Suffering Quotes

I would like to explain the meaning of compassion, which is often misunderstood. Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the rights of the other: irrespective of whether another person is a close friend or an enemy, as long as that person wishes for peace and happiness and wishes to overcome suffering, then on that basis we develop genuine concern for his or her problem. This is genuine compassion. Usually when we are concerned about a close friend, we call this compassion. This is not compassion; it is attachment. Even in marriage, those marriages that last only a short time do so because of attachment – although it is generally present – but because there is also compassion. Marriages that last only a short time do so because of a lack of compassion; there is only emotional attachment based on projection and expectation. When the only bond between close friends is attachment, then even a minor issue may cause one’s projections to change. As soon as our projections change, the attachment disappears – because that attachment was based solely on projection and expectation. It is possible to have compassion without attachment – and similarly, to have anger without hatred. Therefore we need to clarify the distinctions between compassion and attachment, and between anger and hatred. Such clarity is useful in our daily life and in our efforts towards world peace. I consider these to be basic spiritual values for the happiness of all human beings, regardless of whether one is a believer or a nonbeliever.

~ The Dalai Lama Quotes
Self-Development Quotes on: General, Change, Happiness, War, Dalai Lama, Projections, Emotion, Suffering, Life, Effort, Passion, Suffer, Friend, Attachment, Spiritual, Clarity, Expect, Spirit, Motion, Believe, Peace, Values, Buddhism

Suffering is given to you that you might open your eyes to the truth.

~ Anthony de Mello Quotes
Motivational Quotes on: Truth, Suffering, Suffer, Give, Anthony De Mello

Do you want a sign that you’re asleep? Here it is: you’re suffering. Suffering is a sign that you’re out of touch with the truth. Suffering is given to you that you might open your eyes to the truth, that you might understand that there’s falsehood somewhere, just as physical pain is given to you so you will understand that there is disease or illness somewhere. Suffering occurs when you clash with reality. When your illusions clash with reality, when your falsehoods clash with truth, then you have suffering. Otherwise there is no suffering.

~ Anthony de Mello Quotes
Inspirational Quotes on: Truth, Suffering, Sleep, Pain, Suffer, Understand, Give, Anthony De Mello, Wise

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Quotes
Famous Quotes on: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Secret, Suffering, Life, Suffer, History

The chief cause of suffering for human beings is an inability to have things be the way they are.

~ Unknown Quotes
Self-Development Quotes on: Unknown, Suffering, The Way, Suffer

The experiences of camp life show that a man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way. The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even in the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to life.

~ Viktor Frankl Quotes
Motivational Quotes on: Action, Attitude, Experience, Viktor Frankl, Live, Stress, Act, Path, Suffering, Life, Mind, Giving, The Way, Nature, Independence, Hero, Fate, Suffer, Spiritual, Give, Choice, Spirit, Accept, Circumstance, Freedom, Opportunity, Ritual, Serve

A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years.

~ Byron Katie Quotes from Loving What Is
Inspirational Quotes on: Belief, Thoughts, Katie, Suffering, Suffer, Attachment, Thought, Cause, Believe

If you put your hand into a fire, does anyone have to tell you to move it? Do you have to decide? No: When your hand starts to burn, it moves. You don’t have to direct it; the hand moves itself. In the same way, once you understand, through inquiry, that an untrue thought causes suffering, you move away from it.

~ Byron Katie Quotes from Loving What Is
Famous Quotes on: Decide, Katie, Suffering, Fire, Suffer, Understand, Thought, Cause, Inquiry

Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to change the world so that they can be happy. This hasn’t ever worked, because it approaches the problem backward. What The Work gives us is a way to change the projector—mind—rather than the projected. It’s like when there’s a piece of lint on a projector’s lens. We think there’s a flaw on the screen, and we try to change this person and that person, whomever the flaw appears on next. But it’s futile to try to change the projected images. Once we realize where the lint is, we can clear the lens itself. This is the end of suffering, and the beginning of a little joy in paradise.

~ Byron Katie Quotes from Loving What Is
Self-Development Quotes on: Change, Think, War, Sin, Katie, Yin, Work, Suffering, Mind, Suffer, Give, Try, Joy, Time, World, Beginning, Problem, Age, Cause, Happy, People, The Work

As long as you think that the cause of your problem is “out there”—as long as you think that anyone or anything is responsible for your suffering—the situation is hopeless. It means that you are forever in the role of victim, that you’re suffering in paradise.

~ Byron Katie Quotes from Loving What Is
Motivational Quotes on: Think, Katie, Suffering, Suffer, Problem, Cause, Victim