Pity Quotes

• If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.

  Francis of Assisi

  Religious, Peace, Men

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• Ice-cream is exquisite - what a pity it isn't illegal.

  Voltaire

  Food, Ice Cream, Cooking

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• Pity the selfishness of lovers: it is brief, a forlorn hope; it is impossible.

  Elizabeth Bowen

  Love, Selfishness, Impossible

  Elizabeth Bowen (1938). “The death of the heart”, Viking Pr

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• I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process.

  Benjamin Harrison

  Money, Inspirational Life, Men

  "Rain Still Follows Him: The President's Vermont Trip Marked by Storms". Speech in Rutland, Vermont, reported in The New York Times, August 29, 1891 issue p. 5,

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• You must not pity me because my sixtieth year finds me still astonished. To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.

  Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

  Years, Age, Growing

  "Earthly Paradise: Colette's Autobiography Drawn from the Writings of Her Life". Book by Sidonie Gabrielle Colette, 1966.

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• There is no need to waste pity on young girls who are having their moments of disillusionment, for in another moment they will recover their illusion.

  Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

  Girl, Needs, Waste

  "Earthly Paradise: Colette's Autobiography Drawn from the Writings of Her Life". Book by Sidonie Gabrielle Colette, 1966.

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• I tell people to monitor their self-pity. Self-pity is very unattractive.

  Patty Duke

  Self, People, Unattractive

  Patty Duke (2010). “Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depressive Illness”, p.287, Bantam

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• Suffering... We owe to it all that is good in us, all that gives value to life; we owe to it pity, we owe to it courage, we owe to it all the virtues.

  Anatole France

  Depression, Courage, Giving

  "The Garden of Epicurus". Book by Anatole France, 1894.

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• There is little for the great part of the history of the world except the bitter tears of pity and the hot tears of wrath.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Wrath, Tears, Hot

  Woodrow Wilson, United States. President (1913-1921 : Wilson) (1924). “The messages and papers of Woodrow Wilson”

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• pity me that the heart is slow to learn what the swift mind beholds at every turn.

  Edna St. Vincent Millay

  Learning, Heart, Mind

  Edna St. Vincent Millay (2003). “Edna St. Vincent Millay: Selected Poems”, p.19, Library of America

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• There are two kinds of pity. One, the weak and sentimental kind, which is really no more than the heart's impatience to be rid as quickly as possible of the painful emotion aroused by the sight of another's unhappiness, that pity which is not compassion, but only an instinctive desire to fortify one's own soul agains the sufferings of another; and the other, the only one at counts, the unsentimental but creative kind, which knows what it is about and is determined to hold out, in patience and forbearance, to the very limit of its strength and even beyond.

  Stefan Zweig

  Heart, Compassion, Sight

  "Beware of Pity". Book by Stefan Zweig, 1939.

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• Pity the man who has a character to support - it is worse than a large family - he is silent poor indeed.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Family, Character, Men

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.2077, Delphi Classics

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• Optimism and self-pity are the positive and negative poles of modern cowardice.

  Cyril Connolly

  Inspirational, Self, Optimism

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• Those who do not complain are never pitied.

  Jane Austen

  Mrs Bennet, Ironic, Prejudice

  Jane Austen, Pamela Jane, Deborah Guyol (2015). “Pride and Prejudice and Kitties: A Cat-Lover's Romp through Jane Austen's Classic”, p.73, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.

  Helen Keller

  Inspirational, Life, Moving On

  "How to Help Someone Who is Depressed, or Suicidal : Practical Suggestions from a Survivor". Book by John Cook, 1993.

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• Pity melts the mind to love.

  John Dryden

  Life, Love Life, Mind

  John Dryden, Paul Hammond, David Hopkins (2007). “Dryden: Selected Poems”, p.593, Pearson Education

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• Pity cost nothing and ain't worth nothing.

  Josh Billings

  Cost

  Josh Billings (1874). “Josh Billings' Wit and Humor”, p.164

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• Self-pity in its early stage is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

  Maya Angelou

  Positive, Self, Doe

  1974 Gather Together In My Name, ch.6.

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• Honesty is as rare as a man without self-pity.

  Stephen Vincent Benet

  Honesty, Men, Self

  Stephen Vincent Benét (1990). “John Brown's Body”, Ivan R Dee

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• More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us.

  George Eliot

  Wisdom, Simple, Compassion

  George Eliot (2005). “Four Novels of George Eliot”, p.1272, Wordsworth Editions

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• It is only a step from boredom to disillusionment, which leads naturally to self-pity, which in turn ends in chaos.

  Manly Hall

  Blessing, Self, Boredom

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• A mixture of admiration and pity is one of the surest recipes for affection.

  Arthur Helps

  Mixtures, Recipes, Admiration

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• I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.

  D. H. Lawrence

  Life, Sorry, Bird

  D.H. Lawrence (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence (Illustrated)”, p.6615, Delphi Classics

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• Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

  Don Marquis

  Bible, Jesus, Humble

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• Self-pity comes so naturally to all of us. The most solid happiness can be shaken by the compassion of a fool.

  Andre Maurois

  Happiness, Compassion, Self

  ANDRE MAUROIS (1939). “ARIEL THE LIFE OF SHELLEY”

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