Heaven-gates are not so highly arched As princes’ palaces; they that enter there Must go upon their knees.

‘Better to have loved and lost,’ my ass.Anyone parroting that little platitude had obviously never lost anyone of consequence.

Isn’t that the greatest tragedy? When someone rejects us, no matter how they abuse our love, we hope against reason that somehow they will come back to us.

It may be that The Great Gatsby is as perfect, word for word, just in terms of English; but Ulysses is deeper, richer, wider – and is comic, whereas The Great Gatsby is a tragic...

Poetry is only the highest eloquence of passion, the most vivid form of expression that can be given to our conception of anything, whether pleasurable or painful, mean or dignified, delightful or distressing. It is...

Death is a tragedy whether it is in the death of one girl-woman in London or seventy-seven men, women, and children in Norway. We know this, but perhaps it needs to be said over and...

You are enjoying the gift of genius. When ordinary people are confronted with multiple tragedies, the pain scarcely increases. They simple can’t feel the extra burdens. But you have a greater capacity for suffering.

A world where a majority had imbibed the lessons implicit within tragic art would be one in which the consequences of our failures would necessarily cease to weigh upon us so heavily.

The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or joy.

Some people with DID present their narratives of sadistic abuse in a quite matter-of-fact way, without perceptible affect. This may sometimes be done as a way of protecting themselves, and the listener, from the emotional...

In the center lay the exploded carcass of a lonely sperm whale that hadn’t lived long enough to be disappointed with its lot.

The worst tragedy of sin isn’t that it produced bad behavior, but that it produced the idea that bad behavior is strong enough to deflect love.

One thing is undeniably clear. We have all had bad experiences, we have all had tragedies in our lives which help to shape who we are.

It bothered me that whatever was waiting wasn’t waiting for me

A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.

God is well able to turn your tragedies into triumphs.

We wear the mask that grins and lies.It shades our cheeks and hides our eyes.This debt we pay to human guileWith torn and bleeding hearts…We smile and mouth the myriad subtleties.Why should the world think...

Her occupation was the worst that anyone could think of. No guest in the park had to think of it because, unlike the wandering dwarf women, her job had no bearing on paper.

To all the person whom I made laugh,I wonder who will be the one to put a smile on my face-a clown’s message

Of all her putative fathers — Max Schlepzig and masked extras on one side of the moving film, Franz Pökler and certainly other pairs of hands busy through trouser cloth, that Alpdrücken Night, on the...

I knew I was being an idiot. But I figured if I kept being an idiot, if I didn’t actually accept the truth, then the truth would become false.

Srinivasa Ramanujan was the strangest man in all of mathematics, probably in the entire history of science. He has been compared to a bursting supernova, illuminating the darkest, most profound corners of mathematics, before being...

Nothing in his life became him like leaving it.

Apparently even the most awful tragedies, and the people they’d ruined, got a little stale after a while.

A farce or comedy is best played; a tragedy is best read at home.

To have the opportunity to know your parents is to have the opportunity to truly know yourself.

As you set out on your journey to Ithaca,pray that your journey be a long one,filled with adventure, filled with discovery.Laestrygonians and Cyclopes,the angry Poseidon–do not fear them:you’ll never find such things on your wayunless...

She knew for a fact that she wasn’t going to sit around and wait for some miracle to happen. She wasn’t going to watch the storm in front of her and pretend like nothing had...

When your family dies, that’s a bummer, but that’s life. When my family dies, it’s a tragedy and the world is unbalanced and biased.

You his brother?”Yes, damn it!’ I burst out. “And all I want is to get my hands on whoever did this to him!”Funny,’ said a dick dryly, ‘but so do we.’I didn’t like him much...

I don’t want to sew.How else will the buttons get onto the coat?

When tragedy hits close to home, like your neighbor’s house, it really makes you stop and think. And while you’re thinking, I’ll be speeding off in the getaway car.

Once upon a time Karen saw somebody nobody else could see. She thought to ask an old man: who were you? Once upon a time I thought to dream of medicine. Now I dream of...

It’s a horrible tragedy for us, but I’m pleased that we had such solid presence and response. I think it’s really going to make a difference.

No man, proclaimed Donne, is an Island, and he was wrong. If we were not islands, we would be lost, drowned in each other’s tragedies. We are insulated (a word that means, literally, remember, made...

I was girly and friendly and my family life was happy but many days I felt like I was on the inside what Chase was on the outside. I always believed I was a happy...

Weeping is not the same thing as crying. It takes your whole body to weep, and when it’s over, you feel like you don’t have any bones left to hold you up.

That’s the most terrible thing about being a child; you’re convinced that it’s all your fault.” Lulu

TEIRESIAS: Alas, how terrible is wisdom whenit brings no profit to the man that’s wise!This I knew well, but had forgotten it,else I would not have come here.

It’s like a Venn diagram of tragedy.

Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so. Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.

It is tragic the way fearful people put all of their fears and insecurities into others; the way they strangle their dreams — often in the name of love.

It was only in the middle—between the immense and the minute—that sadness seemed to exist.

It’s a shame there has to be a tragedy before the best in people will finally shine.

The Hatfield tragedy was a terrible event for everyone involved. Lessons have been learnt and the rail industry has changed enormously for the better over the past five years.

Failure becomes success when it finds positive minds; Tragedy becomes melody when it lands in positive hands. With positivity, possibility is assured!

His life was a party which tragically came to an early end.

Because I want to know if I’m allowed to kiss your tears away. Because I want to be able to hold your hand. Because I like you.

I had hoped that the rest of the world would stand still while I got myself together again, but Chaos and Tragedy had marched into other lives close to mine as well.

As one who appreciated the tragic side of eating, it seemed to him that anything other than fruit for dessert implied a reprehensible frivolity, and cakes in particular ended up annihilating the flavour of quiet...