#self-pity

[apoemaday]

Self-Pity

by D.H. Lawrence

I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.

[allthesepurplelights]

[thatwhichdoesnotsuffer]

“Do you take pride in your hurt?” Samuel asked. “Does it make you seem large and tragic?” 'I don’t know.' “Well, think about it. Maybe you’re playing a part on a great stage with only yourself as audience.”

—John Steinbeck, East of Eden

[dk-thrive]

Latent in every man is a venom of amazing bitterness, a black resentment; something that curses and loathes life, a feeling of being trapped, of having trusted and been fooled, of being helpless prey to impotent rage, blind surrender, the victim of a savage, ruthless power that gives and takes away, enlists a man, drops him, promises and betrays, and -crowning injury- inflicts on him the humiliation of feeling sorry for himself.

― Paul Valéry, The Collected Works of Paul Valery, Volume 14: Analects. Translated by Stuart Gilberg. (Princeton University Press, 1970)

[thepursuitofunderstanding]

It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly... Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them...throw away your baggage and go forward. There are quicksands all about you...trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must walk so lightly...on tiptoes and no luggage...completely unencumbered.

Aldous Huxley

[betweenthetimeandsound]

The hangman smokes once, and finds himself yearning for an escape rope. But he sinks in his own grief, and the water lilies drift. --Elda Mengisto

[macrolit]

I thought about all the people I knew who spent many of their waking hours feeling sorry for themselves. How useful it would be to put a daily limit on self-pity. Just a few tearful minutes, then on with the day.

Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom

[catandgirlcomic]

Self-Pity Party