“The knowledge of God without that of man's misery causes pride. The knowledge of man's misery without that of God causes despair. The knowledge of Jesus Christ constitutes the middle course, because in Him we find both God and our misery.”
Blaise Pascal
“If we do not know ourselves to be full of pride, ambition, lust, weakness, misery, and injustice, we are indeed blind. And if, knowing this, we do not desire deliverance, what can we say of a man...?”
“As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery… we have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness.”
Dalai Lama
“It is only in misery that we recognize the hand of God leading good men to good.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“When God loves a creature he wants the creature to know the highest happiness and the deepest misery He wants him to know all that being alive can bring. That is his best gift. There is no happiness save in understanding the whole.”
Thornton Wilder
“Resolve to find thyself; and to know that he who finds himself, loses his misery”
Matthew Arnold
“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
Charles Darwin