Affliction Quotes - Page 6

• The afflictions to which we are accustomed, do not disturb us.

  Claudius Claudianus

  Accustomed

  "In Eutropium". II. 149,

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• With silence only as their benediction, God's angels come Where in the shadow of a great affliction, The soul sits dumb!

  John Greenleaf Whittier

  Angel, Silence, Dumb

  John Greenleaf Whittier (1873). “The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier”, p.138

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• Count each affliction, whether light or grave, God's messenger sent down to thee.

  Aubrey Thomas de Vere

  Light, Messengers, Graves

  Aubrey Thomas DE VERE (1842). “The Waldenses, Or the Fall of Rora: a Lyrical Sketch. With Other Poems”, p.295

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• The fire of affliction reveals the quality of our faith

  John Calvin

  Fire, Quality

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• Tears that are shed in time of affliction are rarely tears of penitence, but more likely they are shed out of self pity and pain or sorrow.

  John Calvin

  Faith, Religious, Pain

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• Suffering is better than sinning. There is more evil in a drop of sin than in an ocean of affliction. Better, burn for Christ, than turn from Christ.

  Charles Spurgeon

  Ocean, Evil, Suffering

  Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1889). “The Salt-cellars: Being a Collection of Proverbs, Together with Homely Notes Thereon”

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• There is no attribute of God more comforting to His children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, they believe that Sovereignty hath ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all.

  Charles Spurgeon

  Children, Believe, Grace

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• Such things as anguish, woe, affliction, guilt, feelings of awfulness, and utter wretchedness, the bread and butter of Days of Yore and Russians, sadly have very little staying power in these lickety-split Modern Times.

  Marisha Pessl

  Feelings, Guilt, Splits

  Marisha Pessl (2006). “Special Topics in Calamity Physics”, p.166, Penguin

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• In mature years I have always been gregarious, a lover of my kind, dependent upon the company of friends for the very pulse of moral life. To be marooned, to be shut up in a solitary cell, to inhabit a lighthouse, or to camp alone in a forest, these have always seemed to me afflictions too heavy to be borne, even in imagination.  A state in which conversation exists not, is for me an air too empty of oxygen for my lungs to breathe it.

  Edmund Gosse

  Air, Cells, Oxygen

  "Father and Son".

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• What is essential to practice the Tao is to get rid of cravings and vexations. If these afflictions are not removed, it is impossible to attain stability. This is like the case of the fertile field, which cannot produce good crops as long as the weeds are not cleared away. Cravings and ruminations are the weeds of the mind; if you do not clear them away, concentration and wisdom do not develop.

  Zhang Sanfeng

  Weed, Practice, Long

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• In the central cases of physical pain, then, it appears that at least part of what is bad about our condition is the way it makes us feel. Here there seem to be no problems with a purely mental state account, no counterpart to the experience machine that could bring us to think that we are being deceived by mere appearances. [...] If I am suffering physical pain then I can be quite wrong about the organic cause of my affliction, or even about whether it has one, without that error diminishing in the slightest either the reality of my pain or its impact on the quality of my life.

  L. W. Sumner

  Pain, Reality, Thinking

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• If he is anything other than a total gentleman, I’m going to gouge his eyes out.” “So you’re into it.” “Withholding judgment! When can I see you?” “Certainly not until you finish An Imperial Affliction.” I enjoyed being coy. “Then I’d better hang up and start reading.” “You’d better,” I said, and the line clicked dead without another word. Flirting was new to me, but I liked it.

  John Green

  Reading, Eye, Flirting

  "The Fault in Our Stars". Book by John Green, January 10, 2012.

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• The attentions of others matter to us because we are afflicted by a congenital uncertainty as to our own value, as a result of which affliction we tend to allow others' appraisals to play a determining role in how we see ourselves. Our sense of identity is held captive by the judgements of those we live among.

  Alain de Botton

  Play, Judgement, Identity

  Alain De Botton (2008). “Status Anxiety”, p.8, Vintage

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• We may remark in passing that to be blind and beloved may, in this world where nothing is perfect, be among the most strangely exquisite forms of happiness. The supreme happiness in life is the assurance of being loved; of being loved for oneself, even in spite of oneself; and this assurance the blind man possesses. In his affliction, to be served is to be caressed. Does he lack anything? no. Possessing love he is not deprived of light. A love, moreover, that is wholly pure. There can be no blindness where there is this certainty.

  Victor Hugo

  Life, Men, Light

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• I've never felt like I needed to change. I've always thought, 'If you want somebody different, pick somebody else.' But sure, criticism can sometimes still get to me. Some things are so malicious, they knock the wind out of you. It's like I'm managing to achieve all this success in spite of my affliction... Would you ever put [America's plus-size sweetheart] in the headline for a male star?

  Melissa McCarthy

  Stars, Powerful, Wind

  "Melissa McCarthy: I cried about not being thinner", www.foxnews.com. June 25, 2014.

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• To know that nothing hurts the godly, is a matter of comfort; but to be assured that all things which fall out shall co-operate for their good, that their crosses shall be turned into blessings, that showers of affliction water the withering root of their grace and make it flourish more; this may fill their hearts with joy till they run over.

  Thomas Watson

  Running, Religious, Hurt

  Thomas Watson (2015). “All Things for Good: An Exposition of Romans 8:28”, p.6, Gideon House Books

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• We must have faith during the period of our grief. We think that our afflictions will be greater than we can bear, but we do not know the strength of our own hearts, nor the power of God. He knows all. He knows every folding of the heart and also the extent of the sorrow that he inflicts. What we think will overwhelm us entirely only subdues and conquers our pride. Our renewed spirit rises from its subjugation with a celestial strength and consolation.

  Francois Fenelon

  Grief, Heart, Pride

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• Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and centre your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.

  Bahá'u'lláh

  Soul, Age, Needs

  "Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh". Book by Bahá'u'lláh, reference.bahai.org. 1978.

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• Ignorance, vulnerability, fear, anger, and desire are expressions of the infinite potential of your buddha nature. There's nothing inherently wrong or right with making such choices. The fruit of Buddhist practice is simply the recognition that these and other mental afflictions are nothing more or less than choices available to us because our real nature is infinite in scope.

  Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

  Buddhist, Real, Ignorance

  Eric Swanson, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (2010). “The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness”, p.249, Random House

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• Christians ought to suspect that affliction is the very essence of creation. To be a created thing is not necessarily to be afflicted, but it is necessarily to be exposed to affliction. ... Affliction is the surest sign that God wishes to be loved by us; it is the most precious evidence of His tenderness.

  Simone Weil

  Christian, Essence, Suffering

  Simone Weil (1998). “Simone Weil”

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• No man is more unhappy than the one who is never in adversity; the greatest affliction of life is never to be afflicted.

  Victor Hugo

  Adversity, Men, Unhappy

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• When we receive with an entire and perfect resignation the afflictions which God sends us they become for us favors and benefits; because conformity to the will of God is a gain far superior to all temporal advantages.

  Vincent de Paul

  Religious, Perfect, Favors

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• Afflictions have the same use and end to our souls, that frosty weather hath upon those clothes that are laid and bleaching, they alter the hue and make them white.

  John Flavel

  Christian, Weather, White

  John Flavel (1799). “Whole Works of the Rev. Mr. John Flavel”, p.407

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• God sweetens outward pain with inward peace.

  Thomas Watson

  Religious, Pain, Inward

  Thomas Watson (2015). “All Things for Good: An Exposition of Romans 8:28”, p.22, Gideon House Books

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• God takes a safe course with His children, that they may not be condemned with the world, He permits the world to condemn them, that they may not love the world, the world hates them.

  Richard Sibbes

  Religious, Children, Hate

  Richard Sibbes (1775). “Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations ...”, p.71

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