Suffering Quotes - Page 3

• Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.

  Bertrand Russell

  Life, Strong, Fear

  Autobiography prologue (1967)

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• To perceive is to suffer.

  Aristotle

  Life, Depression, Education

  Aristotle (2004). “The Works of Aristotle: Aristotle on the parts & progressive motion of animals, the problems, on indivisible lines to which is added Thomas Taylor's The elements of the true arithmetic of infinites”

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• If God gives you an abundant harvest of trials, it is a sign of great holiness which He desires you to attain. Do you want to become a great saint? Ask God to send you many sufferings. The flame of Divine Love never rises higher than when fed with the wood of the Cross, which the infinite charity of the Savior used to finish His sacrifice. All the pleasures of the world are nothing compared with the sweetness found in the gall and vinegar offered to Jesus Christ. That is, hard and painful things endured for Jesus Christ and with Jesus Christ.

  Ignatius of Loyola

  Jesus, Sacrifice, Flames

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  Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.

  Bob Marley

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  "Family Practice" by Leigh Roche, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 12, 2015.

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• Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

  Bertrand Russell

  Inspirational, Children, Pain

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Autobiography”, p.3, Routledge

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• If the first mark of a true and living church is love, the second is
  suffering. The one is naturally consequent on the other. A
  willingness to suffer proves the genuineness of love.

  John Stott

  Church, Firsts, Mark

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• We think that by protecting ourselves from suffering, we are being kind to ourselves. The truth is we only become more fearful, more hardened and more alienated. We experience ourselves as being separate from the whole. This separateness becomes like a prison for us - a prison that restricts us to our personal hopes and fears, and to caring only for the people nearest to us. Curiously enough, if we primarily try to shield ourselves from discomfort, we suffer. Yet, when we don't close off, when we let our hearts break, we discover our kinship with all beings.

  Pema Chodron

  Truth, Fear, Heart

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• People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

  Nhat Hanh

  Moving On, Depression, Letting Go

  Joseph Emet, Thich Nhat Hanh (2015). “Mindfulness Meditation: For a Quieter Mind, Self-Awareness and Healthy Living”, p.125, Souvenir Press

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• It requires more courage to suffer than to die.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Courage, Dies, Bravery And Courage

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• We need to be aware of the suffering, but retain our clarity, calmness and strength so we can help transform the situation.

  Nhat Hanh

  Needs, Helping, Clarity

  Thich Nhat Hanh (2008). “Teachings on Love: Easyread Edition”, p.7, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• It is not humiliating to be unhappy. Physical suffering is sometimes humiliating, but the suffering of being cannot be, it is life.

  Albert Camus

  Happiness And Love, Unhappy, Sometimes

  Albert Camus (2008). “Notebooks, 1951-1959”, Ivan R Dee

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• We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.

  Jim Rohn

  Inspirational, Pain, Disappointment

  FaceBook post by Jim Rohn from Oct 13, 2015

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• Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seamed with scars; martyrs have put on their coronation robes glittering with fire, and through their tears have the sorrowful first seen the gates of Heaven.

  Bill Vaughan

  Character, Fire, Heaven

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• Only two things can reveal life's great secrets: suffering and love.

  Paulo Coelho

  Love, Life, Wisdom

  FaceBook post by Paulo Coelho from Jan 08, 2012

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• A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years.

  Byron Katie

  Believe, Mean, Attachment

  Byron Katie (2010). “Question Your Thinking, Change the World”, p.7, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• The Greek word for "return" is nostos. Algos means "suffering." So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.

  Milan Kundera

  Mean, Greek, Return

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• 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.

  Thomas Merton

  Suffering Pain, World Suffering, People

  Thomas Merton (1998). “The Seven Storey Mountain”, p.116, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.

  Haruki Murakami

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Murakami Haruki, (2012). “L'arte di correre”, p.8, Giulio Einaudi Editore

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• Without our suffering, our work would simply be social work, very good and helpful, but it would not be the work of Jesus Christ, not part of the Redemption.

  Mother Teresa

  Jesus, Redemption, Helpful

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• We often add to our pain and suffering by being overly sensitive, over-reacting to minor things, and sometimes taking things too personally.

  Dalai Lama

  Pain, Positivity, Add

  Dalai Lama (2009). “The Art of Happiness, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Handbook for Living”, p.112, Penguin

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• Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering.

  Paulo Coelho

  Inspirational, Life, Long Distance Relationship

  "By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept". Book by aulo Coelho, 1994.

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• I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

  Elie Wiesel

  Peace, Bystanders, History

  Elie Wiesel (2011). “From the Kingdom of Memory: Reminiscences”, p.170, Schocken

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• Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Pain, Intelligent, World Suffering

  Arthur Schopenhauer (2016). “The Wisdom of Life”, p.30, Cosimo Classics

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• Love does not cause suffering: what causes it is the sense of ownership, which is love's opposite.

  Antoine de Saint-Exupery

  Love, Inspirational, Giving Up

  "Citadelle or The Wisdom of the Sands"by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, (p. 152), 1948.

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• Your suffering is my suffering and your happiness is my happiness.

  Gautama Buddha

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