“If I know what love is, it is because of you.”
Hermann Hesse book Narcissus and Goldmund
Narcissus and Goldmund (1930)
Hurtful quotes
A collection of quotes on the topic of sad quotes, hurtful, hurt, heartbreaking.
Best hurtful quotes
“To live is to not know that one is living”
Florbela Espanca (1894–1930) Portuguese poet
Diary (20 April, 1930), quoted in Afinado desconcerto (2002), p. 262
Context: Sometimes I start looking at the mirror and examining myself, feature by feature: eyes, mouth, shape of the forehead, eyelids curve, the face line... And this vulgar and hideous-looking, grotesque and miserable amalgam, would it know how to do verses? Oh, no! There is something else … but what? After all, why think? To live is to not know that one is living... Why don't I forget that I am living... to live?
“It's sad when someone you know becomes someone you knew.”
Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter
Variant: It is sad when someone you know becomes someone you knew.
“Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”
Khalil Gibran book The Prophet
The Prophet (1923)
“The more you love, the more you suffer”
Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)
Hurtful quotes
Ernest Hemingway book Men Without Women
Disputed <br class="br">Source: Claimed to be from Men Without Women, but it does not appear in that work. May have originated in a 2011 blogpost by Marc Chernoff entitled 30 things to stop doing to yourself http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/12/11/30-things-to-stop-doing-to-yourself/.
“Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.”
Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) Dutch resistance hero and writer
“There's a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go.”
Tennessee Williams (1911–1983) American playwright
“I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) Austrian Romantic composer
Unsourced in Musician's Little Book of Wisdom (1996) by Scott E. Power, Quote 416.
Misattributed
“Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
As others saw —”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) American author, poet, editor and literary critic
" Alone http://gothlupin.tripod.com/valone.html", l. 1-8 (written 1829, published 1875). <br class="br">Context: From childhood's hour I have not been<br>As others were — I have not seen<br>As others saw — I could not bring<br>My passions from a common spring —<br>From the same source I have not taken<br>My sorrow — I could not awaken<br>My heart to joy at the same tone —<br>And all I lov'd — I lov'd alone
“It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra
Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), Love has always passed me by
“One thing you can't hide - is when you're crippled inside.”
John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter
James Baldwin book The Fire Next Time
"Me and My House" in Harper's (November 1955); republished in Notes of a Native Son (1955)
Source: The Fire Next Time
“Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship—never.”
Charles Caleb Colton (1777–1832) British priest and writer
Vol. II; LXXXIII
Lacon
“It is us today. It will be you tomorrow.”
Haile Selassie (1892–1975) Emperor of Ethiopia
Statement after his speech before the League of Nations (30 June 1936), as quoted in " "The Lion is Freed" in TIME magazine (8 September 1975) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917777,00.html?iid=chix-sphere
“Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. ”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) British poet laureate
“There is, in the end, the letting go.”
Marya Hornbacher book Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
Source: Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
Zora Neale Hurston book Their Eyes Were Watching God
Source: Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Ch. 3, p. 21.
Fannie Flagg (1944) American actress, comedian and author
Source: The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion
“The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected.”
Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist
“For it is in giving that we receive.”
Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order
“You know, a heart can be broken, but it keeps on beating, just the same.”
Fannie Flagg book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Variant: You know, a heart can be broken, but it still keeps a-beating just the same.
Source: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
“It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.”
Lou Holtz (1937) American college football coach, professional football coach, television sports announcer
“Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them.”
George Eliot book Adam Bede
Source: Adam Bede (1859)
Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian
Source: It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy
“Pain is always emotional. Fear and depression keep constant company with chronic hurting.”
Siri Hustvedt (1955) novelist, essayist, poet
Source: The Shaking Woman, or A History of My Nerves
“If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company.”
Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …
“We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
“Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet
“I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.”
Matka Tereza (1910–1997) Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin
As quoted in Love Until It Hurts: A Tribute to Mother Teresa and the work of the men and women of the Missionaries of Charity (1980) by Daphne Rae
1980s
“I can bear any pain as long as it has meaning.”
Haruki Murakami book 1Q84
IQ84 (2009-2010)
Source: 1Q84
“Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.”
Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer
Variant: Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.
“Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.”
Cecelia Ahern book Thanks for the Memories
Source: Thanks for the Memories
“I am suffocated and lost when I have not the bright feeling of progression.”
Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) American feminist, poet, author, and activist
“And nothing on earth consumes a man more quickly than the passion of resentment.”
Friedrich Nietzsche book Ecce homo
"Why I Am So Wise", 6
Ecce Homo (1888)
“no expectations, no disappointments!”
Eric Jerome Dickey (1961) American author
Sleeping with Strangers
“Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.”
Kurt Vonnegut book Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
“The will-to-live becomes the will-to-power.”
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American protestant theologian
Source: (1932), p.1
“The world is in your hands, now use it.”
Phil Collins (1951) English musician, songwriter and actor
"Dance Into the Light"
“One word
Frees us of all the weight and pain of life:
That word is love.”
Source: Oedipus at Colonus, Line 1616–18
“I am not, I will not be.
I have not, I will not have.”
Nagarjuna (150–250) Indian philosopher
That frightens all the childish
And extinguishes fear in the wise.
§ 26
Major attributed works, Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)
“The opportunity of your life, it's you.”
Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer
Original: (it) L'occasione della tua vita, sei tu.
Source: prevale.net
“They should tell you when you’re born: have a suitcase heart, be ready to travel.”
Gabrielle Zevin book Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
Variant: Have a suitcase heart, be ready to travel.
Source: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
“Try to learn to let what is unfair teach you.”
David Foster Wallace book Infinite Jest
Source: Infinite Jest
“Most men judge your importance in their lives by how much you can hurt them.”
Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer
Source: My Story
John Steinbeck book The Grapes of Wrath
Variant: If you're in trouble or hurt or need–go to poor people. They're the only ones that'll help–the only ones.
Source: The Grapes of Wrath
Cheryl Strayed book Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
Source: Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
“Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect.”
Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949) American author and journalist
“I can be hurt, she said, only by people I respect.”
Mary Balogh (1944) Welsh-Canadian novelist
Source: Then Comes Seduction
“sometimes it's hard to know
what to
do.”
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer
Source: You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
“People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.”
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet
“Our spirit is mightier than the filth of our memories.”
Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer
Source: Quintana of Charyn
“Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.”
Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Ancient Rome
Source: The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage
“But what is life if you don't live it?”
James Patterson book Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas
Source: Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas
“Sharp are the arrows of a broken heart.”
Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire
Source: City of Heavenly Fire
“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
“Hurt leads to bitterness, bitterness to anger. Travel too far that road and the way is lost.”
Terry Brooks book The Elfstones of Shannara
Source: The Elfstones of Shannara
“The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy.”
Eudora Welty (1909–2001) American author
“The difference between friendship and love is how much you can hurt each other.”
Ashleigh Brilliant (1933) American author and cartoonist
Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Variant: There were things I wanted to tell him. But I knew they would hurt him, so I buried them, and let them hurt me. (p. 181)
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005), p. 181
“Either give me your hand, or end it now, and put us both out of our misery”
Judith McNaught (1944) American writer
Source: Paradise
“… when pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure.”
Jane Austen book Persuasion
Source: Persuasion
“A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) American poet
Table-Talk (1857)
“A truth that no one knows is still the truth.”
Sharon Shinn (1957) American science fiction writer
Source: Jenna Starborn
“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896) Abolitionist, author
Source: Little Foxes (1865), Ch. 3.
Source: Little Foxes: Or, the Insignificant Little Habits Which Mar Domestic Happiness
“What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the silence of the bystander.”
Elie Wiesel book Night
In an interview with Carol Rittner and Sandra Meyers in Courage To Care - Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust, NYU Press, 1986, p. 2. Also quoted by Yad Vashem http://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/about-the-program.html and Nicholas Kristoff in The Silence of the Bystanders https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/opinion/the-silence-of-bystanders.html, New York Times (March 19, 2006). <br class="br">Source: Night
“It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.”
Lena Horne (1917–2010) American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer
Variant: It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.
“I can never think of you as a friend. You can do without a friend.”
Graham Greene book The End of the Affair
Source: The End of the Affair
“When someone stabs you it's not your fault that you feel pain.”
Louise Penny book A Fatal Grace
Source: A Fatal Grace
“In any relationship in which two people become one, the end result is two half people.”
Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer
“It's always funny until someone gets hurt.
Then it's just hilarious.”
Bill Hicks (1961–1994) American comedian
“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.”
Lance Armstrong book Every Second Counts
Source: Every Second Counts
“Withhold a smile only when the smile can hurt someone. Otherwise, let it bloom forth in a riot.”
Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer
Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration