quotations about misery
The wretched hasten to hear of their own miseries.
SENECA THE YOUNGER
Hercules Oetaeus
Ah how shameless -- the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone they say come all their miseries yes but they themselves with their own reckless ways compound their pains beyond their proper share.
HOMER
The Odyssey
There is a lightness, a lightening, that comes along with misery: vast portions of your life are shorn off, suddenly ignorable.
JOHN UPDIKE
Rabbit at Rest
Misery appears to improve the intellect, but this is only because it dismisses fear.
ARTHUR HELPS
Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd
I don't reckon misery loves any damn thing at all.
BRUCE MACHART
The Wake of Forgiveness
Thou art not born to misery; the Almighty never called any of His creatures into existence to render them unhappy; yet man may be wretched from his own follies and vices; his reason may yield to the wild impulses of tumultuous passion; then man is wretched, and every seeming good is perverted into misery.
CONRAD GESSNER
attributed, Day's Collacon
But O yet more miserable!
Myself my sepulchre, a moving grave.
JOHN MILTON
Samson Agonistes
Misery makes sport to mock itself.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Richard II
There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.
VICTOR HUGO
Les Misérables
The child of misery, baptized in tears!
J. LANGHORNE
The Country Justice
Misery's fine -- as long as you know you can get out of it when you want to.
ARTHUR ADAMOV
Ping Pong
Misery pulls away the brackets of life leaving you to free fall.
JEANETTE WINTERSON
Written on the Body
I hate all pain,
Given or received; we have enough within us
The meanest vassal as the loftiest monarch,
Not to add to each other's natural burden
Of mortal misery.
LORD BYRON
Sardanapalus
People like to talk about other people's misery; it makes them feel their own life is somehow better when it usually isn't.
DAVID BALDACCI
Absolute Power
Mock not any man's misery.
PITTACUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
All that was really there was still more misery -- oh yes! as much of that as you like.
EMILE ZOLA
Germinal
Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it.
BOETHIUS
The Consolation of Philosophy
But misery still delights to trace
Its semblance in another's case.
WILLIAM COWPER
The Castaway
Extreme hopes are born of extreme misery.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
Unpopular Essays
We often see misery dwelling in the midst of splendor, whilst real happiness is found in humbler stations.
HERODOTUS
attributed, Day's Collacon