suffering quotes from influential philosophers, authors and people
"Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point."
87
"The root of suffering is attachment."
172
"The root of the problem is that many of us do not see language as a representation of reality, but confuse it with reality itself."
211
"The trick is to become less identified with your thoughts, to not take them so seriously, to see them as 'happenings' rather than 'the way things really are.'"
212
"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how."
213
"The issue with any game - even this grand universe game - is that unless there is a possibility of defeat - and it has to be a 'real' defeat - there is no game. The grand game of all games is the game of life and death. If death didn't seem real, the game would be meaningless. Death seems like a real, genuine defeat because if it didn't, we would lose interest in the game."
214
"What if the way to 'win' the game of life is to discover experientially that it's all a game in the first place and that you are the creator of the game? I emphasize the experience of this discovery, and I suggest that this is what happened to the Buddha, Laotzu, and other ancient masters from the East so long ago. In their case, identification with the self collapsed, and so did all the mental suffering that went with it."
215
"If you want to have an infinite set of experiences, create fictitious egos that take themselves seriously and program them to always desire what they do not have."
216
"Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself - and there isn't one."
217
"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."
370
"To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering."
378
"Man, the bravest of animals, and the one most accustomed to suffering, does not repudiate suffering as such; he desires it, he even seeks it out, provided he is shown a meaning for it, a purpose of suffering."
421
"The meaninglessness of suffering, not the suffering itself, was the curse that lay over mankind so far."
422
"Human beings do not seek pleasure and avoid displeasure. What human beings want… is an increase of power; driven by that will they seek resistance, they need something that opposes it - displeasure, as an obstacle to their will to power, is therefore a normal fact; human being do not avoid it; they are rather in continual need of it."
423
"And life itself confided the secret to me: behold, it said, I am that which must always overcome itself."
424
"Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats."
713
"The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us."
714
"Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable."
720
"A man who has been through bitter experiences and travelled far enjoys even his sufferings after a time."
1087
"Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier; I have seen worse sights than this."
1088
"Men are so quick to blame the gods: they say that we devise their misery. But they themselves- in their depravity- design grief greater than the griefs that fate assigns."
1094
"There is nothing alive more agonized than man / of all that breathe and crawl across the earth."
1102
"Be still my heart; thou hast known worse than this."
1103
"Why have you come to me here, dear heart, with all these instructions? I promise you I will do everything just as you ask. But come closer. Let us give in to grief, however briefly, in each other's arms."
1104
"The avoidance of suffering is a form of suffering."
1155
"Everything worthwhile in life is won through surmounting the associated negative experience."
1156
"Pain is an inextricable thread in the fabric of life, and to tear it out is not only impossible, but destructive: attempting to tear it out unravels everything else with it. To try to avoid pain is to give too many fucks about pain. In contrast, if you’re able to not give a fuck about the pain, you become unstoppable."
1157
"To be happy we need something to solve. Happiness is therefore a form of action."
1160
"We suffer for the simple reason that suffering is biologically useful. It is nature’s preferred agent for inspiring change. We have evolved to always live with a certain degree of dissatisfaction and insecurity, because it’s the mildly dissatisfied and insecure creature that’s going to do the most work to innovate and survive."
1166
"Because here’s the thing that’s wrong with all of the 'How to Be Happy' shit that’s been shared eight million times on Facebook in the past few years—here’s what nobody realizes about all of this crap: The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience."
1167
"Neither promise yourself things nor do things if you see that when deprived of them they will cause you material suffering."
100
"A psychoneurosis must be understood, ultimately, as the suffering of a soul which has not discovered its meaning."
163
"The temporary satisfaction of quitting is outweighed by the eternal suffering of being nobody."
796
"Suffer because you’re weak or suffer to become strong, but there’s no avoiding the suffering."
819
"Discipline is the key to success. Absolutely is. If you cannot force yourself to do something that you do not want to do, how are you ever gonna put yourself through the suffering required for greatness?"
855
"What is a poet? An unhappy man who hides deep anguish in his heart, but whose lips are so formed that when the sigh and cry pass through them, it sounds like lovely music.... And people flock around the poet and say: 'Sing again soon' - that is, 'May new sufferings torment your soul but your lips be fashioned as before, for the cry would only frighten us, but the music, that is blissful."
1068
"Being open with your insecurities paradoxically makes you more confident and charismatic around others. The pain of honest confrontation is what generates the greatest trust and respect in your relationships. Suffering through your fears and anxieties is what allows you to build courage and perseverance."
1165