“There is quite enough sorrow and shame and suffering and baseness in real life, and there is no need for meeting it unnecessarily in fiction.”

“Suffering is not enough. Life is both dreadful and wonderful… How can I smile when I am filled with so much sorrow? It is natural--you need to smile to your sorrow because you are more than your sorrow.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

“O soldier and hero of God, where for thee is sorrow or shame or suffering? For thy life is a glory, thy deeds a consecration, victory thy apotheosis, defeat thy triumph.”

Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet

“In the real world
as in dreams
nothing is quite
what it seems.
-The Book of Counted Sorrows”

Dean Koontz (1945) American author

“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) American poet

“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”

William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Romantic poet

“Labour without joy is base. Labour without sorrow is base. Sorrow without labour is base. Joy without labour is base.”

John Ruskin (1819–1900) English writer and art critic

“The real plot in fiction parallels life in that it happens within the characters.”

Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) Italian-American writer, poet, inventor, actress, voice artist (1958-2014)

“Every meeting led to a parting, and so it would, as long as life was mortal. In every meeting there was some of the sorrow of parting, but in everything parting there was some of the joy of meeting as well.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

“You'll need to suffer to make any real art.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Diary