Distress Quotes - Page 3

• If we want to make a statement about a man's nature on the basis of his physiognomy, we must take everything into account; it is in his distress that a man is tested, for then his nature is revealed.

  Paracelsus

  Men, Want, Bases

  Paracelsus, George Rosen, Henry Ernest Sigerist, Clarice Lilian Temkin, Gregory Zilboorg (1941). “Four Treatises Together with Selected Writings”

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• Let's cause some senators distress.

  Peggy Noonan

  Causes, Senators

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• Distress not yourself if you cannot at first understand the deeper mysteries of Spaceland. By degrees they will dawn upon you.

  Edwin A. Abbott

  Dawn, Degrees, Firsts

  Edwin A. Abbott, Thomas Banchoff, Seth Caplan, Jeffrey Travis, Dano Johnson (2009). “Flatland: The Movie Edition”, p.70, Princeton University Press

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• There is an element of autobiography in all fiction in that pain or distress, or pleasure, is based on the author's own. But in my case that is as far as it goes.

  William Trevor

  Pain, Fiction, Elements

  William Trevor (1999). “Death in Summer”, p.145, Penguin

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• I believe that what so saddens the reformer is not his sympathy with his fellows in distress, but, though he be the holiest son of God, is his private ail. Let this be righted, let the spring come to him, the morning rise over his couch, and he will forsake his generous companions without apology.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Sympathy, Morning, Spring

  Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.194, Penguin

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• The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.

  Confucius

  Happiness, Mean, Men

  Confucius “The Analects”, W. W. Norton & Company

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• 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.

  Thomas Paine

  Strength, Being Strong, Perseverance

  Thomas Paine, John P. Kaminski (2002). “Citizen Paine: Thomas Paine's Thoughts on Man, Government, Society, and Religion”, p.44, Rowman & Littlefield

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• The reason for great distress is the body. Without it, what distress could there be?

  Laozi

  Taoism, Body, Reason

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• If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

  Thomas Paine

  Veterans Day, Time, Peace

  Thomas Paine (2003). “Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of ThomasPaine”, p.96, Penguin

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• Born in iniquity and conceived in sin, the spirit of nationalism has never ceased to bend human institutions to the service of dissension and distress.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Patriotism, Politics, Spirit

  Thorstein Veblen (1994). “Absentee Ownership: Business Enterprise in Recent Times : the Case of America”, p.38, Transaction Publishers

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• Without realizing it, the individual composes his life according to the laws of beauty even in times of greatest distress.

  Milan Kundera

  Courage, Law, Coincidence In Life

  "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". Book by Milan Kundera, 1984.

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• I don't do damsel in distress very well. It's hard for me to play a victim.

  Scarlett Johansson

  Play, Victim, Damsel In Distress

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• Economic distress, political pressure, and social obloquy already drive us from our homes and from our graves. The Jews are already constantly shifting from place to place.

  Theodor Herzl

  Home, Political, Pressure

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• Want of money and the distress of a thief can never be alleged as the cause of his thieving, for many honest people endure greater hardships with fortitude. We must therefore seek the cause elsewhere than in want of money, for that is the miser's passion, not the thief s.

  William Blake

  Passion, People, Thieves

  William Blake (1977). “The Portable William Blake”, p.135, Penguin

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• They have stolen the public lands. They have grasped all to themselves, and by their unprincipled greed brought a crisis of unparalleled distress on forty millions of people, who have natural resources to feed, clothe and shelter the whole human race.

  Denis Kearney

  Race, Land, People

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• Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor. And perhaps they should understand the role of a community organizer is to help people in distress.

  Donna Brazile

  Jesus, People, Community

  "Millions Insulted by Liberals' Use of Jesus Christ/Pontius Pilate Line". Interview with Rush Limbaugh, www.rushlimbaugh.com. September 12, 2008.

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• I am no party man in this matter in any degree; and if I have any objection to the motion it is this, that whereas it is a motion to inquire into the manufacturing distress of the country, it should have been a motion to inquire into manufacturing and agricultural distress.

  Richard Cobden

  Country, Party, Men

  Richard Cobden (1870). “Speeches on Questions of Public Policy”, p.30

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• Your distress about life might mean you have been living for the wrong reason, not that you have no reason for living.

  Tom O'Connor

  Mean, Might, Reason

  Tom O'Connor, Ahmed González-Núñez (1987). “Living With AIDS: Reaching Out”, Corwin Pub

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• Even convicts, with whom I have spent some time, are not won over in any other way. Whenever I happened to speak sharply to them, I spoiled everything; on the contrary, when I praised them for their resignation and sympathized with them in their sufferings; when I told them they were fortunate to have their purgatory in this world, when I kissed their chains, showed compassion for their distress, and expressed sorrow for their misfortune, it was then that they listened to me, gave glory to God, and opened themselves to salvation.

  Vincent de Paul

  Compassion, Suffering, Sorrow

  Saint Vincent de Paul, Pierre Coste (1985). “Correspondence, Conferences, Documents: Apr. 1650-July 1653”

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• Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.

  George Washington

  Inspirational, 4th Of July, Heart

  George Washington, Thomas J. Fleming (1967). “Affectionately Yours, George Washington: A Self-portrait in Letters of Friendship”, New York : Norton

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• In a culture in which interpersonal relationships are generally considered to provide the answer to every form of distress, it is sometimes difficult to persuade well-meaning helpers that solitude can be as therapeutic as emotional support.

  Anthony Storr

  Emotional, Support, Solitude

  Anthony Storr (2015). “Solitude a Return to the Self”, p.29, Simon and Schuster

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• The Poet, gentle creature as he is, Hath, like the Lover, his unruly times; His fits when he is neither sick nor well, Though no distress be near him but his own Unmanageable thoughts.

  William Wordsworth

  Sick, Lovers, Fit

  William Wordsworth (2009). “The Poems of William Wordsworth: Collected Reading Texts from the Cornell Wordsworth Series”, p.147, Humanities-Ebooks

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• Everything that is loved, if it is not loved for His sake then this love is nothing but distress and punishment. Every action that is not performed for His sake then it is wasted and severed. Every heart that does not reach Him is wretched; veiled from achieving its success and happiness.

  Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

  Heart, Love Is, Punishment

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• The greatest works of admiration,
  And all the fair examples of renown.
  Out of distress and misery are grown.

  Samuel Daniel

  Fear, Example, Misery

  Samuel Daniel (1718). “The Poetical Works of Mr. Samuel Daniel ...: To which is Prefix'd, Memoirs of His Life and Writings ...”, p.362

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• Let him who expects one class of society to prosper in the highest degree, while the other is in distress, try whether one side; of the face can smile while the other is pinched.

  Thomas Fuller

  Smile, Class, Diversity

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