“We are never so defenceless against suffering as when we love.”

Source: 1920s, Civilization and Its Discontents (1929), Ch. 2; as translated by James Strachey, p.63

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 4, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We are never so defenceless against suffering as when we love." by Sigmund Freud?

Sigmund Freud147

Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psycho… 1856–1939

Related quotes

“It is that we are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love, never no helplessly unhappy as when we have lost our loved object of its love.”

Sigmund Freud book Civilization and Its Discontents

Source: Civilization and Its Discontents

“So sweet love seemed that April morn,
When first we kissed beside the thorn,
So strangely sweet, it was not strange
We thought that love could never change.”

Robert Seymour Bridges (1844–1930) British writer

Bk. V, No. 5, So Sweet Love Seemed http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6639&poem=29064, st. 1 (1893). <br class="br">Shorter Poems (1879-1893)

“We do not like to be robbed of an enemy; we want someone to hate when we suffer. It is so depressing to think that we suffer because we are fools; yet, taking mankind in the mass, that is the truth.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

Source: Sceptical Essays

“We will not just say, "I love him very much," but instead, "I will do something so that he will suffer less." The mind of compassion is truly present when it is effective in removing another person's suffering.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

“Suffering is an excellent teacher, and Aeschylus says, "We learn by sufferings. "We are easily] up; sufferings keep us humble. We easily turn to worldly things. Sufferings make us turn to ( love ourselves; sufferings teach us to love God."”

Peter de Noronha (1897–1970) Indian businessman

The Pageant of Life (1964), On Suffering

“It all seems so sad, so unbearably sad for a second, to think of the lovely old maple with the swing. We never told the tree how much we loved it. We never gave it a name, never did anything for it.”

E. Lockhart book We Were Liars

Source: We Were Liars

“We must suffer to the end, to the moment when we stop believing in suffering.”

Emil M. Cioran book The Trouble With Being Born

The Trouble With Being Born (1973)

“The most difficult thing to accept is that we are usually the source of our suffering. For example, if we believe that nothing works out for us, we never pour ourselves into our goals and so they never come to fruition. If we have decided that people always leave, we never fully commit to them and so the relationship we have with them never becomes secure.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

“Suffer love! A good ephitet! I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will.”

William Shakespeare book Much Ado About Nothing

Source: Much Ado About Nothing

“I discovered when we suffer, we suffer as equals. And in their capacity to suffer, a dog is a pig is a bear..... is a boy”

Philip Wollen (1950) Australian philanthropist

"Animals Should Be Off the Menu" (2012)

“We are never so defenceless against suffering as when we love.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Sigmund Freud147

Related quotes

Related topics