Source: Alexander’s Feast http://www.bartleby.com/40/265.html (1697), l. 96.
Thomas Southerne (1660–1746) Irish dramatist
Oroonoka, Act ii, scene 1; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Of all the paths [that] lead to a woman's love / Pity's the straightest", John Fletcher, The Knight of Malta, Act i, scene 1.
“As with stomachs, we should pity minds that do not eat.”
Victor Hugo book Les Misérables
Source: Les Misérables
“For love suffereth never to be without pity.”
Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) English theologian and anchoress
The Sixteenth Revelation, Chapter 80
Context: Where I say that He abideth sorrowfully and moaning, it meaneth all the true feeling that we have in our self, in contrition and compassion, and all sorrowing and moaning that we are not oned with our Lord. And all such that is speedful, it is Christ in us. And though some of us feel it seldom, it passeth never from Christ till what time He hath brought us out of all our woe. For love suffereth never to be without pity.
“Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.”
Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) Roman Catholic saint
Maxim 52, p. 259
Maxims for Her Nuns (1963)
Source: Complete Works St. Teresa Of Avila, Volume III
“Of all the paths lead to a woman's love
Pity's the straightest.”
John Fletcher (1579–1625) English Jacobean playwright
The Knight of Malta (1647), Act I, sc. i.
“It was such a lovely day I thought it was a pity to get up.”
W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British playwright, novelist, short story writer
Our Betters (1923)
Plays
“A pity beyond all telling
Is hid in the heart of love”
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright
The Pity Of Love http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1670/; in recent years a statement which might have originated as a misquotation of the first lines of this has been attributed to Oscar Wilde: "To give and not expect return, that is what lies at the heart of love." — no occurrence prior to 1999 has yet been located. <br class="br">The Rose (1893) <br class="br">Context: A pity beyond all telling<br>Is hid in the heart of love:<br>The folk who are buying and selling,<br>The clouds on their journey above,<br>The cold wet winds ever blowing,<br>And the shadowy hazel grove<br>Where mouse-grey waters are flowing,<br>Threaten the head that I love.
Rawi Hage (1964) Canadian writer
On how he begins the writing process in “Rare Interview With Rawi Hage: ‘I’m Free To Be Difficult’” https://mideastposts.com/middle-east-society/rare-interview-with-rawi-hage-im-now-free-to-be-difficult/ in Mideast Posts (2013 Nov 7)
