Misery

There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one.Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine.
And, dying, it rises above its own agony to outcarol the lark and the nightingale.
One superlative song, existence the price.
But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles.
For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain….
Or so says the legend.

I feel sick. Not like for a doctor, but inside my chest it feels empty, like getting punched and a heartburn at the same time.

You’ll need to suffer to make any real art.

— Why is it that I cannot feel this tragedy as much as I want to? I don't think I am heartless.

No man is offended by another man's admiration of the woman he loves; it is the woman only who can make it a torment.

There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love.

This country would get along much better if people learned how to suffer in silence.

To become the spectator of one's own life, as Harry says, is to escape the suffering of life.

How torture is torture and humiliation is humiliation only when you choose to suffer.