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It is the nature of mortals to kick a fallen man.
Author: Aeschylus
Source: Agamemnon (884), (adapted)
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Calamity is man's true touch-stone.
- Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher,
Author: Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
Source: Four Plays in One--The Triumph of Honour (sc. 1, l. 67)
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The consciousness of good intention is the greatest solace of
misfortunes.
[Lat., Conscientia rectae voluntatis maxima consolatio est rerum
incommodarum.]
Author: Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero)
Source: Epistles (V, 4)
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He went like one that hath been stunn'd,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser man,
He rose the morrow morn.
Author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Source: The Ancient Mariner (pt. VII, last stanza)
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Most of our misfortune are more supportable than the comments of
our friends upon them.
Author: Charles Caleb Colton
Source: Lacon (p. 238)
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By speaking of our misfortunes we often relieve them.
[Fr., A raconter ses maux souvent on les soulage.]
Author: Pierre Corneille
Source: Polyeucte (I, 3)
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I was a stricken deer that left the herd
Long since.
Author: William Cowper
Source: Task (bk. III, l. 108)
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Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,
Fallen from his high estate,
And welt'ring in his blood;
Deserted at his utmost need,
By those his former bounty fed;
On the bare earth expos'd he lies,
With not a friend to close his eyes.
Author: John Dryden
Source: Alexander's Feast (l. 77)
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When Misfortune is asleep, let no one wake her.
[Lat., Quando la mala ventura se duerme, nadie la despierte.]
Author: John Dryden
Source: Alexander's Feast (l. 77)
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But strong of limb
And swift of foot misfortune is, and, far
Outstripping all, comes to every land,
And there wreaks evil on mankind, which prayers
Do afterwards redress.
Author: Homer ("Smyrns of Chios")
Source: The Iliad (bk. IX, l. 625), (Bryant's translation)
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One more unfortunate
Weary of breath,
Rashly importunate,
Gone to her death!
Author: Thomas Hood
Source: Bridge of Sighs
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Take her up tenderly,
Lift her with care;
Fashioned so slenderly,
Young and so fair!
Author: Thomas Hood
Source: Bridge of Sighs
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Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the
misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.
Author: James Russell Lowell
Source: Democracy and Addresses--Democracy
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It is pleasant, when the sea runs high, to view from land the
great distress of another.
[Lat., Suave mari magno, turbantibus aequora ventis
E terra magnum alterius spectare laborum.]
Author: Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus)
Source: De Rerum Natura (II, 1)
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Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wreck'd.
Author: John Milton
Source: Paradise Regained (bk. II, l. 228)
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Whoever has fallen from his former high estate is in his calamity
the scorn even of the base.
[Lat., Quicumque amisit dignitatem pristinam
Ignavis etiam jocus est in casu gravi.]
Author: Phaedrus (Thrace of Macedonia)
Source: Fables (I, 21, 1)
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Rashness brings success to few, misfortune to many.
[Lat., Paucis temeritas est bono, multis malo.]
Author: Phaedrus (Thrace of Macedonia)
Source: Fables (V, 4, 12)
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I never knew any many in my life, who could not bear another's
misfortunes perfectly like a Christian.
Author: Phaedrus (Thrace of Macedonia)
Source: Fables (V, 4, 12)
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As if Misfortune made the Throne her Seat,
And none could be unhappy but the Great.
Author: Nicholas Rowe
Source: The Fair Penitent--Prologue (l. 3)
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Calamity is virtue's opportunity.
[Lat., Calamitas virtutis occasio est.]
Author: Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)
Source: De Procidentia (IV)
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There in no one more unfortunate than the man who has never been
unfortunate. for it has never been in his power to try himself.
[Lat., Nihil infelicius eo, cui nihil unquam evenit adversi, non
licuit enim illi se experiri.]
Author: Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)
Source: De Providentia (III)
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There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate
misfortunes. What madness it is in your expecting evil before it
arrives!
[Lat., Nil est nec miserius nec stultius quam praetimere. Quae
ista dementia est, malum suum antecedere!]
Author: Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)
Source: Epistoloe Ad Lucilium (XCVIII)
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When you see a man in distress, recognize him as a fellow man.
[Lat., Quemcumque miserum videris, hominem scias.]
Author: Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)
Source: Hercules Furens (463)
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The worst is not
So long as we can say 'This is the worst.'
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: King Lear (Edgar at IV, i)
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Such a house broke?
So noble a master fall'n; all gone, and not
One friend to take his fortune by the arm
And go along with him?
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: The Life of Timon of Athens (First Servant at IV, ii)
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Some suffer from real misfortunes. Sadly, others only imagine that they do.
Author: Boyd K. Packer
Source: None
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Calamities are of two kinds: misfortunes to ourselves, and good fortune to others.
Author: Ambrose Bierce
Source: None
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Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.
Author: Aesop
Source: None
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Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience.
Author: Dr Laurence J Peter
Source: None
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Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness and much learning, if they be accompanied by a bad training, are a much greater misfortune.
Author: Plato
Source: None
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All men's misfortunes spring from their hatred of being alone.
Author: Jean De La Bruyere
Source: None
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Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.
Author: Washington Irving
Source: None
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A great fortune in the hands of a fool is a great misfortune.
Author: Anonymous
Source: None
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Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
Author: Charles Dickens
Source: None
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