“I can bear any pain as long as it has meaning.”

“I can bear pain myself, he said softly, but I couldna bear yours. That would take more strength than I have.”

Diana Gabaldon book Outlander

“One can bear anything. The pain we cannot bear will kill us outright.”

Janet Fitch book White Oleander

“There is not much sense in suffering, since drugs can be given for pain, itching, and other discomforts. The belief has long died that suffering here on earth will be rewarded in heaven. Suffering has lost its meaning.”

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926–2004) American psychiatrist

“How much of this truth can I bear to see and still live
unblinded?
How much of this pain
can I use?”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

“Why do you paint?
For exactly the same reason I breathe.
That’s not an answer.
There isn’t any answer.
How long hasn’t there been any answer?
As long as I can remember.
And how long have you written?
As long as I can remember.
I mean poetry.
So do I.”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

“I have been disillusioned, however, this long, long time in the means used by any but the saints to live in this world God has made for us.”

Dorothy Day (1897–1980) Social activist

“"He who has a why, can bear any how." (quoting Victor Frankl)”

Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology

“In my profession I have learned that women can bear more pain than men.'
'Are you a doctor, sir?”

Helen Garner (1942) Australian author

“What I mean is sometimes, for an artist, chronic pain can be a gift.”

Chuck Palahniuk (1962) American novelist, essayist