PITY QUOTES V

quotations about pity

Pity is fear which has been mediated by a certain distance--and by a certain closeness. We do not feel pity for ourselves or for those so close to us as to be parts of ourselves; we feel pity only for others. On the other hand, we do not feel pity for misfortune pure and simple; we do not feel pity for men qua men. We feel pity for unfortunate men who are like ourselves, because then we imagine ourselves in the place of the other.

JAMES M. REDFIELD

Nature and Culture in the Iliad


All pity is self-pity.

W. H. AUDEN

"Interlude: West's Disease", The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays

Tags: W. H. Auden


Pity and love are nearly allied.

EDWARD COUNSEL

Maxims

Tags: Edward Counsel


A man who is prevented from helping by his own pity is like a man who, when he saw another blind, put out his own eyes in sorrow, instead of leading the blind.

JESSIE ETHEL SAMPTER

The Seekers


I pity the poor wretch, though he's my enemy. He's yoked to an evil delusion, but the same fate could be mine. I see clearly: we who live are all phantoms, fleeing shadows.

SOPHOCLES

Ajax

Tags: Sophocles


Pity is the most agreeable feeling among those who have little pride and no prospects of great conquests.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

The Gay Science

Tags: Friedrich Nietzsche


Self-pity is like a clog in the pipe that stops the flow of life. It is the hand that takes rather than gives.

J. NICOLE WILLIAMSON

Being Fathered for a Divine Purpose


Pity is a noose we can hang ourselves with if we're not careful.

JARED ESTES

"Estes speaks at Memorial Auditorium", Wellington Daily News, April 20, 2016


Pity is like a knife, sometimes, and it may pierce one who employs it more shrewdly than the victim it would save.

EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON

Matthias at the Door


Do not scorn pity that is the gift of a gentle heart.

J. R. R. TOLKIEN

The Lord of the Rings

Tags: J. R. R. Tolkien