“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

“Conflict is inevitable but combat is optional.”

Max Lucado (1955) American clergyman and writer

“Losses are inevitable, but excuses are optional.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

“Struggling is mandatory. Suffering is optional.”

Robyn Carr American writer

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on Earth.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky book Crime and Punishment

“With mindfulness we have the choice of responding with compassion to the pain of craving, anger, fear and confusion. Without mindfulness we are stuck in the reactive pattern and identification that will inevitably create more suffering and confusion.”

Noah Levine (1971) American Buddhist teacher

“Dear Child of God, I am sorry to say that suffering is not optional.”

Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner

“Severity is in the eye of the sufferer, it says. Pain is pain.”

David Foster Wallace book Infinite Jest

“Pain and suffering, they are a secret. Kindness and love, they are a secret. But I have learned that kindness and love can pay for pain and suffering.”

Alan Paton (1903–1988) South African writer and activist