Pity is not natural to man. Children and savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and improved by the cultivation of reason. We may have uneasy sensations from seeing a creature in distress, without pity; but we have not pity unless we wish to relieve him.
Pity Quotes
God pity them both! and pity us all, Who vainly the dreams of youth recall; For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: “It might have been!”
If a madman were to come into this room with a stick in his hand, no doubt we should pity the state of his mind; but our primary consideration would be to take care of ourselves. We should knock him down first, and pity him afterwards.
Oh, brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother; where pity dwells, the peace of God is there.
If the purpose of lamentation be to excite pity, it is surely superfluous for age and weakness to tell their plaintive stories; for pity presupposes sympathy, and a little attention will show them, that those who do not feel pain seldom think that it is felt.
As for the virtuous poor, one can pity them, of course, but one cannot possibly admire them.
Being Lutheran, Mother believed that self-pity is a deadly sin and so is nostalgia, and she had no time for either.
There is no suffering which pity will not insult.
If every man’s internal care Were written on his brow, How many would our pity share Who raise our envy now!
He that pities another remembers himself.
