that this pity comes troubling us. suffering pity H.G. Wells
ad55a37 The world? The world is not interested in us. Today, everything is possible, even the crematoria... suffering Elie Wiesel
46bf241 And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better - cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better? suffering Fyodor Dostoyevsky
882279e Adults had the notion that juveniles needed to suffer. Only when they had suffered enough to wipe out most of their naturally joyous spirits and innocence were they staid enough to be considered mature. An adult was essentially a broken-down child. suffering innocence Piers Anthony
841223c in my cowardice I became at once a man, and did what all we grown men do when face to face with suffering and injustice; I preferred not to see them suffering Marcel Proust
36a6e21 People, he thought, were as hungry for a sight of joy as he had always been--for a moment's relief from that gray load of suffering which seemed so inexplicable and unnecessary. He had never been able to understand why men should be unhappy. pain suffering happy joy happiness relief Ayn Rand
146291c Up on the Brooklyn Bridge a man is standing in agony, waiting to jump, or waiting to write a poem, or waiting for the blood to leave his vessels because if he advances another foot the pain of his love will kill him. suicide suffering poem poetry writing love blocks brooklyn artists-life bridge creativity Henry Miller
5c76482 Tessa distinguished absolutely between pain observed and pain shared. Pain observed is journalistic pain. It's diplomatic pain. It's television pain, over as soon as you switch off your beastly set. Those who watch suffering and do nothing about it, in her book, were little better than those who inflicted it. They were the bad Samaritans. suffering John le Carré
06c8c77 The suffering of a loved one was in many ways worse than one's one suffering because it left one feeling so very helpless. suffering Mary Balogh
5d08aaa With a sigh, he grabbed hold of his chair and lifted himself out of it, then wrote on the blackboard: How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering? - A.Y. 'I'm going to leave that up for the rest of the semester,' he said. 'Because everybody who has ever lost their way in life has felt the nagging insistence of that question. At some point we all look up and realize we are lost in a maze, and I don't want us to forget Alaska, and I don't want to forget that even when the material we study seems boring, we're trying to understand how people have answered that question and the questions each of you posed in your papers--how different traditions have come to terms with what Chip, in his final, called 'people's rotten lots in life. suffering living maze rotten-life labyrinth tradition lost John Green
205b3df My sweetheart! When I think of you, it's as if I'm holding some healing balm to my sick soul, and although i suffer for you, i find that even suffering for you is easy. suffering Fyodor Dostoyevsky
7473ce2 After all, what is suffering but an awareness of suffering? pain suffering Nancy Farmer
6457f12 "Christ is sufficient. We do not need "support groups" for each and every separate tribulation. The most widely divergent sorrows may all be taken to the foot of the same old rugged cross and find there cleansing, peace, and joy." suffering these-strange-ashes elisabeth-elliot the-cross Elisabeth Elliot
05ced26 But Philip was impatient with himself; he called to mind his idea of the pattern of life: the unhappiness he had suffered was no more than part of a decoration which was elaborate and beautiful; he told himself strenuously that he must accept with gaiety everything, dreariness and excitement, pleasure and pain, because it added to the richness of the design. unhappiness pain suffering life W. Somerset Maugham
2acec2b Does rough weather choose men over women? Does the sun beat on men, leaving women nice and cool?' Nyawira asked rather sharply. 'Women bear the brunt of poverty. What choices does a woman have in life, especially in times of misery? She can marry or live with a man. She can bear children and bring them up, and be abused by her man. Have you read Buchi Emecheta of Nigeria, Joys of Motherhood? Tsitsi Dangarembga of Zimbabwe, say, Nervous Conditions? Miriama Ba of Senegal, So Long A Letter? Three women from different parts of Africa, giving words to similar thoughts about the condition of women in Africa.' 'I am not much of a reader of fiction,' Kamiti said. 'Especially novels by African women. In India such books are hard to find.' 'Surely even in India there are women writers? Indian women writers?' Nyawira pressed. 'Arundhati Roy, for instance, The God of Small Things? Meena Alexander, Fault Lines? Susie Tharu. Read Women Writing in India. Or her other book, We Were Making History, about women in the struggle!' 'I have sampled the epics of Indian literature,' Kamiti said, trying to redeem himself. 'Mahabharata, Ramayana, and mostly Bhagavad Gita. There are a few others, what they call Purana, Rig-Veda, Upanishads ... Not that I read everything, but ...' 'I am sure that those epics and Puranas, even the Gita, were all written by men,' Nyawira said. 'The same men who invented the caste system. When will you learn to listen to the voices of women? poverty feminism suffering women arundhati-roy buchi-emecheta indian-literature meena-alexander miriama-ba susie-tharu tsitsi-dangarembga novels gender-equality women-s-fiction women-writers Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
3e65d6b "George MacDonald gives me renewed strength during times of trouble--times when I have seen people tempted to deny God--when he says, "The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like his." suffering george-macdonald Madeleine L'Engle
0a68c5a She enjoyed her own pain by this egoism of suffering, if I may so express it. This aggravation of suffering and this rebelling in it I could understand; it is the enjoyment of man, of the insulted and injured, oppressed by destiny, and smarting under the sense of its injustice. suffering Fyodor Dostoyevsky
be583e2 I doubt if I have made the best use of all my calamities. Soft, amiable natures they would have refined to saintliness; of strong, evil spirits they would have made demons; as for me, I have only been a woe-struck and selfish woman. suffering miss-marchmont villette selfish Charlotte Brontë
54d77df Couldn't the wrong sort of living turn anyone mean? I remembered very well that one day back in Yoroido, a boy pushed me into a thorn bush near the pond. By the time I clawed my way out I was mad enough to bite through wood. If a few minutes of suffering could make me so angry, what would years of it do? Even stone can be worn down with enough rain. suffering Arthur Golden
384e91d It is easy to suffer for a cause or for a mission; this ennobles the heart of the person suffering. But how to explain suffering because of a man? It's not explainable. With that kind of suffering, a person feels as if they're in hell, because there is no nobility, no greatness - only misery. man suffering Paulo Coelho
c846367 As long as there is one person suffering an injustice; as long as one person is forced to bear an unnecessary sorrow; as long as one person is subject to an undeserved pain, the worship of a God is a demoralizing humiliation. As long as there is one mistake in the universe; as long as one wrong is permitted to exist; as long as there is hatred and antagonism among mankind, the existence of a God is a moral impossibility. said: 'Injustice upon earth renders the justice of of heaven impossible. mankind hatred universe injustice earth pain suffering wrong sorrow morality ingersoll robert-g-ingersoll robert-green-ingersoll robert-ingersoll impossibility mistake justice Joseph Lewis
8232090 Suffering is the condition on which we live. And when it comes you know it. You know it as the truth. Of course it's right to cure diseases, to prevent hunger and injustice, as the social organism does. But no society can change the nature of its existence. We can't prevent suffering. This pain and that pain, yes, but not Pain. A society can only relieve social suffering - unnecessary suffering. The rest remains. The root, the reality. suffering Ursula K. Le Guin
e5b07aa No matter how ugly the manner in which a man dies, it's only the presence of a suffering human soul that is horrifying, once gone, what is left is only an object. suffering dies soul Diana Gabaldon
495c900 There are times when we suffer innocently at other people's hands. When that occurs, we are victims of injustice. But that injustice happens on a horizontal plane. No one ever suffers injustice on the vertical plane. That is, no one ever suffers unjustly in terms of his or her relationship with God. As long as we bear the guilt of sin, we cannot protest that God is unjust in allowing us to suffer. suffering god gospel justice R.C. Sproul
8998890 "Aeschylus writes, "In our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God." suffering wisdom Madeleine L'Engle
85578fa Her experience had been of a kind to teach her, rightly or wrongly, that the doubtful honor of a brief transit through a sorry world hardly called for effusiveness, even when the path was suddenly irradiated at some half-way point by daybeams rich as hers. But her strong sense that neither she nor any human being deserved less than was given, did not blind her to the fact that there were others receiving less who had deserved much more. And in being forced to class herself among the fortunate she did not cease to wonder at the persistence of the unforeseen, when the one to whom such unbroken tranquility had been accorded in the adult stage was she whose youth had seemed to teach that happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain. pain suffering living Thomas Hardy
fed5e8a This last week has been a little hell for both of us simply because I didn't understand my own feelings. And because I can't understand them, I blame her for provoking in me feelings that make my world seem suddenly unsafe. pain suffering love lost Paulo Coelho
34ee79a This you have to understand. There's only one way to hurt a man who's lost everything. Give him back something broken. pain loss suffering leprosy hurt Stephen R. Donaldson
acf376c I love you, Lucien, but I am a muse, you are an artist, I am here to make you comfortable. artists suffering passion muses Christopher Moore
89877dc "It is not the outer objects that entangle us. It is the inner clinging that entangles us." - Tilopa" enlightenment dukkha four-noble-truths samsara suffering Lama Surya Das
767652f All striving comes from lack, from a dissatisfaction with one's condition, and is thus suffering as long as it is not satisfied; but no satisfaction is lasting; instead, it is only the beginning of a new striving. We see striving everywhere inhibited in many ways, struggling everywhere; and thus always suffering; there is no final goal of striving, and therefore no bounds or end to suffering. suffering striving Arthur Schopenhauer
dca64f3 Il ne savait pas encore s'il souffrait parce qu'il suivait une pente et que l'avenir venait a lui sans qu'il eut a s'en saisir. Quand on s'abandonne on ne souffre pas. Quand on s'abandonne meme a la tristesse on ne souffre plus. suffering letting-go sadness Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
d128667 That's evolution. Evolution's always hard. Hard and bleak. No such thing as happy evolution suffering life Haruki Murakami
8e6e29e Those who believe their suffering has been valuable love more readily than those who see no meaning in their pain. Suffering does not necessarily imply love, but love implies suffering suffering Andrew Solomon
cebab22 There is much pain that is quite noiseless; and vibrations that make human agonies are often a mere whisper in the roar of hurrying existence. There are glances of hatred that stab and raise no cry of murder; robberies that leave man or woman forever beggared of peace and joy, yet kept secret by the sufferer--committed to no sound except that of low moans in the night, seen in no writing except that made on the face by the slow months of suppressed anguish and early morning tears. Many an inherited sorrow that has marred a life has been breathed into no human ear. silence suffering sorrow sadness George Eliot
7779da6 If the immediate and direct purpose of our life is not suffering then our existence is the most ill-adapted to its purpose in the world. suffering Arthur Schopenhauer
9378369 "All of us have had this experience. At some point, we have each said through our tears, "I'm suffering for a love that's not worth it." We suffer because we feel we are giving more than we receive. We suffer because our love is going unrecognized. We suffer because we are unable to impose our own rules. But ultimately there is no good reason for our suffering, for in every love lies the seed of our growth. The more we love, the closer we come to spiritual experience. Those who are truly enlightened, those whose souls are illuminated by love, have been able to overcome all of the inhibitions and preconceptions of their era. They have been able to sing, to laugh, and to pray out loud; they have danced and shared what Saint Paul called "the madness of saintliness." They have been joyful--because those who love conquer the world and have no fear of loss. True love is an act of total surrender." suffering unrequited-love Paulo Coelho
0f785a9 You are the call and I am the answer, You are the wish, and I the fulfilment, You are the night, and I the day. What else? It is perfect enough. It is perfectly complete. You and I, What more--? Strange, how we suffer in spite of this! suffering d-h-lawrence look-we-have-come-through you-and-i night-and-day whole perfect strange D.H. Lawrence
4c26ef5 But why all these questions? Because I'm in love and I'm afraid of suffering. Don't be afraid, the only way to avoid that suffering would be to refuse to love. pain suffering Paulo Coelho
69a67ea It's not life or death, the labyrinth. Suffering. Doing wrong and having wrong things happen to you. suffering wrong life labyrinth John Green
0986fc6 I did not know that mankind were suffering for want of gold. I have seen a little of it. I know that it is very malleable, but not so malleable as wit. A grain of gold will gild a great surface, but not so much as a grain of wisdom. suffering life wisdom wit Henry David Thoreau
addd24b Despite the loss they were suffering, they'd both relaxed - as people do when they realize they've run out of chances for happiness suffering Orhan Pamuk
edaf28e Human suffering has been caused because too many of us cannot grasp that words are only tools for our use. The mere presence in the dictionary of a word like 'living' does not mean it necessarily has to refer to something definite in the real world. words suffering reality living science tools Richard Dawkins
ee54a85 When you shall have learned to know, and to love, you will still suffer. The day is born in tears. The luminous weep, if only over those in darkness. suffering happiness inspirational sufffering les-misérables Victor Hugo
0564fdf The world has long ceased to be the author of your anguish. responsibility suffering blame recovery R. Scott Bakker
5a33d11 All pain seemed to come with lots of blood, and lots of mental anguish, too. I already knew about that. Maybe that was the worst kind of pain, because nobody knew about it but you. pain suffering mental V.C. Andrews
45bc3c3 I'm hurting you to make you a better soldier in every way. To sharpen your wit. To intensify your effort. To keep you off balance, never sure what's going to happen next, so you always have to be ready for anything, ready to improvise, determined to win no matter what. I'm also making you miserable. suffering honest cruel Orson Scott Card
8cc7801 When shall I be dead and rid Of all the wrong my father did? How long, how long 'till spade and hearse Put to sleep my mother's curse? suffering poetry T.H. White
c3b93f6 The evil and suffering in this world are greater than any of us can comprehend. But evil and suffering are not ultimate. God is. Satan, the great lover of evil and suffering, is not sovereign. God is. suffering theology John Piper
117d60c Should I, too, prefer the title of 'non-Jewish Jew'? For some time, I would have identified myself strongly with the attitude expressed by Rosa Luxemburg, writing from prison in 1917 to her anguished friend Mathilde Wurm: An inordinate proportion of the Marxists I have known would probably have formulated their own views in much the same way. It was almost a point of honor not to engage in 'thinking with the blood,' to borrow a notable phrase from D.H. Lawrence, and to immerse Jewishness in other and wider struggles. Indeed, the old canard about 'rootless cosmopolitanism' finds a perverse sort of endorsement in Jewish internationalism: the more emphatically somebody stresses that sort of rhetoric about the suffering of others, the more likely I would be to assume that the speaker was a Jew. Does this mean that I think there are Jewish 'characteristics'? Yes, I think it must mean that. racism suffering empathy compassion africans dh-lawrence mathilde-verne plantations rootless-cosmopolitanism rosa-luxemburg internationalism jewish-question victims marxism europeans race prison jews Christopher Hitchens
2ebbee2 I saw that she didn't want to answer that question and so I asked again: when mouths close it's because there's something important to be said. silence suffering truth the-witch-of-portobello maxim Paulo Coelho
10aa344 Not doing anything doing something and choosing to look away is a passive but no less mortal sin. suffering passive-aggressive ignorance sin Bill Maher
38e08e0 Pain, anguish and suffering in human life are always in proportion to the strength with which a man is endowed. pain suffering persistence strength life endurance challenges Alexandre Dumas
24ee7b5 People worried too much about their children. Suffering when you're young is good for you. It immunized your body and soul... kids-funny suffering parenting Jeannette Walls
aedf267 Shannon: Only the living suffered. Only they were riddled with guilt and regret and unanswered questions. suffering living shannon nora-roberts Nora Roberts
bf1a248 A GUIDED TOUR OF SUFFERING: To your left, perhaps your right, perhaps even straight ahead, you find a small black room. In it sits a Jew. He is scum. He is starving. He is afraid. Please - try not to look away. suffering Markus Zusak
6f181ce We are breeding creatures incapable of surviving in any place other than the most artificial settings. We have focused the awesome power of modern genetic knowledge to bring into being animals that suffer more. suffering humanism Jonathan Safran Foer
d79ab9f "At some point, we have each said through our tears, "I'm suffering for a love that's not worth it." We suffer because we feel we are giving more than we receive. We suffer because we feel we are giving more than we receive. We suffer because our love is going unrecognized. We suffer because we are unable to impose our own rules. But ultimately there is no good reason for our suffering, for in every love lies the seed of our growth." worth suffering love river-piedra paulo-coelho favorite Paulo Coelho
9089908 How odd that we spend so much time treating the darkness, and so little time seeking the light. The ego loves to glorify itself by self-analysis, yet we do not get rid of darkness by hitting it with a baseball bat. We only get rid of darkness by turning on the light. enlightenment suffering light depression self-awareness psychoanalysis darkness-and-light darkness-within light-of-love light-of-the-spirit painful-memories self-analysis treatment healing-the-past spiritual-healing spiritual-wisdom grief-and-loss therapy ego self-help Marianne Williamson
6a3ff49 She had not had the relief of amnesia. She had suffered longer, and she had suffered more. Each second was agony in the first weeks. She was like an amputee in the days before anesthesia, half crazed with pain, astounded that the human body could feel so much and not die of it. But slowly, cell by painful cell, she began to mend. There came a time when it was no longer her whole body that burned with pain but only her heart. And then there came a time when even her heart was able, for a time at least, to feel other emotions besides grief. pain grief suffering physical-pain healing Diane Setterfield
d2c2a6e The soul that loves and suffers is in the sublime state. pain suffering love sublime soul Victor Hugo
f65615f "They" hate us because they feel--and "they" are not wrong--that it is within our power to do so much more, and that we practice a kind of passive-aggressive violence on the Third World. We do this by, for example, demonizing tobacco as poison here while promoting cigarettes in Asia; inflating produce prices by paying farmers not to grow food as millions go hungry worldwide; skimping on quality and then imposing tariffs on foreign products made better or cheaper than our own; padding corporate profits through Third World sweatshops; letting drug companies stand by as millions die of AIDS in Africa to keep prices up on lifesaving drugs; and on and on. We do, upon reaching a very high comfort level, mostly choose to go from ten to eleven instead of helping another guy far away go from zero to one. We even do it in our own country. Barbara Ehrenreich's brilliant book describes the impossibility of living with dignity or comfort as one of the millions of minimum-wage workers in fast food, aisle-stocking and table-waiting jobs. Their labor for next to nothing ensures that well-off people can be a little more pampered. So if we do it to our own, what chance do foreigners have?" violence poverty suffering hate extremism irresponsible poverty-and-politics third-world passive-aggressive ignorance Bill Maher
44ab4a2 "At last she sighed. "But the most wretched thing -- is it not? -- is to drag out, as I do, a useless existence. If our pains were only of some use to someone, we should find consolation in the thought of the sacrifice." suffering Gustave Flaubert
7d2858b "They" hate us because they feel--and "they" are not wrong--that it is within our power to do so much more, and that we practice a kind of passive-aggressive violence on the Third World. We do this by, for example, demonizing tobacco as poison here while promoting cigarettes in Asia; inflating produce prices by paying farmers not to grow food as millions go hungry worldwide; skimping on quality and then imposing tariffs on foreign products made better or cheaper than our own; padding corporate profits through Third World sweatshops; letting drug companies stand by as millions die of AIDS in Africa to keep prices up on lifesaving drugs; and on and on. We do, upon reaching a very high comfort level, mostly choose to go from ten to eleven instead of helping another guy far away go from zero to one. We even do it in our own country. Barbara Ehrenreich's brilliant book describes the impossibility of living with dignity or comfort as one of the millions of minimum-wage workers in fast food, aisle-stocking and table-waiting jobs. Their labor for next to nothing ensures that well-off people can be a little more pampered. So if we do it to our own, what chance do foreigners have?" -- violence poverty suffering hate extremism irresponsible poverty-and-politics third-world passive-aggressive ignorance Bill Maher
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