“We don't seek the painful experiences that hew our identities, but we seek our identities in the wake of painful experiences. We cannot bear a pointless torment, but we can endure great pain if we believe that it's purposeful. Ease makes less of an impression on us than struggle. We could have been ourselves without our delights, but not without the misfortunes that drive our search for meaning. 'Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities,' St. Paul wrote in Second Corinthians, 'for when I am weak, then I am strong.'” IfsBelieveHas BeensMotivationalPainStrongPleasureStruggleIdentityBearsWeakEndurePainfulDelightImpressionEaseMisfortunesTormentCould Have BeenPointlessSearch For MeaningInfirmityI Am StrongCorinthiansPainful Experiences Author:Andrew Solomon
“Who can attain to anything great if he does not feel in himself the force and will to inflict great pain? The ability to suffer is a small matter: in that line, weak women and even slaves often attain masterliness. But not to perish from internal distress and doubt when one inflicts great suffering and hears the cry of it that is great, that belongs to greatness.” IfsFeelsDoeMatterPainSufferingForceLinesAbilityDoubtCryGreatnessWeakSlaveInternalsDistressWeak Women Book:The Gay Science Source: The Gay Science
“Death and pain dominate this world, for though many are cured, they leave still weak, still tremulous, still knowing mortality has whispered to them; have seen in the folding of white bedspreads according to rule the starched pleats of a shroud.” WorldStillsPainWhiteKnowingThis WorldWeakMortalityShroudsFoldingPleats Author:Denise Levertov
“Paper after paper, study after study, have shown that chairs give us back problems because they shorten our hip flexors, give us weak backs, of course it make us sedentary. We take years off our lives probably by sitting in chairs, but we like them because they're comfortable. You go to an African village, you find me a chair with a back. That's a rare thing out there.” GivingYearsProblemPainCoursesStudyOur LivesPaperComfortableSittingWeakHipsTherapyInjuryChairsVillageFind MeSedentaryRare ThingsSitting In A Chair Author:Daniel Lieberman
“... this idea, that humans are essentially weak creatures, is actually deeply woven into a lot of the ways in which humans think about our bodies.” ThinkingWayHumansIdeasBodyPainCreaturesWeakTherapyInjuryWoven Author:Daniel Lieberman
“Gaiety is to good-humor as animal perfumes to vegetable fragrance. The one overpowers weak spirits, the other recreates and revives them. Gaiety seldom fails to give some pain; good-humor boasts no faculties which every one does not believe in his own power, and pleases principally by not offending.” GivingBelieveDoePainSpiritAnimalFailingPleaseWeakFacultyVegetablesPerfumeBoastFragranceReviveOffendingGood HumorGaiety Author:Samuel Johnson
“Old Age, a second child, by nature curst With more and greater evils than the first, Weak, sickly, full of pains: in ev'ry breath Railing at life, and yet afraid of death.” FirstsChildrenAgePainEvilGreaterWeakBreathsOld AgeAfraid Of Death Author:Charles Churchill
“I take this pain, Lord Jesus, From Thine own hand; The strength to bear it bravely Thou wilt command. I am too weak for effort. So let me rest, In hush of sweet submission On Thine own breast.” HandsPainJesusEffortLordSweetBearsWeakLet MeCommandBreastsSubmissionResignationHush Book:Poetical works Source: Poetical works
“It is a very melancholy reflection that men are usually so weak that it is absolutely necessary for them to know sorrow and pain to be in their right senses.” KnowsMenPainFailureSorrowReflectionWeakSensesMelancholy Book:The Spectator: With Notes, and a General Index Source: The Spectator: With Notes, and a General Index
“There are those who suffer and grow strong; there are those who suffer and grow weak. This mystery of pain is still for me the saddest of earth's disabilities.” StillsEarthPainSufferingStrongGrowsMysteryWeakTherapyInjuryDisabilitySaddest Author:Silas Weir Mitchell