Quotes from book
Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity

Stefan ZweigOriginal title Ungeduld des Herzens (German, 1939)

Beware of Pity is a 1939 novel by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. It was Zweig's longest work of fiction. It was adapted into a 1946 film of the same title, directed by Maurice Elvey.

“When a dozen men are harnessed to the same cart, one always pulls harder than the others, and when it's a question of promotion and seniority, it's easy to tread on the toes of the man ahead of you. At every word one utters one has to be on one's guard; one's never quite sure whether it isn't going to arouse the disapproval of the big bugs; there's always a storm in the offing.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“It is not the healthy, the confident, the proud, the joyous, the happy, that one must love - they have no need of one's love! Arrogant and indifferent, they accept love only as homage that is theirs to command, as their due. The devotion of another is to them a mere embellishment, an ornament for the hair, a bracelet on the arm, not the whole meaning and bliss of their lives. Only those with whom life has dealt hardly, the wretched, the slighted, the uncertain, the unlovely, the humiliated, could really be helped by love. He who devotes his life to them atones to them for what life has taken from them. They alone know how to love and be loved as one should love - gratefully and humbly.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“Long-protracted suffering is apt to exhaust not only the invalid, but the compassion of others; violent emotions cannot be prolonged endlessly.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“States of profound happiness, like all other forms of intoxication, are apt to befuddle the wits; intense enjoyment of the present always makes one forget the past.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“Inevitably, in the secret chemistry of the emotions the feeling of pity for a sick person is imperceptibly bound up with tenderness.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“The feeling of self-assurance derived from physical achievement always transfers itself to the mental sphere.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“On the whole, more men had perhaps escaped into the war than from it.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“Those whom fate has dealt hard knocks remain vulnerable for ever afterwards.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“Was it not the most wonderful thing on earth to be able to help one's fellow-creatures? I now knew that it was the only thing that was worth while.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“There are two kinds of pity. One, the weak and sentimental kind, which is really no more than the heart's impatience to be rid as quickly as possible of the painful emotion aroused by the sight of another's unhappiness, that pity which is not compassion, but only an instinctive desire to fortify one's own soul agains the sufferings of another; and the other, the only one at counts, the unsentimental but creative kind, which knows what it is about and is determined to hold out, in patience and forbearance, to the very limit of its strength and even beyond.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“The instinct for self-deception in human beings makes them try to banish from their minds dangers of which at bottom they are perfectly aware by declaring them non-existent.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“It always demands a far greater degree of courage for an individual to oppose an organized movement than to let himself be carried along with the stream — individual courage, that is, a variety of courage that is dying out in these times of progressive organization and mechanization. During the war practically the only courage I ran across was mass courage, the courage that comes of being one of a herd, and anyone who examines this phenomenon more closely will find it to be compounded of some very strange elements: a great deal of vanity, a great deal of fear — yes, fear of staying behind, fear of being sneered at fear of independent action, and fear, above all, of taking up a stand against the mass enthusiasm of one's fellows.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“One can run away from anything but oneself.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“People who are so much at the mercy of their moods should never be given serious responsibilities.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“It is a blessing not yet to have acquired that over-keen, diagnostic, misanthropic eye, and to be able to look at people and things trustfully when one first sees them.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“A doctor should never try to cure the incurable.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“Unhappiness makes people vulnerable, incessant suffering unjust. Just as in the relations between a creditor and a debtor there is always an element of the disagreeable that can never be overcome, for the very reason that the one is irrevocably committed to the role of giver and the other to that of receiver, so in a sick person a latent feeling of resentment at every obvious sign of consideration is always ready to burst forth.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“The sight of a wedding always has a disturbing effect on young girls; at such moments a mysterious sense of solidarity with their own sex takes possession of them.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“It is never until one realizes that one means something to others that one feels there is any point or purpose in one's own existence.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

“If you are going to sell yourself, you should at least get a good price.”

Stefan Zweig book Beware of Pity

Beware of Pity (1939)

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