--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: in proportion as my own discomfort has…" description: "\"in proportion as my own discomfort has increased, my conviction of necessity to search into the wants of the friendless and afflicted has deepened. If ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/241/dorothea-dix-29243_abandoned_in-proportion-as-my-own-discomfort-has-i_2362724.jpg" --- # in proportion as my own discomfort has increased, my… ![“in proportion as my own discomfort has increased, my conviction of necessity to search into the wants of the friendless and afflicted has deepened. If I am cold, they too are cold; if I am weary, they are distressed; if I am alone, they are abandoned.” quote by Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/241/dorothea-dix-29243_abandoned_in-proportion-as-my-own-discomfort-has-i_2362724.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/241/dorothea-dix-29243_abandoned_in-proportion-as-my-own-discomfort-has-i_2362724.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/241/dorothea-dix-29243_abandoned_in-proportion-as-my-own-discomfort-has-i_2362724.jpg) > “in proportion as my own discomfort has increased, my conviction of necessity to search into the wants of the friendless and afflicted has deepened. If I am cold, they too are cold; if I am weary, they are distressed; if I am alone, they are abandoned.” [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Empathy grows as personal suffering deepens, prompting a duty to aid the marginalized. **In simple terms:** Personal pain fuels compassion for others. Key Takeaway Turn personal discomfort into advocacy. Themes compassion social responsibility empathy Mood reflective determined Type advocacy humanitarian When to use this quote - healthcare reform - mental health advocacy - poverty relief - disaster response Key Concepts humanitarianism moral duty Questions to Reflect On - How can you balance self‑care with helping others? - What signs indicate you’re overextending? A Different Perspective May overlook self‑care; risk of burnout. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abandoned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abandoned/) [Afflicted Deepened](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afflicted-deepened-5791076/) [Cold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cold/) [Compassion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compassion/) [Conviction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction/) [Discomfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discomfort/) [Discomfort Increased](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discomfort-increased-5791077/) [Distressed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/distressed/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Friendless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendless/) [Friendless Afflicted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendless-afflicted-5791075/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [My own](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/my-own/) [Proportion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/proportion/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) [Weary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/weary/) [Weary Distressed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/weary-distressed-5791074/) ## Related quotes > [The superior man is distressed by his want (lack) of ability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/the-superior-man-is-distressed-by-his-want-lack-of-ability/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) > [We are distressed by the unilateral actions of those provinces that are clearly determined to redefine what our common faith was once.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-akinola/we-are-distressed-by-the-unilateral-actions-of-those-provinces-that/) [Peter Akinola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-akinola/) > [“People are distressed by their inability to do it. The problem, however, is simply that they don't do it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mencius/people-are-distressed-by-their-inability-to-do-it-the-problem-however/) [Mencius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mencius/) > [I can't help but to write, I have a inner need for it. If I'm not in the middle of some literary project, I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-can-t-help-but-to-write-i-have-a-inner-need-for-it-if-i-m-not-in/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm always distressed by the supposedly bright people who don't know what they are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-clark/i-m-always-distressed-by-the-supposedly-bright-people-who-don-t-know/) [Dick Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-clark/) > [Sometimes I shrink from your knowing what I have felt for you, and sometimes I am distressed that all of it you will never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/sometimes-i-shrink-from-your-knowing-what-i-have-felt-for-you-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [I, being born a woman and distressed By all the needs and notions of my kind...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/i-being-born-a-woman-and-distressed-by-all-the-needs-and-notions-of/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [At first glance, Martha Stewart, queen of artfully distressed home furnishings, might not seem to have much in common with Michael R. Milken, one-time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-berenson/at-first-glance-martha-stewart-queen-of-artfully-distressed-home/) [Alex Berenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-berenson/) > [“He who best discerns the worth of time is most distressed whenever time is lost.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dante-alighieri/he-who-best-discerns-the-worth-of-time-is-most-distressed-whenever/) [Dante Alighieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dante-alighieri/) > [I am distressed when I see news channels saying 'Devdas' has let down the country by not getting an Oscar nomination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanjay-leela-bhansali/i-am-distressed-when-i-see-news-channels-saying-devdas-has-let-down/) [Sanjay Leela Bhansali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sanjay-leela-bhansali/) > [I am exceedingly distressed at the proceedings of the Convention-being ... almost sure, they will ... lay the foundation of a Civil War.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbridge-gerry/i-am-exceedingly-distressed-at-the-proceedings-of-the-convention/) [Elbridge Gerry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbridge-gerry/) > [Footage of people camped out at Best Buy or elsewhere is not remotely a celebration. Rather, it's a reminder of just how economically distressed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-ritholtz/footage-of-people-camped-out-at-best-buy-or-elsewhere-is-not-remotely/) [Barry Ritholtz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-ritholtz/) > [With every year that passes, I get further away from my target audience, and while I've been happy to think of myself as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-horowitz/with-every-year-that-passes-i-get-further-away-from-my-target/) [Anthony Horowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-horowitz/) > [“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-warren/if-you-look-at-the-world-you-ll-be-distressed-if-you-look-within-you/) [Rick Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-warren/) > [O, ye who visit the distressed, do ye know that everything your money can buy, given with a cold, averted face, is not worth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/o-ye-who-visit-the-distressed-do-ye-know-that-everything-your-money/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) ## More by Dorothea Dix > [ \[To a woman who claimed she'd rather be dead than unconfined and unfashionable:\] My dear, if you continue to lace as tightly as you… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/to-a-woman-who-claimed-she-d-rather-be-dead-than-unconfined-and/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [Every evil has its good, and every ill an antidote.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/every-evil-has-its-good-and-every-ill-an-antidote/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [I have no particular love for my species, but own to an exhaustless fund of compassion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/i-have-no-particular-love-for-my-species-but-own-to-an-exhaustless/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [While we diminish the stimulant of fear, we must increase to prisoners the incitements of hope, in proportion as we extinguish the terrors of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/while-we-diminish-the-stimulant-of-fear-we-must-increase-to-prisoners/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [Man is not made better by being degraded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/man-is-not-made-better-by-being-degraded/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [The tapestry of history has no point at which you can cut it and leave the design intelligible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/the-tapestry-of-history-has-no-point-at-which-you-can-cut-it-and/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [I think even lying on my bed I can still do something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/i-think-even-lying-on-my-bed-i-can-still-do-something/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [Be of good cheer, for sadness cannot heal the national wounds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/be-of-good-cheer-for-sadness-cannot-heal-the-national-wounds/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [Society, during the last hundred years, has been alternately perplexed and encouraged, respecting the two great questions -how shall the criminal and pauper be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/society-during-the-last-hundred-years-has-been-alternately-perplexed/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [But the truth is the highest consideration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/but-the-truth-is-the-highest-consideration/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [I proceed, gentlemen, to call your attention to the present state of insane persons confined within the commonwealth; in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/i-proceed-gentlemen-to-call-your-attention-to-the-present-state-of/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [A man usually values that most for which he has labored; he uses that most frugally which he has toiled hour by hour and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/a-man-usually-values-that-most-for-which-he-has-labored-he-uses-that/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [I come to present the strong claims of suffering humanity. I come to place before the Legislature of Massachusetts the condition of the miserable,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/i-come-to-present-the-strong-claims-of-suffering-humanity-i-come-to/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [I have learned to live each day as it comes, and not to borrow trouble by dreading tomorrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/i-have-learned-to-live-each-day-as-it-comes-and-not-to-borrow-trouble/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) > [Man is not made better by being degraded; he is seldom restrained from crime by harsh measures, except the principle of fear predominates in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-dix/man-is-not-made-better-by-being-degraded-he-is-seldom-restrained-from/) [Dorothea Dix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) [Explore all 18 Dorothea Dix quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-dix/) ## More Abandoned quotes > [“I'm surprised when I walk right into yet another abandoned hunters' camp. Tattered plastic sheeting still hangs askew here and there. Blackened aerosol cans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-bass/i-m-surprised-when-i-walk-right-into-yet-another-abandoned-hunters/) [Rick Bass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-bass/) > [It’s hard to feel attracted to someone who has abandoned her sense of autonomy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/it-s-hard-to-feel-attracted-to-someone-who-has-abandoned-her-sense-of/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [When good media takes a bounded form, and comes once in a period of time, it begs to be consumed as a whole -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-battelle/when-good-media-takes-a-bounded-form-and-comes-once-in-a-period-of/) [John Battelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-battelle/) > [In Russia there is an emigration of intelligence: émigrés cross the frontier in order to read and to write good books. But in doing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/in-russia-there-is-an-emigration-of-intelligence-migr-s-cross-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Early on in my life, I had a broken soul. I was abused by my father, abandoned by my mother and ended up in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-meyer/early-on-in-my-life-i-had-a-broken-soul-i-was-abused-by-my-father/) [Joyce Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-meyer/) > [We should be recklessly abandoned to Jesus, and just turn it over to Him. Through the support I think the sacrifices will be made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacie-orrico/we-should-be-recklessly-abandoned-to-jesus-and-just-turn-it-over-to/) [Stacie Orrico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacie-orrico/) > [In the eyes of those lovers of perfection, a work is never finished a word that for them has no sense but abandoned; and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/in-the-eyes-of-those-lovers-of-perfection-a-work-is-never-finished-a/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [The whole force of the respectable circles to which I belonged, that respectable circle which knew as I did notthe value of security won,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-tarbell/the-whole-force-of-the-respectable-circles-to-which-i-belonged-that/) [Ida Tarbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-tarbell/) > [Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. ISIS was created because of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeb-bush/barack-obama-became-president-and-he-abandoned-iraq-he-left-and-when/) [Jeb Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeb-bush/) > [“The desperate loneliness is nothing compared to the torture of falling in love and then being abandoned.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-j-nuest/the-desperate-loneliness-is-nothing-compared-to-the-torture-of/) [A.J. Nuest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-j-nuest/) > [Through it all, this wild life on and off the road , through Jordanian deserts , Spanish islands, German prisons, Caribbean tax scams, halls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-burdon/through-it-all-this-wild-life-on-and-off-the-road-through-jordanian/) [Eric Burdon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-burdon/) > [I've never been keen on open adoption. It doesn't seem to solve the main problem with adoption, which is that somebody feels she was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-ve-never-been-keen-on-open-adoption-it-doesn-t-seem-to-solve-the/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [Blacks abandoned morals, fathers, and real belief in God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-lee-peterson/blacks-abandoned-morals-fathers-and-real-belief-in-god/) [Jesse Lee Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-lee-peterson/) > [I just feel abandoned. And I feel, I don't feel represented by the Republican Party. I have always had to defend the social side…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-johnson/i-just-feel-abandoned-and-i-feel-i-don-t-feel-represented-by-the/) [Gary Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-johnson/) > [While society cannot provide employment for its members, the production/work/income nexus has to be abandoned as a justification for our present parsimony to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hawke/while-society-cannot-provide-employment-for-its-members-the/) [Bob Hawke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hawke/) [Browse all 932 Abandoned quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abandoned/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "in proportion as my own discomfort has increased, my conviction of necessity to search into the wants of the friendless and afflicted has deepened. 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