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 (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
Self-pity is our worst enemy, and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Misery is a communicable disease.
—Martha Graham (1894–1991) American Choreographer
What poison is to food, self-pity is to life.
—Oliver G. Wilson
The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure is occupaton.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
The human mind can bear plenty of reality, but not too much unintermittent gloom.
—Margaret Drabble (b.1939) English Novelist, Biographer, Critic, Short Story Writer
Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
Despair is criminal.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The best mask for demoralization is daring.
—Lucian (c.120–c.200 CE) Greek Satirist, Rhetorician, Writer
I am convinced, the longer I live, that life and its blessings are not so entirely unjustly distributed as when we are suffering greatly we are inclined to suppose.
—Mary Todd Lincoln (1818–82) American First lady
Sadness is almost never anything but a form of fatigue.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood or appreciated.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Self-pity comes so naturally to all of us. The most solid happiness can be shaken by the compassion of a fool.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The great thing in the world is to know how to be sufficient unto oneself.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
To hear complaints is wearisome alike to the wretched and the happy.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
In life so wretched? Isn’t it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddied? You are the one who must grow up.
—Dag Hammarskjold (1905–61) Swedish Statesman, UN Diplomat
Grumbling is the death of love.
—Marlene Dietrich (1901–92) German-American Film Actress, Cabaret Performer
A man’s as miserable as he thinks he is.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Worldly desires are like sunbeams in a dark room. They seem solid until you try to grasp one.
—Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810) Ukrainian Jewish Rabbi
He who complains, sins.
—Francis de Sales (1567–1622) French Catholic Saint
Every message of despair is the statement of a situation from which everybody must freely try to find a way out.
—Eugene Ionesco (1909–94) Romanian-born French Dramatist
This life is not for complaint, but for satisfaction.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Optimism and self-pity are the positive and negative poles of modern cowardice.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
He’s simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed.
—Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (1870–1916) British Short Story Writer, Satirist, Historian
Despair is the absolute extreme of self-love. It is reached when a man deliberately turns his back on all help from anyone else in order to taste the rotten luxury of knowing himself to be lost.
—Thomas Merton (1915–68) American Trappist Monk
Sympathy is never wasted except when you give it to yourself.
—John W. Raper (1870–1950) American Journalist, Aphorist
I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It’s amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
Self-pity is one of the most dangerous forms of self-centeredness. It fogs our vision.
—Unknown
Self-pity is a death that has no resurrection, a sinkhole from which no rescuing hand can drag you because you have chosen to sink.
—Elisabeth Elliot (b.1926) American Christian Author, Speaker
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