Though our brother is on the rack, as long as we ourselves are at our ease, our senses will never inform us of what he suffers ... It is by imagination that we can form any conception of what are his sensations. Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments
Deep, unspeakable suffering may well be called a baptism, a regeneration, the initiation into a new state. George Eliot, Adam Bede
So deeply inherent is it in this life of ours that men have to suffer for each other’s sins, so inevitably diffusive is human suffering, that even justice makes its victims, and we can conceive no retribution that does not spread beyond its mark in pulsations of unmerited pain. George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
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. George Eliot, Felix Holt: The Radical
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. Helen Keller
We bereaved are not alone. We belong to the largest company in all the world – the company of those who have known suffering. Helen Keller
Better one suffer, than a nation grieve. John Dryden 1631-1700, Absalom and Achitophel
Action is transitory – a step, a blow,
The motion of a muscle – this way or that –
’Tis done, and in the after vacancy
We wonder at ourselves like men betrayed:
Suffering is permanent, obscure and dark,
And shares the nature of infinity. William Wordsworth, The Borderers 1842
He could afford to suffer
With those whom he saw suffer. William Wordsworth, The Excursion
It is not true that suffering enobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive. W Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence 1919
We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full. Marcel Proust
I believe that I was lucky to have suffered. Some people don’t realize that in suffering there is great potential, because if you are deprived for any reason ... politically, financially, socially or otherwise ... and if you set your mind in the right direction, you will find that the only way to survive is for you to excel, by being better so you can be treated better. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh
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 scepticism. Albert Camus, The Fall
May I allay all the suffering of every living being. I am the medicine for the sick. May I be both the doctor and their nurse, until the sickness does not recur. Shantideva, Bodhicaryavatara 3:6
All those who suffer in the world do so because of their desire for their own happiness. All those happy in the world are so because of their desire for the happiness of others. ibid. 8:129
Whatever suffering is in store for the world, may it all ripen in me. May the world find happiness through all the pure deeds of the Bodhisattvas. ibid. 10:56
The basic belief of Buddhism is a simple but profound truth: life is full of suffering. According to Buddhists, suffering is caused by desire and ignorance. But suffering can be eliminated through meditation, through study and through compassion. Decoding the Past s3e3: Tibetan Book of the Dead, History 2007
The goal of Buddhism is to step off the eternal wheel of Karma and thus be liberated from suffering. The Tibetan Book of the Dead promises a short-cut to liberation. ibid.
Life is full of misery, loneliness and suffering – it’s all over much too soon. Woody Allen
I look around the world and all I see is human suffering. Stardust Memories 1980 starring Woody Allen & Charlotte Rampling & Jessica Harper & Marie-Christine Barrault & Tony Roberts & Daniel Stern & Amy Wright & Helen Hanft & John Rothman & Anne de Salvo et al director
You know what my philosophy of life is? That it’s important to have some laughs – there’s no question of it – but you gotta suffer a little too. Broadway Danny Rose 1984 starring Woody Allen & Mia Farrow & Nick Apollo Forte & Sandy Baron & Corbett Monica & Jackie Gayle & Morty Gunty & Will Jordan & Howard Storm & Gloria Parker et al, director Woody Allen
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. Khalil Gibran
Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain. Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge
He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears. Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays
For there are deeds
Which have no form, sufferings which have no tongue. Percy Bysshe Shelley
Those who inflict must suffer, for they see
The work of their own hearts, and that must be
Our chastisement or recompense. Percy Bysshe Shelley, Julian and Maddalo l494
To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
To defy Power, which seems omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change, nor falter, no repent;
This, like thy glory, Titan is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;
This is alone Life, Joy, Empire and Victory. Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound
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. Thomas Gray, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, 1742
While people will submit to suffering which may hit anyone, they will not so easily submit to suffering which is the result of the decision of authority. It may be bad to be just a cog in an impersonal machine; but it is infinitely worse if we can no longer leave it, if we are tied to our place and to the superiors who have been chosen for us. Dissatisfaction of everybody with his lot will inevitably grow with the consciousness that it is the result of deliberate human decision. Friedrich Hayek
One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering. Jane Austen, Persuasion
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. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Suffering is part and parcel of extensive intelligence and a feeling heart. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
To allow one’s child to grow up to suffer it in turn was a callous, criminal cruelty. Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
He had been working like a slave all his life and there was nothing to show for it – there was never anything to show for it. He thought of the man who had killed his wife and children. The jury had returned the usual verdict, ‘Temporary Insanity’. It never occurred to these people that the truth was that to continue to suffer hopelessly like this was evidence of permanent insanity. ibid.
If thou suffer injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it. Democritus
If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also. Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde