#pity

It's not a problem. There are people out there with much worse problems than mine."-Cynthia "Doesn't make yours any more fun to bear."-Liza "No. But it does help with the self-pity."- Cynthia ↗

— Jennifer Crusie

#personal-problems #perspective #pity #self-help #perspective

Certainly the most destructive vice if you like, that a person can have. More than pride, which is supposedly the number one of the cardinal sins - is self pity. Self pity is the worst possible emotion anyone can have. And the most destructive. It is, to slightly paraphrase what Wilde said about hatred, and I think actually hatred's a subset of self pity and not the other way around - ' It destroys everything around it, except itself '. Self pity will destroy relationships, it'll destroy anything that's good, it will fulfill all the prophecies it makes and leave only itself. And it's so simple to imagine that one is hard done by, and that things are unfair, and that one is underappreciated, and that if only one had had a chance at this, only one had had a chance at that, things would have gone better, you would be happier if only this, that one is unlucky. All those things. And some of them may well even be true. But, to pity oneself as a result of them is to do oneself an enormous disservice. I think it's one of things we find unattractive about the american culture, a culture which I find mostly, extremely attractive, and I like americans and I love being in america. But, just occasionally there will be some example of the absolutely ravening self pity that they are capable of, and you see it in their talk shows. It's an appalling spectacle, and it's so self destructive. I almost once wanted to publish a self help book saying 'How To Be Happy by Stephen Fry : Guaranteed success'. And people buy this huge book and it's all blank pages, and the first page would just say - ' Stop Feeling Sorry For Yourself - And you will be happy '. Use the rest of the book to write down your interesting thoughts and drawings, and that's what the book would be, and it would be true. And it sounds like 'Oh that's so simple', because it's not simple to stop feeling sorry for yourself, it's bloody hard. Because we do feel sorry for ourselves, it's what Genesis is all about. ↗

— Stephen Fry

#depression #depression-humor #happiness #marriage-advice #morality

It's a pity that I can never really enjoy my movies because, after the mixing, your capacity as a spectator just disappears. I have to think about what I felt just before the mixing. ↗

— Pedro Almodovar

#after #because #before #capacity #disappears

Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable. ↗

— Maya Angelou

#does #early #early stages #feather #hardens

Most of the time nothing much is required of directors, which is a pity. ↗

— Asia Argento

#most #much #nothing #pity #required

'Tis very great pity that they who are so apt to over-rate themselves in smaller matters, shou'd, where it most concerns them to know, and stand upon their Value, be so insensible of their own worth. ↗

— Mary Astell

#concerns #great #insensible #know #matters

What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our country. ↗

— Joseph Addison

#die #once #our #pity #serve

Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population. It's a fact that most of the true believers are under eight years old, and that's a pity. ↗

— Chris Van Allsburg

#believed #believers #culture #eight #fact

Do I have my days when I've thrown a little pity party for myself? Absolutely. ↗

— Jennifer Aniston

#days #i #little #myself #party

Compassion doesn't, of course, mean feeling sorry for people, or pity, which is how the word has become emasculated in a way. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#compassion #course #feeling #how #mean