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Sorrow quotes

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“Grief makes one hour ten.” William Shakespeare, “Richard II” - 1595

“Tragic phrases comfort the heart.... Without them, sorrow would be too heavy for men to bear.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” - 1880

“Excess of joy is harder to bear than any amount of sorrow.” Honoré de Balzac, “Letters of Two Brides” - 1841

“Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves.” Emily Brontë, “Wuthering Heights” - 1847

“I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow.” Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” - 1839

“There is no greater sorrow Than to be mindful of the happy time In misery, and that thy Teacher knows.” Dante Alighieri, “Divine Comedy” - 1320

“When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions!” William Shakespeare, “Hamlet” - 1623

“It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour.” Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol” - 1843

“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.” Charles Dickens, “Great Expectations” - 1861

“He who does not weep does not see.” Victor Hugo, “Les Misérables” - 1862

“What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined for life—to strengthen each other in all labour, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent...” George Eliot, “Adam Bede” - 1859

“There is prodigious strength . . . in sorrow and despair.” Charles Dickens, “A Tale of Two Cities” - 1859

“pure and complete sorrow is as impossible as pure and complete joy.” Leo Tolstoy, “War and Peace” - 1869

“Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, a face without a heart?” William Shakespeare, “Hamlet” - 1623

“This feather stirs; she lives! If it be so, it is a chance which does redeem all sorrows that ever I have felt.” William Shakespeare, “King Lear” - 1623

“Sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye, steal me awhile from mine own company.” William Shakespeare, “A Midsummer Night's Dream” - 1601

“It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth, It is a comforter.” William Shakespeare, “The Tempest” - 1623

“For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite the man that mocks at it and sets it light.” William Shakespeare, “Richard II” - 1595

“Affliction may one day smile again; and till then, sit thee down, sorrow!” William Shakespeare, “Love's Labour's Lost” - 1598

“If there were reason for these miseries, then into limits could I bind my woes.” William Shakespeare, “Titus Andronicus” - 1594

“Sorrow concealed, like an oven stopp'd, doth burn the heart to cinders where it is.” William Shakespeare, “Titus Andronicus” - 1594

“Short time seems long in sorrow's sharp sustaining.” William Shakespeare, “The Rape of Lucrece” - 1594

“If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some; for, he that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.” Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” - 1791

“Self-loathing is not sorrow. Yet it is good, for it marks a step in the way home, and in the father's arms the prodigal forgets the self he abominates. Once with his father, he is to himself of no more account.” George MacDonald, “Lilith” - 1895

“Naturalists tell of a noble race of horses that instinctively open a vein with their teeth, when heated and exhausted by a long course, in order to breathe more freely. I am often tempted to open a vein, to procure for myself everlasting liberty.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “The Sorrows of Young Werther” - 1774

“The weapons of divine justice are blunted by the confession and sorrow of the offender.” Dante Alighieri, “Divine Comedy” - 1320

“Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“What woe is lacking to my tale of woes?” Sophocles, “Antigone” - c. 441 BC

“There are some situations which men understand by instinct, but which reason is powerless to explain; in such cases the greatest poet is he who gives utterance to the most natural and vehement outburst of sorrow.” Alexandre Dumas, “The Count of Monte Cristo” - 1845

“Suddenly he knew joy and sorrow felted into one fabric. Courage and fear were one thing too.” John Steinbeck, “East of Eden” - 1952

“Time: old cold time, old sorrow, settling down in layers like silt in a pond.” Margaret Atwood, “The Blind Assassin” - 2000

“It is also a duty owed to yourself, for excessive sorrow prevents improvement or enjoyment, or even the discharge of daily usefulness, without which no man is fit for society.” Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein” - 1818

“A glooming peace this morning with it brings. The sun for sorrow will not show his head.” William Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet” - 1597

“The only people I would care to be with now are artists and people who have suffered: those who know what beauty is, and those who know what sorrow is: nobody else interests me.” Oscar Wilde, “De Profundis” - 1905

“I want to weep . . . I want to be comforted. I’m so tired of being strong. I want to be foolish and frightened for once. Just for a small while, that’s all...” George R. R. Martin, “A Clash of Kings” - 1999

“It is only shallow people who require years to get rid of an emotion. 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...” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“These bitter sorrows of childhood! when sorrow is all new and strange, when hope has not yet got wings to fly beyond the days and weeks, and the space from summer to summer seems measureless.” George Eliot, “The Mill on the Floss” - 1860

“When I realize that she is gone, perhaps gone forever, a great void opens up and I feel that I am falling, falling, falling into deep, black space. And this is worse than tears, deeper than regret or pain or sorrow; it is the abyss into which...” Henry Miller, “Tropic of Cancer” - 1934

Related topics

time sadness crying joy strength death happiness grief pain love wisdom life courage reason fear fate emotions words tragedy suffering

Related authors

William Shakespeare (12)
Charles Dickens (3)
Oscar Wilde (2)
George Eliot (2)
Dante Alighieri (2)
Edgar Allan Poe (1)
George R. R. Martin (1)
Victor Hugo (1)
Benjamin Franklin (1)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1)
Leo Tolstoy (1)
George MacDonald (1)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1)
Honoré de Balzac (1)
Frederick Douglass (1)
Sophocles (1)
Alexandre Dumas (1)
John Steinbeck (1)
Henry Miller (1)
Margaret Atwood (1)

Related sources

Hamlet (2)
Richard II (2)
Titus Andronicus (2)
Divine Comedy (2)
Romeo and Juliet (1)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1)
King Lear (1)
The Tempest (1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
Love's Labour's Lost (1)
The Fall of the House of Usher (1)
The Rape of Lucrece (1)
Les Misérables (1)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1)
The Brothers Karamazov (1)
Lilith (1)
The Sorrows of Young Werther (1)
Letters of Two Brides (1)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1)
Antigone (1)