Sufferings Quotes

“When the world pushes you to your knees, you're in the perfect position to pray”
― Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

“Poor God, how often He is blamed for all the suffering in the
world. It’s like praising Satan for allowing all the good that happens.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly

“If there is suffering, then it's best to accept it, because it won't go away just because you pretend it's not there. If there is joy, then it's best to accept that too, even though you're afraid it might end one day.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Zahir

“Maybe people have to really suffer before they can risk doing what they love.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Diary

“The point is, Jenna, no one is normal or perfect like that house you see across the street. Everyone suffers from their own struggles, whether they’re big or small.”
― E.L. Montes, Perfectly Damaged

“The only way God can strengthen his presence in our will is to weaken his presence in our feelings. Otherwise we would become spiritual cripples, unable to walk without emotional crutches. This is why he gives us dryness, sufferings, and failures.”
― Peter Kreeft, Prayer for Beginners

“Fifteen years ago, a business manager from the United States came to Plum Village to visit me. His conscience was troubled because he was the head of a firm that designed atomic bombs. I listened as he expressed his concerns. I knew if I advised him to quit his job, another person would only replace him. If he were to quit, he might help himself, but he would not help his company, society, or country. I urged him to remain the director of his firm, to bring mindfulness into his daily work, and to use his position to communicate his concerns and doubts about the production of atomic bombs.

In the Sutra on Happiness, the Buddha says it is great fortune to have an occupation that allows us to be happy, to help others, and to generate compassion and understanding in this world. Those in the helping professions have occupations that give them this wonderful opportunity. Yet many social workers, physicians, and therapists work in a way that does not cultivate their compassion, instead doing their job only to earn money. If the bomb designer practises and does his work with mindfulness, his job can still nourish his compassion and in some way allow him to help others. He can still influence his government and fellow citizens by bringing greater awareness to the situation. He can give the whole nation an opportunity to question the necessity of bomb production.

Many people who are wealthy, powerful, and important in business, politics, and entertainment are not happy. They are seeking empty things - wealth, fame, power, sex - and in the process they are destroying themselves and those around them. In Plum Village, we have organised retreats for businesspeople. We see that they have many problems and suffer just as others do, sometimes even more. We see that their wealth allows them to live in comfortable conditions, yet they still suffer a great deal.

Some businesspeople, even those who have persuaded themselves that their work is very important, feel empty in their occupation. They provide employment to many people in their factories, newspapers, insurance firms, and supermarket chains, yet their financial success is an empty happiness because it is not motivated by understanding or compassion. Caught up in their small world of profit and loss, they are unaware of the suffering and poverty in the world. When we are not int ouch with this larger reality, we will lack the compassion we need to nourish and guide us to happiness.

Once you begin to realise your interconnectedness with others, your interbeing, you begin to see how your actions affect you and all other life. You begin to question your way of living, to look with new eyes at the quality of your relationships and the way you work. You begin to see, 'I have to earn a living, yes, but I want to earn a living mindfully. I want to try to select a vocation not harmful to others and to the natural world, one that does not misuse resources.'

Entire companies can also adopt this way of thinking. Companies have the right to pursue economic growth, but not at the expense of other life. They should respect the life and integrity of people, animals, plants and minerals. Do not invest your time or money in companies that deprive others of their lives, that operate in a way that exploits people or animals, and destroys nature.

Businesspeople who visit Plum Village often find that getting in touch with the suffering of others and cultivating understanding brings them happiness. They practise like Anathapindika, a successful businessman who lived at the time of the Buddha, who with the practise of mindfulness throughout his life did everything he could to help the poor and sick people in his homeland.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community, and the World

“In compassionate artificial intelligence there is no bright lines of boundaries. It encompass everything that eliminates the sufferings of humanity.”
― Amit Ray, Compassionate Artificial Superintelligence AI 5.0

“I have no murders to tell about, but I have joys and sufferings and love. And love is every bit as violent and dangerous as murder.”
― Knut Hamsun, The Wanderer

“Sufferings purifiers the soul.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“But, you know, if you choose to be with someone you should feel good with them, otherwise it doesn't make sense... How do you say in Italian? "Love's no fun without a good fight"? Don't believe it, love is no fun when it's no good! C'est facile!”
― Assia Petricelli, Per sempre

“To dispel the shadow of their unhappiness, humans tend to find sunlight in the outer world, while the Sun is hidden inside the human heart. The root of all sufferings results from ignorance as such.”
― Elmar Hussein

“Nothing is ever wasted in God's economy.”
― Linda McGinn Waterman, Dancing In The Storm: Successfully Embracing Change

“In the silient of his heart, he knows his sufferings.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“You can survive any sufferings except death.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“With the strength of the spirit, you can survive any situation.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Sufferings awakes search for spiritual things.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Happiness is a state of mind, so our miseries and joy come from living in any of the three dimensions of time—past, present and future. Hence, if we wish to live happily, we must learn to remove sufferings not only from the present, but also from the past and future.”
― Awdhesh Singh, 31 Ways to Happiness

“Our one pain has the power to distract us from all the pleasures of the world. We can be happy in the present only when we are free from all the pains and sufferings of the past and a probable future.”
― Awdhesh Singh, 31 Ways to Happiness

“We must have the ability to withstand the bad times to be able to enjoy the good times. If you can’t survive your sufferings, you can’t enjoy your blessings.”
― Awdhesh Singh, 31 Ways to Happiness

“He loved being alone. It helped him to think. But today, he wished he was not alone. He wished he was surrounded by people. He wished he didn’t know her. He wished whatever happened would never have happened. And he wished his life was different, a bit simpler maybe. He has grown tired of fighting constantly for everything in his life. He wanted to put an end to the sufferings. He wished he would wake up suddenly and realised it was all a nightmare. Perhaps. But it wasn’t. It was the harsh reality of his life. And he couldn’t do anything about it.”
― Nitya Prakash

“First, one suffers from mistakes and then learns from it; it defines the nature of a human; conversely, one indeed cannot learn without sufferings.”
― Ehsan Sehgal

“In pain, you find the power within.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Sufferings softens the heart.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Without sufferings, no man will submit to his Maker.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Everyone is correct at their place, the only difference is their priorities.”
― Kedar dhepe

“Happiness and sufferings coexist on the wheel of life.”
― Shree Shambav, Twenty + One - 21 Short Stories

“Forgiving is not the same thing as healing; you may have to bear the pain all your life.”
― Shahid Hussain Raja

“This longing for explanation is timeless and universal. The common thread in these stories is that suffering rarely "is what it is." More often than not, protagonists have to face challenges on their path before they can come out the other end and achieve peace, light, love, or another form of victory.”
― Eveline Helmink, When a Loved One Has Dementia: A Comforting Companion for Family and Friends

“Issues of meaning and purpose are all about the road we have to travel. Stories help us to gain a better understanding of life. By putting ourselves in other people's shoes, we can safely experience what it means to be afraid yet show courage, to lose yet be triumphant. Identification with a story activates the same parts of the brain that the actual experience would have fired.”
― Eveline Helmink, When a Loved One Has Dementia: A Comforting Companion for Family and Friends