As if pity is, as he has been taught, not a helpless outcry but a powerful tide that could redeem the world...
John UpdikeTags: pity
Pitiful and pitied by no one, why have I come to the ignominy of this detestable old age, who was ruler of two kingdoms, mother of two kings? My guts are torn from me, my family is carried off and removed from me. The young king [crown prince Henry, †1183] and the count of Britanny [prince Geoffrey, †1186] sleep in dust, and their most unhappy mother is compelled to be irremediably tormented by the memory of the dead. Two sons remain to my solace, who today survive to punish me, miserable and condemned. King Richard [the Lionheart] is held in chains [in captivity with Emperor Henry VI of Germany]. His brother, John, depletes his kingdom with iron [the sword] and lays it waste with fire. In all things the Lord has turned cruel to me and attacked me with the harshness of his hand. Truly his wrath battles against me: my sons fight amongst themselves, if it is a fight where where one is restrained in chains, the other, adding sorrow to sorrow, undertakes to usurp the kingdom of the exile by cruel tyranny. Good Jesus, who will grant that you protect me in hell and hide me until your fury passes, until the arrows which are in me cease, by which my whole spirit is sucked out?"
[Third letter to Pope Celestine (1193)]
Tags: history war fight grief mothers pity queens kings unrest eleanor-of-aquitaine death-wish john-lackland king-john richard-the-lionheart
This thought strengthened in me my belief that all men, without exception, deserve to be pitied, if only because they are alive.
Alberto MoraviaTags: truth love men women pity
Old people, who have felt blows and toil and known the world's hard hand, need, even more than children do, a woman's tenderness.
Willa CatherTags: compassion woman pity virgin-mary
Only a Woman, divine, could know all that a woman can suffer.
Willa CatherTags: woman suffering pity virgin-mary
Rule Number Two, Monsignor. Do not show pity.
Gretchen McNeilTags: religion pity demons possess
This book is not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds, or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except War. Above all I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.
Wilfred OwenTags: war death-and-dying wwi pity
Man of an hard heart! Hear me, Proud, Stern, and Cruel! You could have saved me; you could have restored me to happiness and virtue, but would not! You are the destroyer of my Soul; You are my Murderer, and on you fall the curse of my death and my unborn Infant’s! Insolent in your yet-unshaken virtue, you disdained the prayers of a Penitent; But God will show mercy, though you show none. And where is the merit of your boasted virtue? What temptations have you vanquished? Coward! you have fled from it, not opposed seduction. But the day of Trial will arrive! Oh! then when you yield to impetuous passions! when you feel that Man is weak, and born to err; When shuddering you look back upon your crimes, and solicit with terror the mercy of your God, Oh! in that fearful moment think upon me! Think upon your Cruelty! Think upon Agnes, and despair of pardon!
Matthew Gregory LewisTags: god death religion mercy punishment temptation arrogance curse motherhood grief cruelty execution catholicism pity callousness nun monk superiority-complex accusation what-goes-around-comes-around cold-hearted-people quid-pro-quo
While pity shows a lack of respect for other human beings, compassion has its roots in a deep respect for others. Pity is an emotion; compassion is a connection. Compassion sees the other as equal. Compassion happens when we care for another person enough to make his or her problems our own.
Matt LittonTags: compassion respect pity
Show pity I beg you...
We have today been struck down by fortune
But tomorrow it may be your own turn to die.
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