W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

To deaden yourself against any hurt is to deaden yourself also against the hurt of others.

There is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes.

Lincoln had internalized the pain of those around him-the wounded soldiers, the captured prisoners, the defeated Southerners. Little wonder that he was overwhelmed at times by a profound sadness that even his own resilient temperament could not dispel.

So many of you have lost everything. I do not know what to tell you. But surely he knows what to tell you! So many of you have lost members of your family. I can only be silent; I accompany you silently, with my heart...

He watched and wept and prayed and felt for all

It's a terrible thing wishing that it can be someone else's tragedy.

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

The dew of compassion is a tear.

Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief?

We are all victims because of the circumstances, but I'm not sure what to say to any one who has lost a loved one. I know the feeling myself, and words just don't do much to ease the pain.

We should not clap our hands and mourn, for he is out of trouble. You are still in it.

My two best friends have gone through break-ups that were really hard, and I remember thinking, 'How could this be so hard and important to them?' Literally for months they were really upset and they couldn't get over it. I had no idea what it was like. And now that I've been through it, I totally understand.

Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.

Our own sorrows seem heavy enough, even when lifted by certain long-term joys. But watching others hurt is the breaker of most any heart.

The death of my own son has made me more sensitive. It's made me more compassionate.

Some will not look on suffering because it creates responsibility.

My heart bled for the inhabitants.

Human suffering is not a competitive sport.

My heart goes out to anyone who suffers, and of course, to their families.

Perhaps the worst thing about suffering is that it finally hardens the hearts of those around it.

Seeing other people in pain causes me pain.

Can I see another's woe, And not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, And not seek for kind relief? Can I see a falling tear, And not feel my sorrow's share? Can a father see his child Weep, nor be with sorrow filled? Can a mother sit and hear An infant groan, an infant fear? No, no! never can it be! Never, never can it be!

Human misery is so appalling nowadays that if we allowed ourselves to dwell on it we should only add imaginary miseries of our own to the real miseries of others without doing them any good.

Unto a broken heart No other one may go Without the high prerogative Itself hath suffered too.

Rejecting joy to stand in solidarity with the suffering doesn't rescue the suffering.