Marianne Williamson Quotes

We need to suffer, that we may learn to pity.

Heartbreak makes us stronger; it's an opportunity for spiritual growth. How can you understand someone else's pain if you have not yourself suffered?

There is no growth if there is no change. There is no change if there is no loss. There is no loss if there is no pain.

I think my first big heartbreak made me more compassionate about other people's heartaches. It enabled me to feel more for others when they are in moments of pain.

Pain comes from the darkness. And we call it wisdom. It is pain.

Can one be fully human without experiencing tragedy? The only tragedy there is in the world is ignorance; all evil comes from that.

I speak to people who have been through so much more.

None knows the weight of another's burden.

Empathy is the faculty to resonate with the feelings of others. When we meet someone who is joyful, we smile. When we witness someone in pain, we suffer in resonance with his or her suffering.

I've learned that intelligence alone doesn't mean a damn thing. It only leads to violence and pain.

It is strange how often a heart must be broken before the years can make it wise.

When I hear other people's stories, I like to believe that they contribute to my 'Encyclopedia of Human Experience.' The stories I hear help me expand my definition of what love is, what pain feels like, what sacrifice means, what laughter can do.

I don't know whether your heart ever necessarily changes, but time changes the way that you perceive the world. And you just hope it gives you more empathy and all those other things.

I used to believe that hurting would make you more alive to the hurting of others. I used to believe in feeling bad because somebody else did. Now I'm not so sure of either.

It's easy when you have suffered to feel the link with what others have gone through.

People who have suffered know more about compassion.

Grace is what matters in anything - especially life, especially growth, tragedy, pain, love, death. That's a quality that I admire very greatly. It keeps you from reaching out for the gun too quickly. It keeps you from destroying things too foolishly. It sort of keeps you alive.

I haven't been in the military, but I've known my share of pain. It allows me to sit with someone who's struggling and not be afraid.

I could never say that I regret being given the gift of experience and love.

If we can still love those who have made us suffer, we love them all the more.

The man who has not suffered - what does he know anyway?

Other men's pains are easily borne.

To be good we must needs have suffered; but perhaps it is necessary to have caused suffering before we can become better.

The persons on whom I have bestowed my dearest love lie deep in their graves; but, although the happiness and delight of my life lie buried there too, I have not made a coffin of my heart, and sealed it up for ever on my best affections. Deep affliction has only made them stronger; it ought, I think, for it should refine our nature.

The wise are wise only because they love.