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Tragedy quotes

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

“In the creation of comedy, it is paradoxical that tragedy stimulates the spirit of ridicule; because ridicule, I suppose, is an attitude of defiance: we must laugh in the face of our helplessness against the forces of nature – or go insane.” Charlie Chaplin, “My Autobiography” - 1964

“Those who are faithful know only the trivial side of love: it is the faithless who know love's tragedies.” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“People are drawn deeper into tragedy not by their defects but by their virtues.” Haruki Murakami, “Kafka on the Shore” - 2002

“Comedy aims at representing men as worse, Tragedy as better than in actual life.” Aristotle, “Poetics” - c. 335 BC

“For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” William Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet” - 1597

“O, why should nature build so foul a den, unless the gods delight in tragedies?” William Shakespeare, “Titus Andronicus” - 1594

“We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.” George R. R. Martin, “A Game of Thrones” - 1996

“And those who only know the non-platonic love have no need to talk of tragedy. In such love there can be no sort of tragedy.” Leo Tolstoy, “Anna Karenina” - 1877

“The life of every individual, if we survey it as a whole and in general, and only lay stress upon its most significant features, is really always a tragedy, but gone through in detail, it has the character of a comedy.” Arthur Schopenhauer, “The World as Will and Representation” - 1819

“To lose the only creature in all his world who ever had manifested love and affection for him was the greatest tragedy he had ever known.” Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes” - 1912

“But in life, a tragedy is not one long scream. It includes everything that led up to it. Hour after trivial hour, day after day, year after year, and then the sudden moment: the knife stab, the shell-burst, the plummet of the car from the bridge.” Margaret Atwood, “The Blind Assassin” - 2000

“Actions are the first tragedy in life, words are the second. Words are perhaps the worst. Words are merciless...” Oscar Wilde, “Lady Windermere's Fan” - 1893

“Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

Related topics

love comedy words passion life human nature sadness mercy virtue sorrow nature loss action gods faithfulness duration ridicule platonic representation moment

Related authors

Oscar Wilde (3)
William Shakespeare (2)
George R. R. Martin (1)
Aristotle (1)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1)
Leo Tolstoy (1)
Arthur Schopenhauer (1)
Edgar Rice Burroughs (1)
Charlie Chaplin (1)
Haruki Murakami (1)
Margaret Atwood (1)

Related sources

The Picture of Dorian Gray (2)
Romeo and Juliet (1)
Lady Windermere's Fan (1)
Titus Andronicus (1)
A Game of Thrones (1)
The Brothers Karamazov (1)
Anna Karenina (1)
The World as Will and Representation (1)
Tarzan of the Apes (1)
My Autobiography (1)
The Blind Assassin (1)
Kafka on the Shore (1)
Poetics (1)