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
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Nature and Culture in the Iliad
Such is the pure movement of nature prior to all reflection. Such is the force of natural pity.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
"Dialectical Theories of Human Nature"
Pity in its embrace strangles respect.
ABRAHAM MILLER
Unmoral Maxims
Pity is for this life, pity is the worm
inside the meat, pity is the meat, pity
is the shaking pencil, pity is the shaking voice--
not enough money, not enough love--pity
for all of us--it is our grace, walking
down the ramp or on the moving sidewalk,
sitting in a chair, reading the paper, pity,
turning a leaf to the light, arranging a thorn.
GERALD STERN
"Arranging a Thorn"
Do not scorn pity that is the gift of a gentle heart.
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
The Lord of the Rings
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
Pity is the most agreeable feeling among those who have little pride and no prospects of great conquests.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
The Gay Science
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 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
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