Robert Wilson Lynd Quotes

The world is a heartbreaking place, without any question.

The real world is horrible.

Non-fictionalised accounts of horrific accidents, bereavement, and the outrages of officialdom tend to move us deeply.

I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long.

I'll tell you one thing, it's a cruel, cruel world.

Oh eyes, no eyes, but fountains fraught with tears; O life, no life, but lively form of death; Oh world, no world, but mass of public wrongs.

There is little for the great part of the history of the world except the bitter tears of pity and the hot tears of wrath.

That last winter was a tragic story and I got no personal honour out of it but I was a witness to it.

There are people who are suffering beyond description. They are innocent people, they didn't bring this upon themselves. They are the victims of the sins of other people. And while it's hard to see, it's important to understand that these people exist.

Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrows by the very condition of humanity, and yet, as if nature had not sown evils enough in life, we are continually adding grief to grief and aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another.

They'll take everything, even your tears.

Every where the years bring to all enough of sin and sorrow; but in slavery the very dawn of life is darkened by these shadows.

Behind every crime is a story of sadness.

When my son was murdered, people asked me how I felt about God and what had happened to my son. I said, 'No, you can't go there. You have to understand that there is a devil, and he works 24/7. Whoever murdered our son was with the devil.'

We don't live in the Garden. We live far from Eden. Every life is full of heartaches. Every life, frankly, is unspeakably sad.

Humanity either makes, or breeds, or tolerates all its afflictions.

One man’s exile is but a drop in the sea of human misery

It is easy to fall into despair thinking about all that is wrong with the world. The joys seems so small in comparison. Internet videos of cats riding Roombas just can't compete with a father talking about how his dead 13-year-old son had wanted to be a pilot.

I think there's a lot of catastrophe in this world and a lot of cruelty and a lot of carelessness.

I'm attracted to pathos, because life is mostly pathos. I've had a lot of it in my life.

I cannot tell how much my heart suffered for my people while at Leavenworth.

Tragedy is like strong acid - it dissolves away all but the very gold of truth.

I've seen the hell these people go through.

There is no love without suffering.

If I told you the tragedy parts, we'd all sit here and cry.