Walter Kaufmann Quotes

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.

The world is a heartbreaking place, without any question.

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.

Life is painful, nasty and short... in my case it has only been painful and nasty.

The real world is horrible.

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

There's never any ebb in human misery.

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

It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf.

Sometimes, I can myself be frustrated by books that seem to me to be insufficiently realistic about the world's potential for just being totally a randomly bad place.

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.

Sorrow makes an ugly face odious.

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

Behind every crime is a story of sadness.

There's no comfort in the truth, pain is all you'll find.

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.'

Tragedy is one of the larger prices we pay for being alive. No one ever sidesteps tragedy. It is always there, shadowing us.

Misery is a communicable disease.

Some people, and I am one of them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm.

Man is born in a day, and he dies in a day, and the thing is easily over; but to have a sick heart for three-fourths of one's lifetime is simply to have death renewed every morning; and life at that price is not worth living.

When we have lost everything, including hope, life becomes a disgrace, and death a duty.

Misery is a match that never goes out.

Most comedy comes out of misery.

The evils of mortals are manifold; nowhere is trouble of the same wing seen.

I am talking about misery and all of its implications.