--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We desert those who desert us; we cannot…" description: "\"We desert those who desert us; we cannot afford to suffer; we must live how we can.\" — Elizabeth Bowen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b6e/elizabeth-bowen-1197_afford_we-desert-those-who-desert-us-we-cannot_682401.jpg" --- # We desert those who desert us; we cannot afford to suffer… ![“We desert those who desert us; we cannot afford to suffer; we must live how we can.” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b6e/elizabeth-bowen-1197_afford_we-desert-those-who-desert-us-we-cannot_682401.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b6e/elizabeth-bowen-1197_afford_we-desert-those-who-desert-us-we-cannot_682401.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b6e/elizabeth-bowen-1197_afford_we-desert-those-who-desert-us-we-cannot_682401.jpg) > “We desert those who desert us; we cannot afford to suffer; we must live how we can.” [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People must support each other, avoiding abandonment, while confronting inevitable suffering. **In simple terms:** Stay connected despite hardship. Key Takeaway Support others, accept pain. Themes relationships resilience dependence suffering Mood reflective somber Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - family crises - friendship loss - war trauma - personal setbacks Key Concepts mutual aid emotional endurance Questions to Reflect On - Who can you rely on when you feel isolated? - How does suffering shape your choices? A Different Perspective Self-reliance may ignore communal needs. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Afford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afford/) [Afford Suffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afford-suffer-5396995/) [Desert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desert/) [Desert Afford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desert-afford-5396996/) [Suffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffer/) [Suffer Live](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffer-live-2774063/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Survival](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/survival/) ## Related quotes > [No animal has to suffer for me to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-blair/no-animal-has-to-suffer-for-me-to-live/) [Linda Blair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-blair/) > [Don't quit suffer now,And live the rest of your life a Champion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mukasa-alanz/don-t-quit-suffer-now-and-live-the-rest-of-your-life-a-champion/) [Mukasa Alanz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mukasa-alanz/) > [My earliest memories were when my mom would put me in the plays that she was in because she couldn't afford a babysitter... she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-applegate/my-earliest-memories-were-when-my-mom-would-put-me-in-the-plays-that/) [Christina Applegate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-applegate/) > [Nobody has so many friends that he can afford to lose one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/nobody-has-so-many-friends-that-he-can-afford-to-lose-one/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Unfortunately, some people go to a restaurant, and they aren't really there to enjoy themselves. They're there because they think they deserve to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-dinicol/unfortunately-some-people-go-to-a-restaurant-and-they-aren-t-really/) [Joe Dinicol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-dinicol/) > [I'm not the most talented writer in the world. I know that. But I also know that I'm disciplined, that I work my butt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-coe/i-m-not-the-most-talented-writer-in-the-world-i-know-that-but-i-also/) [David B. Coe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-coe/) > [A good player is a good player, it's just that we cannot afford signings that do not work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-dyche/a-good-player-is-a-good-player-it-s-just-that-we-cannot-afford/) [Sean Dyche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-dyche/) > [This fatigue can not afford to do](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israa-ali/this-fatigue-can-not-afford-to-do/) [ISRAA ALI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israa-ali/) > [The most common reason new mothers return to work sooner than they'd like to is because they can't afford to go without their salaries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexa-von-tobel/the-most-common-reason-new-mothers-return-to-work-sooner-than-they-d/) [Alexa Von Tobel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexa-von-tobel/) > [I have crooked toes from wearing boots that didn't fit me because that's all I could afford as a kid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonah-lomu/i-have-crooked-toes-from-wearing-boots-that-didn-t-fit-me-because/) [Jonah Lomu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonah-lomu/) > [I was lucky because I got so successful so early, and when you get successful early, then you can afford to be a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-von-furstenberg/i-was-lucky-because-i-got-so-successful-so-early-and-when-you-get/) [Diane von Furstenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-von-furstenberg/) > [Now I'm having to live with sales of around 50,000 per album - but I'm pretty content with my place in the general scheme…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-knopfler/now-i-m-having-to-live-with-sales-of-around-50-000-per-album-but-i-m/) [David Knopfler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-knopfler/) > [I am not a Ph.D. in economics or a doctorate in literature that I can afford to take my singing lightly. Even if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kailash-kher/i-am-not-a-ph-d-in-economics-or-a-doctorate-in-literature-that-i-can/) [Kailash Kher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kailash-kher/) > [Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should buy it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suze-orman/just-because-you-can-afford-it-doesn-t-mean-you-should-buy-it/) [Suze Orman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suze-orman/) > [We can't afford any president to fail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-beck/we-can-t-afford-any-president-to-fail/) [Glenn Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-beck/) ## More by Elizabeth Bowen > [Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/temperamentally-the-writer-exists-on-happenings-on-contacts-conflicts/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“Are you really an orphan? Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you? No, not at present, but I suppose it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/are-you-really-an-orphan-yes-i-am-said-portia-a-shade-shortly-are-you/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/it-is-not-our-exalted-feelings-it-is-our-sentiments-that-build-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Every love has a poetic relevance of its own; each love brings to light only what to it is relevant. Outside lies the junk-yard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/every-love-has-a-poetic-relevance-of-its-own-each-love-brings-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [without fiction, either life would be insufficient or the winds from the north would blow too cold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/without-fiction-either-life-would-be-insufficient-or-the-winds-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [One's sentiments -- call them that -- one's fidelities are so instinctive that one hardly knows they exist: only when they are betrayed or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/one-s-sentiments-call-them-that-one-s-fidelities-are-so-instinctive/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/only-in-a-house-where-one-has-learnt-to-be-lonely-does-one-have-this/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [To walk into history is to be free at once, to be at large among people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-walk-into-history-is-to-be-free-at-once-to-be-at-large-among-people/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-wish-to-lead-out-one-s-lover-must-be-a-tribal-feeling-the-wish-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“First love, with its frantic haughty imagination, swings its object clear of the everyday, over the rut of living, making him all looks, silences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/first-love-with-its-frantic-haughty-imagination-swings-its-object/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-leap-is-not-only-to-leap-it-is-to-hit-the-ground-somewhere/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/that-is-partly-why-women-marry-to-keep-up-the-fiction-of-being-in-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“But Miss Pym gave an impression, somehow, of having been attacked from within .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/but-miss-pym-gave-an-impression-somehow-of-having-been-attacked-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/rudeness-to-mrs-dosely-was-like-dropping-a-pat-of-butter-on-to-a-hot/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) [Explore all 275 Elizabeth Bowen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## More Afford quotes > [We can't afford any president to fail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-beck/we-can-t-afford-any-president-to-fail/) [Glenn Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-beck/) > [Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should buy it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suze-orman/just-because-you-can-afford-it-doesn-t-mean-you-should-buy-it/) [Suze Orman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suze-orman/) > [I am not a Ph.D. in economics or a doctorate in literature that I can afford to take my singing lightly. Even if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kailash-kher/i-am-not-a-ph-d-in-economics-or-a-doctorate-in-literature-that-i-can/) [Kailash Kher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kailash-kher/) > [Now I'm having to live with sales of around 50,000 per album - but I'm pretty content with my place in the general scheme…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-knopfler/now-i-m-having-to-live-with-sales-of-around-50-000-per-album-but-i-m/) [David Knopfler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-knopfler/) > [I was lucky because I got so successful so early, and when you get successful early, then you can afford to be a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-von-furstenberg/i-was-lucky-because-i-got-so-successful-so-early-and-when-you-get/) [Diane von Furstenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-von-furstenberg/) > [I have crooked toes from wearing boots that didn't fit me because that's all I could afford as a kid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonah-lomu/i-have-crooked-toes-from-wearing-boots-that-didn-t-fit-me-because/) [Jonah Lomu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonah-lomu/) > [The most common reason new mothers return to work sooner than they'd like to is because they can't afford to go without their salaries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexa-von-tobel/the-most-common-reason-new-mothers-return-to-work-sooner-than-they-d/) [Alexa Von Tobel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexa-von-tobel/) > [This fatigue can not afford to do](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israa-ali/this-fatigue-can-not-afford-to-do/) [ISRAA ALI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israa-ali/) > [A good player is a good player, it's just that we cannot afford signings that do not work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-dyche/a-good-player-is-a-good-player-it-s-just-that-we-cannot-afford/) [Sean Dyche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-dyche/) > [I'm not the most talented writer in the world. I know that. But I also know that I'm disciplined, that I work my butt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-coe/i-m-not-the-most-talented-writer-in-the-world-i-know-that-but-i-also/) [David B. Coe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-coe/) > [Unfortunately, some people go to a restaurant, and they aren't really there to enjoy themselves. They're there because they think they deserve to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-dinicol/unfortunately-some-people-go-to-a-restaurant-and-they-aren-t-really/) [Joe Dinicol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-dinicol/) > [Nobody has so many friends that he can afford to lose one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/nobody-has-so-many-friends-that-he-can-afford-to-lose-one/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [My earliest memories were when my mom would put me in the plays that she was in because she couldn't afford a babysitter... she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-applegate/my-earliest-memories-were-when-my-mom-would-put-me-in-the-plays-that/) [Christina Applegate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-applegate/) > [In Washington journalists can afford to live almost as well as people who work for a living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/in-washington-journalists-can-afford-to-live-almost-as-well-as-people/) [P. J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-j-o-rourke/) > [I'm a little bit tough because I can't afford to get my heart broken.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandi-glanville/i-m-a-little-bit-tough-because-i-can-t-afford-to-get-my-heart-broken/) [Brandi Glanville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandi-glanville/) [Browse all 784 Afford quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afford/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We desert those who desert us; we cannot afford to suffer; we must live how we can.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Bowen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/we-desert-those-who-desert-us-we-cannot-afford-to-suffer-we-must-live/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Afford" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/we-desert-those-who-desert-us-we-cannot-afford-to-suffer-we-must-live/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b6e/elizabeth-bowen-1197_afford_we-desert-those-who-desert-us-we-cannot_682401.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b6e/elizabeth-bowen-1197_afford_we-desert-those-who-desert-us-we-cannot_682401.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b6e/elizabeth-bowen-1197_afford_we-desert-those-who-desert-us-we-cannot_682401.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We desert those who desert us; we cannot afford to suffer; we must live how we can.” — Elizabeth Bowen", "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": "Elizabeth Bowen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We desert those who desert us;...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/we-desert-those-who-desert-us-we-cannot-afford-to-suffer-we-must-live/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/we-desert-those-who-desert-us-we-cannot-afford-to-suffer-we-must-live/#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 } } ] } ```