We cannot always cry at the right time and who is to say which time is right?

Active happiness is not a common state. Active unhappiness is better than dull days. Katherine was seldom in an intermediate stage.

He said, "There's a sermon of John Donne's I have often had cause to remember during my lifetime. He says, Other men's crosses are not my crosses. We all have our own cross to carry, and one is all most of us are able to bear. How much do you owe him, Vicky?

Detachment and involvement: the artist must have both. The link between them is compassion.

Compassion means to suffer with, but it doesn't mean to get lost in the suffering, so that it becomes exclusively one's own. I tend to do this, to replace the person for whom I am feeling compassion with myself.

Like so many American families, our families weren't asking for much. They didn't begrudge anyone else's success or care that others had much more than they did, in fact, they admired it.

Three-fourths of the people you will ever meet are hungering and thirsting for sympathy. Give it to them, and they will love you.

Sympathetic people often don't communicate well, they back reflected images which hide their own depths.

They [the people under you] may desire help, but more than anything else they desire sympathy. Don't make the mistake of turning such men down with the statement that you have troubles of your own.

When pain is to be born, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.

Human sympathy has its limits, and we were contented to let all their tragic arguments fade with the city lights behind.

A brother's sufferings claim a brother's pity.