It is a glorious thing to be indifferent to suffering, but only to one's own suffering.

It is a glorious thing to be indifferent to suffering, but only to one's own suffering.

It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering for the most part, makes read more

It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive.

Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.

Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.

To each his suff'rings; all are men,
Condemn'd alike to groan;
The tender for another's pain,
read more

To each his suff'rings; all are men,
Condemn'd alike to groan;
The tender for another's pain,
Th' unfeeling for his own.
Yet ah! why should they know their fate,
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies?
Thought would destroy their paradise.

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.

Now it seems to me that love of some kind is the only possible explanation of the extraordinary amount of read more

Now it seems to me that love of some kind is the only possible explanation of the extraordinary amount of suffering that there is in the world.

The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid read more

The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt

Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man.

Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man.

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.