MISFORTUNE QUOTES III

quotations about misfortune

The effect of supreme and irrevocable misfortune is to elevate those souls which it does not deprive of all virtue.

GUIZOT

attributed, Day's Collacon


One day you'd think misfortune would get tired but then time is your misfortune.

WILLIAM FAULKNER

The Sound and the Fury

Tags: William Faulkner


There is no accident so exquisitely unfortunate, but wise men will make some advantage of it.

WELLINS CALCOTT

Thoughts Moral and Divine

Tags: Wellins Callcott


Man is extraordinarily clever in preventing himself from being happy; it would seem that the less able he is to endure misfortune the more apt he is to attach himself to it.

ANDRE GIDE

Journals

Tags: Andre Gide


None think the great unhappy, but the great.

EDWARD YOUNG

Love of Fame

Tags: Edward Young


But strong of limb
And swift of foot misfortune is, and, far
Outstripping all, comes first to every land,
And there wreaks evil on mankind, which prayers
Do afterwards redress.

HOMER

The Iliad

Tags: Homer


We have all been beaten! Each one has to bear his misfortune! Resign yourself!

GUSTAVE FLAUBERT

Salammbo

Tags: Gustave Flaubert


One advantage gained by calamities, is to know how to sympathize with others in the like troubles.

WELLINS CALCOTT

Thoughts Moral and Divine

Tags: Wellins Calcott


Disappointment or misfortune don't last long among us, the poor; we can't live if we brood on them the whole time.

VIRAMMA RACINE

Viramma: Life of an Untouchable

Tags: Viramma Racine


One must not try to trick misfortune, but resign oneself to it with good grace.

ARISTOPHANES

The Thesmophoriazusae

Tags: Aristophanes


Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

Democracy and Addresses

Tags: James Russell Lowell


Misfortune is next door to stupidity, and it will often be found that men who are constantly lamenting their luck, are in some way or other reaping the consequences of their own neglect, mismanagement, improvidence, or want of application.

SAMUEL SMILES

Self-Help

Tags: Samuel Smiles


Cease to anticipate misfortune--there are still many chances of escape.

MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER

Proverbial Philosophy

Tags: Martin Farquhar Tupper


Calamity is man's true touch-stone.

FRANCIS BEAUMONT & JOHN FLETCHER

The Triumph of Honour

Tags: John Fletcher


It is the nature of mortals to kick a fallen man.

AESCHYLUS

Agamemnon

Tags: Aeschylus


Those who have endured some misfortune will always be set apart but that it is just that misfortune which is their gift and which is their strength and that they must make their way back into the common enterprise of man for without they do so it cannot go forward and they themselves will whither in bitterness.

CORMAC MCCARTHY

All the Pretty Horses

Tags: Cormac McCarthy


Reflect upon your present blessings -- of which every man has many -- not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

CHARLES DICKENS

"Characters", Sketches by Boz

Tags: Charles Dickens


Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,
Fallen from his high estate,
And welt'ring in his blood;
Deserted at his utmost need,
By those his former bounty fed;
On the bare earth expos'd he lies,
With not a friend to close his eyes.

JOHN DRYDEN

Alexander's Feast

Tags: John Dryden


Misfortunes cannot suffice to make a fool into an intelligent man.

CESARE PAVESE

This Business of Living

Tags: Cesare Pavese


A consciousness of misfortunes arising from a man's own misconduct aggravates their bitterness.

AESOP

"The Eagle and the Arrow", Aesop's Fables

Tags: Aesop