Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

sympathy

To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness. 3 more sayings from Ivan Turgenev

I would rather be kept alive in the efficient if cold altruism of a large hospital than expire in a gush of warm sympathy in a small one. 11 thoughts from Aneurin Bevan

Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps. 32 wisdom & wit from William Blake

Marriage must be a relation either of sympathy or of conquest. 52 other thoughts from George Eliot

Tears are the silent language of grief. 78 quotes from Voltaire

When we are out of sympathy with the young, then I think our work in this world is over. 12 wisdom & wit from George MacDonald

Interest does not tie nations together it sometimes separates them. But sympathy and understanding does unite them. 19 quotes from Woodrow Wilson

Deliberately seek opportunities for kindness, sympathy, and patience. 4 wisdom & wit from Evelyn Underhill

I feel sympathy for the working class lad. I've always championed about ticket prices and try to equate that to people's salaries. 2 more quotes from Alex Ferguson

The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community. 40 quotes from William James

If you suppress grief too much, it can well redouble. 15 thoughts from Moliere

Our trials, our sorrows, and our grieves develop us. 25 other quotes from Orison Swett Marden

Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine. 20 quotes from Thomas Aquinas

There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery. 13 other thoughts from Dante Alighieri

Truly, it is in darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us. 11 more quotes from Meister Eckhart

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. 56 quotes from Khalil Gibran

Sorrow is a fruit. God does not make it grow on limbs too weak to bear it. 73 quotes from Victor Hugo

Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people. 29 quotes from Arthur Schopenhauer

The heart forgets its sorrow and ache. 24 quotes from James Russell Lowell

There is no grief like the grief that does not speak. 26 more sayings from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal. 5 quotes from Thomas More

He bit his lip in a manner which immediately awakened my maternal sympathy, and I helped him bite it. 2 thoughts from S. J. Perelman

It's hard for me to think of others because I'm not particularly in sympathy with the music of this century. 2 other quotes from Alan Hovhaness

Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction. 2 quotes from Anne Sullivan

Grief is only the memory of widowed affections. 2 more views from James Martineau

The only cure for grief is action. 9 quotes from George Henry Lewes

Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery. 14 quotes from Edward Gibbon

The natural effect of sorrow over the dead is to refine and elevate the mind. 18 other views from Washington Irving

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions. 81 more thoughts from William Shakespeare

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. 7 more thoughts from Corrie Ten Boom

Sympathy is two hearts tugging at one load. 4 quotes from Charles Henry Parkhurst

And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud. 30 wisdom & wit from Walt Whitman

Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay. 22 quotes from Robert Browning

Women have no sympathy and my experience of women is almost as large as Europe. 4 views from Florence Nightingale

Recognition of belligerency as an expression of sympathy is all very well. 3 quotes from Henry Cabot Lodge

I sometimes get that wonderful sympathy between me and the audience, telling me I've reached their hearts. And when I do, the thrill is mine. 7 other quotes from Kate Smith

I will indulge my sorrows, and give way to all the pangs and fury of despair. 24 other quotes from Joseph Addison

It is in our faults and failings, not in our virtues, that we touch each other, and find sympathy. It is in our follies that we are one. 7 other thoughts from Jerome K. Jerome

Any mind that is capable of real sorrow is capable of good. 7 more quotes from Harriet Beecher Stowe

One often calms one's grief by recounting it. 15 sayings from Pierre Corneille

Teetotallers lack the sympathy and generosity of men that drink. 2 other quotes from W. H. Davies

Happiness is beneficial for the body, but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind. 18 wisdom & wit from Marcel Proust

It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature. 117 more thoughts from Henry David Thoreau

You will find that the woman who is really kind to dogs is always one who has failed to inspire sympathy in men. 10 more views from Max Beerbohm

We must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. 5 quotes from Davy Crockett

The true humanist maintains a just balance between sympathy and selection. 5 quotes from Irving Babbitt

The more sympathy you give, the less you need. 12 views from Malcolm Forbes

The humanitarian lays stress almost solely upon breadth of knowledge and sympathy. 5 other quotes from Irving Babbitt

Sympathy is the first condition of criticism. 24 other thoughts from Henri Frederic Amiel

Those who weep recover more quickly than those who smile. 7 sayings from Jean Giraudoux

Grief knits two hearts in closer bonds than happiness ever can and common sufferings are far stronger links than common joys. 8 quotes from Alphonse de Lamartine

All sympathy not consistent with acknowledged virtue is but disguised selfishness. 24 more quotes from Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Sympathy is charming, but it does not make up for pain. 6 quotes from Lillie Langtry

I joined the Party definitely in 1923 after having already been in sympathy with it before. 4 views from Fritz Sauckel

If there was less sympathy in the world, there would be less trouble in the world. 100 more quotes from Oscar Wilde