“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.”

“The central theme of existentialism: to live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering.”

“If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death.”

“If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering.”

“If suffering like hers had any use, she reasoned, it was not to the sufferer. The only way that an individual's pain gained meaning was through its communication to others.”

“Etymologically, 'patient' means sufferer.”

“It is not by genius, it is by suffering, and suffering alone, that one ceases to be a marionette.”

“Etymologically, patient means sufferer. It is not suffering as such that is most deeply feared but suffering that degrades. That illness can be not an epic of suffering but the occasion of some kind of self-transcendence is affirmed by sentimental literature and, more convincingly, by case histories offered by doctor-writers. Some illnesses seem more apt than others for this kind of meditation.”

“No healthy Christian ever chooses suffering; he chooses God's will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.”

“I suffer migraines. I do not suffer fools. I like a twist of meaning. I endure.”