--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I hadn’t understood at the time. If…" description: "\"“I hadn’t understood at the time. If sinners were so unhappy, why would they prefer their suffering? But now I knew why. Without my wounds, who was I? ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/748/janet-fitch-717_suffering_i-hadn-t-understood-at-the-time-if-sinne_1446194.png" --- # I hadn’t understood at the time. If sinners were so… ![“I hadn’t understood at the time. If sinners were so unhappy, why would they prefer their suffering? But now I knew why. Without my wounds, who was I? My scars were my face, my past was my life. It wasn’t like I didn’t know where all this remembering got you, all that hunger for beauty and…” quote by Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/748/janet-fitch-717_suffering_i-hadn-t-understood-at-the-time-if-sinne_1446194.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/748/janet-fitch-717_suffering_i-hadn-t-understood-at-the-time-if-sinne_1446194.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/748/janet-fitch-717_suffering_i-hadn-t-understood-at-the-time-if-sinne_1446194.png) > ““I hadn’t understood at the time. If sinners were so unhappy, why would they prefer their suffering? But now I knew why. Without my wounds, who was I? My scars were my face, my past was my life. It wasn’t like I didn’t know where all this remembering got you, all that hunger for beauty and astonishing cruelty and ever-present loss.”” [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker reflects that personal pain and scars shape identity and give depth to one’s appreciation of beauty and cruelty, acknowledging that suffering is integral to self‑knowledge. **In simple terms:** Pain defines us and deepens our perception of life. Key Takeaway Embrace scars as part of your story. Themes identity pain beauty loss self‑discovery Mood reflective melancholic hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - grief counseling - artistic creation - personal healing - teaching resilience Key Concepts existentialism psychology narrative memory Questions to Reflect On - How have your hardships shaped who you are? - Can you find beauty in your wounds? A Different Perspective Suffering may also cause alienation or numbness, limiting growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“I hadn’t understood at the time. If sinners were so unhappy,why would they prefer their suffering? But now I knew why. Without my wounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/i-hadn-t-understood-at-the-time-if-sinners-were-so-unhappy-why-would/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“If sinners were so unhappy, why would they prefer their suffering? But now I knew why. Without my wounds, who was I? My scars…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/if-sinners-were-so-unhappy-why-would-they-prefer-their-suffering-but-2/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [without my wounds, who was i? my scars were my face, my past was my life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/without-my-wounds-who-was-i-my-scars-were-my-face-my-past-was-my-life/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“If sinners were so unhappy, why would they prefer their suffering? But now I knew why. Without my wounds, who was I?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/if-sinners-were-so-unhappy-why-would-they-prefer-their-suffering-but/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“An accident you're in? It marks you on the outside, maybe. Scars your face or your skin-breaks bones,crushes skulls,leaves the body changed. An accident…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-lynch-williams/an-accident-you-re-in-it-marks-you-on-the-outside-maybe-scars-your/) [Carol Lynch Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-lynch-williams/) > [The scars in my face are the source of my strength.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franck-ribery/the-scars-in-my-face-are-the-source-of-my-strength/) [Franck Ribery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franck-ribery/) > [I got scars on my face that tell some kind of story. I'm looking in the mirror, and I got one scar that's really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kris-kristofferson/i-got-scars-on-my-face-that-tell-some-kind-of-story-i-m-looking-in/) [Kris Kristofferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kris-kristofferson/) > [The scars on the face have always given me a sense that I'm not a very attractive person. I'm always unsure of myself, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trudie-styler/the-scars-on-the-face-have-always-given-me-a-sense-that-i-m-not-a/) [Trudie Styler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trudie-styler/) > [They put a picture of me on a magazine's cover and wrote 'Mahima had an accident. She's got scars all over the face. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahima-chaudhry/they-put-a-picture-of-me-on-a-magazine-s-cover-and-wrote-mahima-had/) [Mahima Chaudhry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahima-chaudhry/) > [They sat quietly together for a few minutes, Joe holding Fiona's hand, Fiona sniffling. No flowery words, no platitudes passed between them. Joe would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-donnelly/they-sat-quietly-together-for-a-few-minutes-joe-holding-fiona-s-hand/) [Jennifer Donnelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-donnelly/) > [Jesus was like the rest of us a man who knew pain who knew suffering who knew fear… what did it feel like knowing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/jesus-was-like-the-rest-of-us-a-man-who-knew-pain-who-knew-suffering/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“If she had been born in another place, during another time, he supposed she might have been the sort of girl who concerned herself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paolo-bacigalupi/if-she-had-been-born-in-another-place-during-another-time-he-supposed/) [Paolo Bacigalupi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paolo-bacigalupi/) > [“She understood suffering and she knew it was a place she could not follow, not unless she wanted to drown too.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-bardugo/she-understood-suffering-and-she-knew-it-was-a-place-she-could-not/) [Leigh Bardugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-bardugo/) > [“ — This world is full of trouble, umfundisi. — Who knows it better? — Yet you believe? Kumalo looked at him under the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-paton/this-world-is-full-of-trouble-umfundisi-who-knows-it-better-yet-you/) [Alan Paton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-paton/) > [I have never thought that a Christian would be free of suffering, umfundisi. For our Lord suffered. And I come to believe that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-paton/i-have-never-thought-that-a-christian-would-be-free-of-suffering/) [Alan Paton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-paton/) ## More by Janet Fitch > [How could anybody confuse truth with beauty, I thought as I looked at him. Truth came with sunken eyes, bony or scarred, decayed. Its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/how-could-anybody-confuse-truth-with-beauty-i-thought-as-i-looked-at/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [I love Derrick Brown for the surprise of one word waking up next to another. One moment tender, funny or romantic, the next, visceral,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/i-love-derrick-brown-for-the-surprise-of-one-word-waking-up-next-to/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“That fucking crow-bodied thing had won. How gleeful it was now. All because he'd wanted to live, forget genius and destiny, and simply be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/that-fucking-crow-bodied-thing-had-won-how-gleeful-it-was-now-all/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [No matter how unappealing, each of them imagines he is somehow worthy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/no-matter-how-unappealing-each-of-them-imagines-he-is-somehow-worthy/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [The nearest I'd come to feeling anything like God was the plan blue cloudless sky and a certain silence, but how do you pray…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/the-nearest-i-d-come-to-feeling-anything-like-god-was-the-plan-blue/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [When most people looked at Josie Tyrell, they only saw a certain collection of bones, a selection of forms filling space. But Michael saw…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/when-most-people-looked-at-josie-tyrell-they-only-saw-a-certain/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“They can't touch us. We're the Vikings. We go into battle without armor for the flush and the blood of it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/they-can-t-touch-us-we-re-the-vikings-we-go-into-battle-without-armor/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“But I knew one more thing. That people who denied who they were or where they had been were in the greatest danger.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/but-i-knew-one-more-thing-that-people-who-denied-who-they-were-or/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“To dare to see is to steal fire from the Gods. This is mankind's destiny, the engine which fuels us as a race. Three…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/to-dare-to-see-is-to-steal-fire-from-the-gods-this-is-mankind-s/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [This is what happens when you fall in love. You're looking at a natural disaster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/this-is-what-happens-when-you-fall-in-love-you-re-looking-at-a/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“If I were a poet, that’s what I’d write about. People who worked in the middle of the night. Men who loaded trains, emergency…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/if-i-were-a-poet-that-s-what-i-d-write-about-people-who-worked-in-the/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“what was the point in creating something that was so futile and so precious? everything beautiful was like that. a little bit of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/what-was-the-point-in-creating-something-that-was-so-futile-and-so/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“We received our coloring from Norsemen. Hairy savages who hacked their gods to pieces and hung the flesh from trees. We are the ones…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/we-received-our-coloring-from-norsemen-hairy-savages-who-hacked-their/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [¨Loneliness is the human condition. Cultivate it. The way it tunnels into you allows your soul room to grow. Never expect to outgrow loneliness.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/loneliness-is-the-human-condition-cultivate-it-the-way-it-tunnels/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [I was tired of men. Hanging in doorways, standing too close, men who made you love them then changed their minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/i-was-tired-of-men-hanging-in-doorways-standing-too-close-men-who/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) [Explore all 388 Janet Fitch quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) ## More Suffering quotes > [Many individuals spend a considerable portion of their lifetimes in terror of one imagined catastrophe or another. The classic is that your immortal soul…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/many-individuals-spend-a-considerable-portion-of-their-lifetimes-in/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they're wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-morrison/pain-is-meant-to-wake-us-up-people-try-to-hide-their-pain-but-they-re/) [Jim Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-morrison/) > [“What can we do in any hardship? We can hope with prayerful praise.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/what-can-we-do-in-any-hardship-we-can-hope-with-prayerful-praise/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [The image of blacks usually is one of people who are suffering from hunger, unemployment, and poverty. The idea of them as agents and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-lee-boggs/the-image-of-blacks-usually-is-one-of-people-who-are-suffering-from/) [Grace Lee Boggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-lee-boggs/) > [“Where there is doubt (shanka), there is misery. The moment one begins to doubt the knowledge that, 'I am Chandubhai,' misery arises. Once one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/where-there-is-doubt-shanka-there-is-misery-the-moment-one-begins-to/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [“But, you know, if you choose to be with someone you should feel good with them, otherwise it doesn't make sense... How do you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/assia-petricelli/but-you-know-if-you-choose-to-be-with-someone-you-should-feel-good/) Assia Petricelli > [Suffering did different things to different people...Some souls became tempered, unshakable in their faith, while others became twisted and mis-shapen, throwing off all connection…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-ragen/suffering-did-different-things-to-different-people-some-souls-became/) [Naomi Ragen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-ragen/) > [... how much of our inner substance is it good for us to give to public griefs? The whole modern tendency to agonize over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-bogan/how-much-of-our-inner-substance-is-it-good-for-us-to-give-to-public/) [Louise Bogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-bogan/) > [Certainly, it is. Love is love, and loss is loss. We all love, and we all die, and everyone suffers the pain of grieving.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynsay-sands/certainly-it-is-love-is-love-and-loss-is-loss-we-all-love-and-we-all/) [Lynsay Sands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynsay-sands/) > [Life's unfairness is not irrevocable; we can help balance the scales for others, if not always for ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hubert-h-humphrey/life-s-unfairness-is-not-irrevocable-we-can-help-balance-the-scales/) [Hubert H. Humphrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hubert-h-humphrey/) > [Don't be bitter. Everybody suffers. If you can accept your suffering then you will understand other people better. Be grateful for pain. Love life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-colbert/don-t-be-bitter-everybody-suffers-if-you-can-accept-your-suffering/) [Stephen Colbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-colbert/) > [The writings of latter-day prophets clearly teach that the sorrows and sufferings endured by Adam and Eve upon their leaving the Garden of Eden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-k-judd/the-writings-of-latter-day-prophets-clearly-teach-that-the-sorrows/) Daniel K Judd > [Let us remember that every worldview-not just Christianity's-must give an explanation or an answer for evil and suffering...this is not just a problem distinctive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-zacharias/let-us-remember-that-every-worldview-not-just-christianity-s-must/) [Ravi Zacharias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-zacharias/) > [“Because we live in a fallen world, we suffer. But those of us who know Jesus are never alone in the suffering, that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-turner-lee/because-we-live-in-a-fallen-world-we-suffer-but-those-of-us-who-know/) Melissa Turner Lee > [“Maybe love, like suffering, is relative. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-chaon/maybe-love-like-suffering-is-relative/) [Dan Chaon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-chaon/) [Browse all 13,957 Suffering quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I hadn’t understood at the time. If sinners were so unhappy, why would they prefer their suffering? But now I knew why. Without my wounds, who was I? My scars were my face, my past was my life. 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