--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This suffering, this unspeakable capacity…" description: "\"This suffering, this unspeakable capacity to bleed and to know pain and to know annihilation, is what has to be overcome in this world if anyone is to ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbe/anne-rice-238_annihilation_this-suffering-this-unspeakable-capacity_649464.jpg" --- # This suffering, this unspeakable capacity to bleed and to… ![“This suffering, this unspeakable capacity to bleed and to know pain and to know annihilation, is what has to be overcome in this world if anyone is to reach God.” quote by Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbe/anne-rice-238_annihilation_this-suffering-this-unspeakable-capacity_649464.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbe/anne-rice-238_annihilation_this-suffering-this-unspeakable-capacity_649464.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbe/anne-rice-238_annihilation_this-suffering-this-unspeakable-capacity_649464.jpg) > “This suffering, this unspeakable capacity to bleed and to know pain and to know annihilation, is what has to be overcome in this world if anyone is to reach God.” [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Enduring profound suffering is essential to transcending earthly limits and approaching the divine. **In simple terms:** Suffering leads to spiritual growth. Key Takeaway Embrace pain as a path to deeper understanding. Themes spirituality pain growth Mood introspective somber Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - grief counseling - spiritual retreats - creative expression Key Concepts existentialism theodicy Questions to Reflect On - What role does suffering play in your personal development? - Can compassion replace the need for suffering? 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(49)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/suffering-unspeakable-torture-at-the-thought-of-leaving-his-picture/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [Joy is based on the spiritual knowledge that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-nouwen/joy-is-based-on-the-spiritual-knowledge-that-while-the-world-in-which/) [Henri Nouwen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-nouwen/) > [ “have told you these things, so that in Me you may have \[perfect\] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-young/have-told-you-these-things-so-that-in-me-you-may-have-perfect-peace/) [Sarah Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-young/) > [“We want to keep in mind that if we are going to overcome the world, we have got to work with God. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-l-moody/we-want-to-keep-in-mind-that-if-we-are-going-to-overcome-the-world-we/) [D.L. Moody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-l-moody/) > [The only way that we may overcome the world is by coming unto Christ. And coming to Christ means walking away from the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-l-dew/the-only-way-that-we-may-overcome-the-world-is-by-coming-unto-christ/) [Sheri L. Dew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-l-dew/) > [We will not overcome world poverty unless we manage climate change successfully. I've spent my life as a development economist, and it's crystal clear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-stern/we-will-not-overcome-world-poverty-unless-we-manage-climate-change/) [Nicholas Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-stern/) > [If you want to overcome the whole world, overcome yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-want-to-overcome-the-whole-world-overcome-yourself/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Only Jesus Christ is uniquely qualified to provide that hope, that confidence, and that strength we need to overcome the world and rise above…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-taft-benson/only-jesus-christ-is-uniquely-qualified-to-provide-that-hope-that/) [Ezra Taft Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-taft-benson/) > [You can detect Satan's schemes and overcome his world system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrian-rogers/you-can-detect-satan-s-schemes-and-overcome-his-world-system/) [Adrian Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrian-rogers/) > [John 16:33 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bible/john-16-33-i-have-told-you-these-things-so-that-in-me-you-may-have/) [Bible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bible/) > [It says in this world you will have trouble in John 16:33 but take heart you can have peace in me because I've overcome…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-chambers/it-says-in-this-world-you-will-have-trouble-in-john-16-33-but-take/) [Alan Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-chambers/) > [Let us not use bombs and guns to overcome the world. Let us use love and compassion. Peace begins with a smile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-teresa/let-us-not-use-bombs-and-guns-to-overcome-the-world-let-us-use-love/) [Mother Teresa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-teresa/) > [Let us not tire of preaching love; it is the force that will overcome the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-romero/let-us-not-tire-of-preaching-love-it-is-the-force-that-will-overcome/) [Oscar Romero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-romero/) > [In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesus-christ/in-the-world-ye-shall-have-tribulation-but-be-of-good-cheer-i-have/) [Jesus Christ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesus-christ/) ## More by Anne Rice > [But just remember, life without me would be even more unbearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/but-just-remember-life-without-me-would-be-even-more-unbearable/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“There had never been any talent, any talent to draw or paint or to make music or to write or to make any of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/there-had-never-been-any-talent-any-talent-to-draw-or-paint-or-to/) [anne rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“there are only two things which I believe—the first is that no mortal can refuse the Dark Gift once he really knows what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/there-are-only-two-things-which-i-believe-the-first-is-that-no-mortal/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“Lie quiet and you will lapse back into peace again. Be like the god Heimdall before the battle call, so still that you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/lie-quiet-and-you-will-lapse-back-into-peace-again-be-like-the-god/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [All the stories I have told you are finally as useless as all ancient knowledge is to man and to us. Its images and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/all-the-stories-i-have-told-you-are-finally-as-useless-as-all-ancient/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [If you want to be a writer, write. Write and write and write. If you stop, start again. Save everything that you write. 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"At least not to those I don't love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/i-never-lie-i-said-offhand-at-least-not-to-those-i-don-t-love/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“I don't need to sleep to play. I'm crazy anyway. Being crazier still could only help.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/i-don-t-need-to-sleep-to-play-i-m-crazy-anyway-being-crazier-still/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“what I felt was inexpressible gratitude for the music, that in this horror there could be something as beautiful as that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/what-i-felt-was-inexpressible-gratitude-for-the-music-that-in-this/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [I stumble through a carnival of horrors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/i-stumble-through-a-carnival-of-horrors/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“Look up at heaven and hell in the sky, for the stars are balls of fire suspended there by the angels.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/look-up-at-heaven-and-hell-in-the-sky-for-the-stars-are-balls-of-fire/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [I do not allow fan-fiction. The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan-fiction with my characters. I advise my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/i-do-not-allow-fan-fiction-the-characters-are-copyrighted-it-upsets/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [Truth is a risky proposition. It's the nature of mediocre human beings to believe that lies are necessary, that they serve a purpose, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/truth-is-a-risky-proposition-it-s-the-nature-of-mediocre-human-beings/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) [Explore all 826 Anne Rice quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) ## More Annihilation quotes > [The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe... All is registered in the 'boundless heart' of the bodhisattva. Through our deepest and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/the-heart-that-breaks-open-can-contain-the-whole-universe-all-is/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [The highest ideal of cure is the rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health; that is, the lifting and annihilation of the disease in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-hahnemann/the-highest-ideal-of-cure-is-the-rapid-gentle-and-permanent/) [Samuel Hahnemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-hahnemann/) > [To fight is to face death once more, perhaps the total annihilation of their kind. But to run... is that not also a kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nalini-singh/to-fight-is-to-face-death-once-more-perhaps-the-total-annihilation-of/) [Nalini Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nalini-singh/) > [I'm not afraid of anything other than spiritual annihilation. Where your soul is sucked into the void.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crispian-mills/i-m-not-afraid-of-anything-other-than-spiritual-annihilation-where/) [Crispian Mills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crispian-mills/) > [“The breath had become as much a trick as breathing. Things were not dual merely, but multiple. I had become a cage of mirrors…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/the-breath-had-become-as-much-a-trick-as-breathing-things-were-not/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why,--when it did not seem worthwhile to be glad or sorry, to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-chopin/there-were-days-when-she-was-unhappy-she-did-not-know-why-when-it-did/) [Kate Chopin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-chopin/) > [I've crossed some kind of invisible line. I feel as if I've come to a place I never thought I'd have to come to.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-carver/i-ve-crossed-some-kind-of-invisible-line-i-feel-as-if-i-ve-come-to-a/) [Raymond Carver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-carver/) > [We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on it's vulnerable reserves of air and soil, all committed, for our safety, to it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adlai-e-stevenson/we-travel-together-passengers-on-a-little-spaceship-dependent-on-it-s/) [Adlai E. Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adlai-e-stevenson/) > [Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/liberty-is-to-faction-what-air-is-to-fire-an-aliment-without-which-it/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [Today I will once more be a prophet. If the international Jewish financiers, inside and outside Europe, succeed in plunging the nations once more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/today-i-will-once-more-be-a-prophet-if-the-international-jewish/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [“The edge of total annihilation wasn't the worst place to hide.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kit-rocha/the-edge-of-total-annihilation-wasn-t-the-worst-place-to-hide/) [Kit Rocha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kit-rocha/) > [To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/to-hope-is-to-give-yourself-to-the-future-and-that-commitment-to-the/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Annihilation is an absurdity in terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-palissy/annihilation-is-an-absurdity-in-terms/) [Bernard Palissy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-palissy/) > [Love is scary because it pulls you in with an intense force, a supermassive black hole which looks like nothing from the outside but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/love-is-scary-because-it-pulls-you-in-with-an-intense-force-a/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [I have issued the command, and I'll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad, that our war…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/i-have-issued-the-command-and-i-ll-have-anybody-who-utters-but-one/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) [Browse all 244 Annihilation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annihilation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "This suffering, this unspeakable capacity to bleed and to know pain and to know annihilation, is what has to be overcome in this world if anyone is to reach God.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anne Rice" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/this-suffering-this-unspeakable-capacity-to-bleed-and-to-know-pain/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Annihilation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/this-suffering-this-unspeakable-capacity-to-bleed-and-to-know-pain/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbe/anne-rice-238_annihilation_this-suffering-this-unspeakable-capacity_649464.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbe/anne-rice-238_annihilation_this-suffering-this-unspeakable-capacity_649464.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbe/anne-rice-238_annihilation_this-suffering-this-unspeakable-capacity_649464.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This suffering, this unspeakable capacity to bleed and to know pain and to know annihilation, is what has to…” — Anne Rice", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Anne Rice", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "This suffering, this unspeakable capacity to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/this-suffering-this-unspeakable-capacity-to-bleed-and-to-know-pain/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/this-suffering-this-unspeakable-capacity-to-bleed-and-to-know-pain/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```