“Why in this world of ours there should be so much suffering no one knows. But this we know; that, evil existing, the world being such as it is, we can win from evil, if we choose, an inestimable good, namely — the conviction that there is in us a power not of the senses, the conviction that spirit exists, and exists in us.
A sceptic may say that in a world ideally conceivable we might have secured this precious conviction without the necessity of undergoing the ordeal of pain. To which the reply is: that in a world ideally conceivable what he says may be true; but in the world as it is, with which alone we are concerned, we have ample cause for gratitude that we can turn suffering to such far-reaching account, that we can distil from the bitter root this divine elixir; that by manfully bearing the pains of the senses, inexplicable though they be, we are able to gain the certainty that a power not born of the senses exists in us, operates in us. It is this effect of pain that accounts for the serenity and peace of many patient sufferers, a peace and a serenity which surround their bed of misery with a kind of halo.”

Source: The Consolations of Philosophy (2000), Chapter II, Consolation For Not having Enough Money, p. 57

Section 7 : Spiritual Progress
Life and Destiny (1913)

Regarding enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act (1850), as quoted in Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President http://web.archive.org/web/20130703082712/http://home.nas.com/lopresti/ps13.htm (1959), by Robert J. Rayback, p. 252 and p. 271 <br class="br">1850s

1950's, On Being a Graphic Artist', 1953
Context: As far as I know, there is no proof whatever of the existence of an objective reality apart from our senses, and I do not see why we should accept the outside world as such solely by virtue of our senses. These reality enthusiasts are possibly playing at hide-and-seek; at any rate they like to hide themselves, though they are not usually aware of it. They simply do it because they happen to have been born with a sense of reality, that is, with a great interest in so-called reality, and because man likes to forget himself.

Other

54
The Zürau Aphorisms (1917 - 1918)
Context: There is nothing besides a spiritual world; what we call the world of the senses is the Evil in the spiritual world, and what we call Evil is only the necessity of a moment in our eternal evolution.
One can disintegrate the world by means of very strong light. For weak eyes the world becomes solid, for still weaker eyes it seems to develop fists, for eyes weaker still it becomes shamefaced and smashes anyone who dares to gaze upon it.

All Gall Is Divided (1952)

Existentialism and Human Emotions (1957)

Lutuli&#x27;s Acceptance Speech http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1960/lutuli-acceptance.html of the Nobel Peace Prize (December 10, 1961). <br class="br">Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1961)