MISERY QUOTES II

quotations about misery

We are apt to measure the happiness or misery of the world by that portion of either which has fallen to our lot.

NORMAN MACDONALD

Maxims and Moral Reflections

Tags: Norman MacDonald


Here is a thing which the more you fear and avoid it the nearer you approach to it, and this is misery; the more you flee from it the more miserable and restless you will become.

LEONARDO DA VINCI

Thoughts on Art and Life

Tags: Leonardo da Vinci


A little misery sweetens existence. It is the salt that makes it palatable and wholesome.

ELIZA COOK

Diamond Dust

Tags: Eliza Cook


There is no people so miserable, but that at some time or other, in some respect or other, they have reason to account themselves happy. And if they would but duly consider how it is with many of their neighbours, they would find it their duty to be thankful, that it is no worse with themselves; for it is some relief to the unfortunate to show them that there are others yet more miserable.

WELLINS CALCOTT

Thoughts Moral and Divine

Tags: Wellins Calcott


But all these were things he could not want, because they were things he could not have, and wanting what you could not have led to misery and madness.

CASSANDRA CLARE

Clockwork Prince

Tags: Cassandra Clare


To be caught happy in a world of misery was for an honest man the most despicable of crimes.

VIRGINIA WOOLF

To the Lighthouse

Tags: Virginia Woolf


He did not care if she was heartless, vicious and vulgar, stupid and grasping, he loved her. He would rather have misery with one than happiness with the other.

W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

Of Human Bondage

Tags: W. Somerset Maugham


Length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery.

C. S. LEWIS

The Magician's Nephew

Tags: C. S. Lewis


Man is unhappy because he doesn't know he's happy. It's only that.

FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

The Possessed

Tags: Fyodor Dostoevsky


It is a consolation of human life that the sick forget what it is like to feel well, or the miserable to be happy.

CYRIL CONNOLLY

The Condemned Playground

Tags: Cyril Connolly


No misery is unlooked for by men, for we find good fortune lasting only for a day.

DIPHILUS

attributed, Day's Collacon


All of which misery I saw, part of which I was.

VIRGIL

Aeneid

Tags: Virgil


Misery travels free through the whole world!

FRIEDRICH SCHILLER

Wallenstein's Tod

Tags: Friedrich Schiller


From time to time the emotional lightning flashed and showed a landscape of private misery, and then -- we went on dancing.

DORIS LESSING

The Golden Notebook

Tags: Doris Lessing


Misery is a veil through which the world can see our errors, but seldom discover our virtues.

WILLIAM OCCAM

attributed, Day's Collacon


Misery appears to improve the intellect, but this is only because it dismisses fear.

ARTHUR HELPS

Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd

Tags: Arthur Helps


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

Tags: John Updike


Perhaps it may be found more easy to forget those tempers we learnt in misery.

EDMUND LAW

attributed, Day's Collacon


You begin to see that you yourself, innocent, upright you, have contributed and do contribute to the misery of the world. Which will never end because we're what we are.

JAMES BALDWIN

Another Country

Tags: James Baldwin


I don't reckon misery loves any damn thing at all.

BRUCE MACHART

The Wake of Forgiveness