In default of inexhaustible happiness, eternal suffering would at least give us a destiny. But we do not even have read more

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.

How little it takes to make life unbearable: a pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a woman's read more

How little it takes to make life unbearable: a pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a woman's laugh.

And taste
The melancholy joys of evils pass'd,
For he who much has suffer'd, much will know.

And taste
The melancholy joys of evils pass'd,
For he who much has suffer'd, much will know.

We have suffered lightly, if we have suffered what we should weep
for.
[Lat., Levia perpessi sumus
read more

We have suffered lightly, if we have suffered what we should weep
for.
[Lat., Levia perpessi sumus
Si flenda patimur.]

Those who inflict must suffer, for they see
The work of their own hearts, and that must be
read more

Those who inflict must suffer, for they see
The work of their own hearts, and that must be
Our chastisement or recompense.

Ho! why dost thou shiver and shake, Gaffer Grey?
And why does thy nose look so blue?

Ho! why dost thou shiver and shake, Gaffer Grey?
And why does thy nose look so blue?

Suffering is the ancient law of love; there is not quest without pain; there is no lover who is not read more

Suffering is the ancient law of love; there is not quest without pain; there is no lover who is not also a martyr.

To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But then, one suffers from not loving. Therefore, read more

To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But then, one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy, one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness.

They, the holy ones and weakly,
Who the cross of suffering bore,
Folded their pale hands so read more

They, the holy ones and weakly,
Who the cross of suffering bore,
Folded their pale hands so meekly,
Spake with us on earth no more!