It is the veiled angel of sorrow who plucks away one thing and another that bound us here in ease and security, and, in the vanishing of these dear objects, indicates the true home of our affections and our peace.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
Sorrow is a fruit. God does not make it grow on limbs too weak to bear it.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Sorrow is a kind of rust of the soul, which every new idea contributes in its passage to scour way.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Night brings out stars as sorrow shows us truths.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy.
—Eudora Welty (1909–2001) American Short Story Writer, Novelist
The busy have no time for tears.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Those who are held wise among men, and who search for the reason of things, are those who bring the most sorrow upon themselves.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
We come to learn that it does not pay to grieve too much over our errors. Ordinarily we try to do the best we can.
—Thomas Masson (1866–1934) American Journalist, Humorist, Author
There is no wisdom in useless and hopeless sorrow; but there is something in it so like virtue, that he who is wholly without it cannot be loved.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seamed with scars; martyrs have put on their coronation robes glittering with fire, and through their tears have the sorrowful first seen the gates of Heaven.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
Waste no tears over the griefs of yesterday.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
There is no worse sorrow than remembering happiness in the day of sorrow.
—Alfred de Musset (1810–57) French Dramatist, Poet, Novelist
The worst sorrows in life are not in its losses and misfortunes, but its fears.
—A. C. Benson (1862–1925) English Essayist, Poet, Author
But, truly, I have wept too much! The Dawns are heartbreaking. Every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter.
—Arthur Rimbaud (1854–91) French Poet, Adventurer
Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves.
—Emily Bronte (1818–48) English Novelist, Poet
Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, great as each may be, their highest comfort given to the sorrowful is a cordial introduction into another’s woe. Sorrow’s the great community in which all men born of woman are members at one time or another.
—Sean O’Casey (1880–1964) Irish Dramatist, Memoirist
One can never be the judge of another’s grief. That which is a sorrow to one, to another is joy. Let us not dispute with any one concerning the reality of his sufferings; it is with sorrows as with countries — each man has his own.
—Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand (1768–1848) French Writer, Academician, Statesman
Sorrow is the handmaid of God, not of Satan. — She would lead us, as she did the Psalmist, to say, “Who will show us any good?” that after having said this we may also say with him, “Lord, lift thou the light of thy countenance upon us.”
—Arthur Sherburne Hardy (1847–1930) American Engineer, Educator, Editor, Diplomat, Novelist, Poet
If we are more affected by the ruin of a palace than by the conflagration of a cottage, our humanity must have formed a very erroneous estimate of the miseries of human life.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
Only one-fourth of the sorrow in each man’s life is caused by outside uncontrollable elements, the rest is self-imposed by failing to analyze and act with calmness.
—Holbrook Jackson (1874–1948) British Journalist, Writer, Publisher
Sorrow is mere rust of the soul; activity will cleanse and brighten it.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.
—John Vance Cheney (1848–1922) American Poet, Essayist, Librarian
Grief should be the instructor of the wise: sorrow is knowledge; they who know the most must mourn the deepest o’er the fatal truth, — the tree of knowledge is not that of life.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
This world is so full of care and sorrow that it is a gracious debt we owe to one another to discover the bright crystals of delight hidden in somber circumstances and irksome tasks.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.
Four be the things I’d been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.
Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.
Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Prayer has comforted us in sorrow and will help strengthen us for the journey ahead.
—George W. Bush (b.1946) American Head of State, Businessperson
A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Sorrow is tranquility remembered in emotion.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
Sorrow happens, hardship happens, the hell with it, who never knew the price of happiness, will not be happy.
—Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1933–2017) Russian Poet, Dissident
It is foolish to tear one’s hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The sorrow which calls for help and comfort is not the greatest, nor does it come from the depths of the heart.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) German Philosopher, Linguist, Statesman