--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Those are only rumors of suffering. Real…" description: "\"Those are only rumors of suffering. Real suffering has a face and a smell. It lasts in the most intense form no matter what you drape over it. And it k..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b82/mary-karr-3335_drapes_those-are-only-rumors-of-suffering-real_541533.png" --- # Those are only rumors of suffering. Real suffering has a… ![“Those are only rumors of suffering. Real suffering has a face and a smell. It lasts in the most intense form no matter what you drape over it. And it knows your name.” quote by Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b82/mary-karr-3335_drapes_those-are-only-rumors-of-suffering-real_541533.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b82/mary-karr-3335_drapes_those-are-only-rumors-of-suffering-real_541533.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b82/mary-karr-3335_drapes_those-are-only-rumors-of-suffering-real_541533.png) > “Those are only rumors of suffering. Real suffering has a face and a smell. It lasts in the most intense form no matter what you drape over it. And it knows your name.” [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Suffering is personal, vivid, and unavoidable, not just abstract rumors. **In simple terms:** Suffering is real and identifiable. Key Takeaway Recognize and address concrete pain. Themes pain identity vulnerability Mood somber reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - grief counseling - healthcare - personal trauma - support groups Key Concepts psychology existentialism Questions to Reflect On - How do you confront hidden suffering? - What signs reveal deeper pain? A Different Perspective Suffering can be dismissed if not directly observed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Faces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faces/) [Intense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intense/) [Rumor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rumor/) [Smell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smell/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) ## Related quotes > [The woman who looks to God in the face of unkindness becomes more beautiful through suffering. 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It's really just the way children communicate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-greenberg/i-have-two-children-of-my-own-crying-is-not-evidence-of-pain-or-any/) [Jill Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-greenberg/) > [If we just see REAL SUFFERING, we won't COMPLAIN ANYMORE! :)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angelina-jolie/if-we-just-see-real-suffering-we-won-t-complain-anymore/) [Angelina Jolie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angelina-jolie/) > [Human life is reduced to real suffering, to hell, only when two ages, two cultures and religions overlap.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/human-life-is-reduced-to-real-suffering-to-hell-only-when-two-ages/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Real suffering bravely borne, melts even a heart of stone. Such is the potency of suffering. 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What if the midget or the girl with one arm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-gilbert/imagine-if-suffering-were-real-imagine-if-those-old-people-were/) [Jack Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-gilbert/) > [I want to force myself again and again to leave the warmth and security of static situations and move into the world of growth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/i-want-to-force-myself-again-and-again-to-leave-the-warmth-and/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“The real problem is that this devaluing of lament often betrays our failure to admit that our suffering is real and painful. Our”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-m-kapic/the-real-problem-is-that-this-devaluing-of-lament-often-betrays-our/) [Kelly M. Kapic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-m-kapic/) ## More by Mary Karr > [I do have a really good memory. I mean, like, I can remember all the phone numbers of everybody on the street I grew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/i-do-have-a-really-good-memory-i-mean-like-i-can-remember-all-the/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [Ninety percent of what's wrong with you could be cured with a hot bath, says God from the bowels of the subway. but we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/ninety-percent-of-what-s-wrong-with-you-could-be-cured-with-a-hot/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [I always say that a poet loves the world, and the prose writer needs to create an alternative world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/i-always-say-that-a-poet-loves-the-world-and-the-prose-writer-needs/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [Even the best of us are at least part-time bastards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/even-the-best-of-us-are-at-least-part-time-bastards/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [“And Meredith says that reminds her of a Camus novel, the one about the plague, and she tells the story of it, the tale…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/and-meredith-says-that-reminds-her-of-a-camus-novel-the-one-about-the/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [When people suffer, their relationships usually suffer as well. 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Once…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/i-believe-in-god-but-even-if-you-don-t-you-can-believe-in-a-self-the/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [Love is the only passion which includes in its dreams the happiness of someone else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/love-is-the-only-passion-which-includes-in-its-dreams-the-happiness/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [It strikes me that whatever advantages there are to being a boy--getting to stay out late and having other people wash your clothes and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/it-strikes-me-that-whatever-advantages-there-are-to-being-a-boy/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [“I liked to call myself a poet and had affected a habit of reading classical texts (in translation, of course – I was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/i-liked-to-call-myself-a-poet-and-had-affected-a-habit-of-reading/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [It turned out to be impossible for me to 'run away' in the sense other American teenagers did. Any movement at all was taken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/it-turned-out-to-be-impossible-for-me-to-run-away-in-the-sense-other/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [“What hurts so bad about youth isn't the actual butt whippings the world delivers. It's the stupid hopes playacting like certainties.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/what-hurts-so-bad-about-youth-isn-t-the-actual-butt-whippings-the/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) [Explore all 133 Mary Karr quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) ## More Drapes quotes > [Like it or not, people tend to buy paintings to match their drapes, couch or carpet. I know you want them to be so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-white/like-it-or-not-people-tend-to-buy-paintings-to-match-their-drapes/) [Jack White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-white/) > [There are drawbacks in being famous too, but you can live with those. They're not life-threatening. If the paparazzi are outside your restaurant or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/there-are-drawbacks-in-being-famous-too-but-you-can-live-with-those/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [I drape a lot. I cut. I have to touch. For me, it's almost impossible to start without that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francisco-costa/i-drape-a-lot-i-cut-i-have-to-touch-for-me-it-s-almost-impossible-to/) [Francisco Costa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francisco-costa/) > [This is among the few things that can be said about love with any confidence. It is small enough to be contained within the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadeem-aslam/this-is-among-the-few-things-that-can-be-said-about-love-with-any/) [Nadeem Aslam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadeem-aslam/) > [perhaps I possess a certain Midwestern sensibility that I inherited from my mother and her parents, a sensibility that Warren Buffet seems to share:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/perhaps-i-possess-a-certain-midwestern-sensibility-that-i-inherited/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [I have always thought beach weddings are beautiful. A sunset ceremony with a beautiful sky, white drapes and fire lanterns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricky-whittle/i-have-always-thought-beach-weddings-are-beautiful-a-sunset-ceremony/) [Ricky Whittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricky-whittle/) > [I've got a real sense of three-dimensional geometry. I can look at a flat piece of fabric and know that if I put a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vivienne-westwood/i-ve-got-a-real-sense-of-three-dimensional-geometry-i-can-look-at-a/) [Vivienne Westwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vivienne-westwood/) > [At Last It's a perfect winter day. No wind. No Arctic freeze. Cloudless azure sky. A day to fly. Snow drapes the mountain like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/at-last-it-s-a-perfect-winter-day-no-wind-no-arctic-freeze-cloudless/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [But liberals love to drape themselves in decades-old glories they had nothing to do with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-coulter/but-liberals-love-to-drape-themselves-in-decades-old-glories-they-had/) [Ann Coulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-coulter/) > [When Billy Ray and I first got married, we lived in an A-frame house in Kentucky, and I didn't even know you could get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tish-cyrus/when-billy-ray-and-i-first-got-married-we-lived-in-an-a-frame-house/) [Tish Cyrus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tish-cyrus/) > [John McCain said that Barack Obama is already measuring the drapes in the White House. That's what he said. 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I'm going to sketch, I'm going to drape, I don't know what I'm going to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-beene/i-come-in-i-m-going-to-sketch-i-m-going-to-drape-i-don-t-know-what-i/) [Geoffrey Beene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-beene/) > [I was teaching live drawing in a community college and students started zoning in on the face and spending a couple of hours on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-baldessari/i-was-teaching-live-drawing-in-a-community-college-and-students/) [John Baldessari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-baldessari/) Browse all 52 Drapes quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Those are only rumors of suffering. Real suffering has a face and a smell. It lasts in the most intense form no matter what you drape over it. 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