--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: How often, in this cold and bitter world…" description: "\"How often, in this cold and bitter world, is the warm heart thrown back upon itself! Cold, careless, are we of another's grief; we wrap ourselves in su..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e5/letitia-elizabeth-landon-2397_bitter_how-often-in-this-cold-and-bitter-world_1156838.jpg" --- # How often, in this cold and bitter world, is the warm… ![“How often, in this cold and bitter world, is the warm heart thrown back upon itself! Cold, careless, are we of another's grief; we wrap ourselves in sullen selfishness.” quote by Letitia Elizabeth Landon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e5/letitia-elizabeth-landon-2397_bitter_how-often-in-this-cold-and-bitter-world_1156838.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e5/letitia-elizabeth-landon-2397_bitter_how-often-in-this-cold-and-bitter-world_1156838.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e5/letitia-elizabeth-landon-2397_bitter_how-often-in-this-cold-and-bitter-world_1156838.jpg) > “How often, in this cold and bitter world, is the warm heart thrown back upon itself! Cold, careless, are we of another's grief; we wrap ourselves in sullen selfishness.” [Letitia Elizabeth Landon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/letitia-elizabeth-landon/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. In a harsh world, compassion often turns inward, leading to selfishness and neglect of others’ grief. **In simple terms:** Coldness makes us selfish and ignore others’ pain. Key Takeaway Cultivate empathy despite harshness. Themes compassion selfishness grief Mood melancholic reflective Type poetic emotional When to use this quote - counselling - community work - personal relationships - social activism Key Concepts empathy humanism Questions to Reflect On - How can you stay warm to others’ suffering? - What prevents you from helping? A Different Perspective Self‑preservation can become indifference. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cold/) [Grief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Selfishness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/selfishness/) [Warm heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/warm-heart/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [To abandon a child, she had once said to someone, when she thought Cassandra couldn't hear, was an act so cold, so careless, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/to-abandon-a-child-she-had-once-said-to-someone-when-she-thought/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns; The low'ring eye, the petulance, the frown, And sullen sadness, that o'ershade, distort, And mar the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-cowper/the-spleen-is-seldom-felt-where-flora-reigns-the-low-ring-eye-the/) [William Cowper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-cowper/) > [She is a loner, too bright for the slutty girls and too savage for the bright girls, haunting the edges and corners of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/she-is-a-loner-too-bright-for-the-slutty-girls-and-too-savage-for-the/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [Things are sullen, and will be as they are, whatever we think them or wish them to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-cudworth/things-are-sullen-and-will-be-as-they-are-whatever-we-think-them-or/) [Ralph Cudworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-cudworth/) > [Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed; and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/now-small-fowls-flew-screaming-over-the-yet-yawning-gulf-a-sullen/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [God, deliver me from sullen saints.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teresa-of-vila/god-deliver-me-from-sullen-saints/) [Teresa of Avila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teresa-of-vila/) > [“There was a lot of Sullen Malarkey on John's part.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-echols/there-was-a-lot-of-sullen-malarkey-on-john-s-part/) [Jennifer Echols](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-echols/) > [There is a time of life somewhere between the sullen fugues of adolescence and the retrenchments of middle age when human nature becomes so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/there-is-a-time-of-life-somewhere-between-the-sullen-fugues-of/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [When I am feeling depressed and anxious sullen all you have to do is take off your clothes and all is wiped away revealing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-o-hara/when-i-am-feeling-depressed-and-anxious-sullen-all-you-have-to-do-is/) [Frank O'Hara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-o-hara/) > [I desire Virtue, though I love her not- I have no faith in her when she is got: I fear that she will bind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-wickham/i-desire-virtue-though-i-love-her-not-i-have-no-faith-in-her-when-she/) [Anna Wickham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-wickham/) > [ What would it mean in practice to eliminate all the 'negative people' from one's life \[as demanded by motivational speaker J.P. 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