Suffering quotes
4.3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside suffering — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"Our scars reveal who we are. The fact that we have experienced profound suffering in life—the fact that we carry what may seem to be unsightly scars—does not disqualify us from following Jesus. It may be precisely what qualifies us."
"Translations are a partial and precious documentation of the changes the text suffers."
"God wants us to be totally dependent on Him, and suffering seems to bring us to that point."
"I am not worthy of my suffering. A great sentence. It suggests not only that suffering is the basis of the self, its sole indubitable ontological proof, but also that it is the one feeling most worthy of respect; the value of all values."
"Those who don't know how to suffer are the worst off. There are times when the only correct thing we can do is to bear out troubles until a better day."
"When we suffer, there will sometimes be mystery... Will there also be faith?"
"No one should be left to suffer alone."
"It is important not to allow ourselves to be put off by the magnitude of others' suffering. The misery of millions is not a cause for pity. Rather it is a cause for compassion."
"Our attitude towards suffering becomes very important because it can affect how we cope with suffering when it arises."
"The problem of reconciling human suffering with the existence of a God who loves, is only insoluble so long as we attach a trivial meaning to the word "love.""
"It takes courage to live through suffering; and it takes honesty to observe it."
"I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state, but a process. It needs not a map, but a history, and if I don't stop writing that history at some quite arbitrary point, there's no reason why I should ever stop."
"We have discovered that the scheme of 'outlawing war' has made war more like an outlaw without making it less frequent and that to banish the knight does not alleviate the suffering of the peasant."
"The taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process. Where the death penalty persists, conditions for those awaiting execution are often horrifying, leading to aggravated suffering."
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could spare them from all suffering? No, it wouldn't. They would not evolve as human beings and would remain shallow, identified with the external form of things. Suffering drives you deeper. The paradox is that suffering is caused by identification with form and erodes identification with form. A lot of it is caused by the ego, although eventually suffering destroys the ego-but not until you suffer consciously."
"When you see around you the human form suffering or dissolving, you have empathy on the human level. You share the suffering because it has to do with the fleetingness of form. But if that is the only level that operates in you, you haven't gone beyond suffering."
"You don't need to suffer anymore. You've suffered enough to take you to this point where you hear the words, "You don't need to suffer anymore," and you understand them. You recognize their truth and you then see that you do have a choice that you can surrender to the suchness of now, which means every moment to relinquish resistance and if it still arises, to recognize it."
"Germany is a nation that created an enormous amount of suffering on the planet. The German people also themselves have suffered, because it always goes together."
"I am convinced that the attitude we cultivate in advance may well determine how suffering will affect us when it does strike."
"I understand that suffering, when it cannot be avoided, is here to help me on my way to my dreams"
