--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is much more easy to have sympathy…" description: "\"It is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to have sympathy with thought.\" — Oscar Wilde" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d6/oscar-wilde-16_easy_it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-wi_2624207.jpg" --- # It is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than… ![“It is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to have sympathy with thought.” quote by Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d6/oscar-wilde-16_easy_it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-wi_2624207.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d6/oscar-wilde-16_easy_it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-wi_2624207.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d6/oscar-wilde-16_easy_it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-wi_2624207.jpg) > “It is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to have sympathy with thought.” [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. It is easier to feel sympathy for suffering than for abstract ideas or thoughts. **In simple terms:** Sympathy for pain is easier than for thoughts. Key Takeaway Cultivate empathy for intellectual struggles. Themes sympathy thought intellect empathy challenge Mood thoughtful reflective Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - education - mental health support - philosophical discourse Key Concepts cognitive empathy philosophical reflection mental health Questions to Reflect On - How do you support someone’s mental struggle? - What barriers prevent empathy for ideas? A Different Perspective Intellectual pain is often invisible. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Sympathy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sympathy/) ## Related quotes > [“The emotions of man are stirred more quickly than man's intelligence...it is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-emotions-of-man-are-stirred-more-quickly-than-man-s-intelligence/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“The emotions of man are stirred more quickly than man’s intelligence; and, as I pointed out some time ago in an article on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-emotions-of-man-are-stirred-more-quickly-than-man-s-intelligence-2/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“The majority of people spoil their lives by an unhealthy and exaggerated altruism – are forced, indeed, so to spoil them. They find themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-majority-of-people-spoil-their-lives-by-an-unhealthy-and/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [when I was a boy I used to dream of becoming the village idiot. I used to lie in bed and imagine myself the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bukowski/when-i-was-a-boy-i-used-to-dream-of-becoming-the-village-idiot-i-used/) [Charles Bukowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bukowski/) > [“Up to the present man has hardly cultivated sympathy at all. He has merely sympathy with pain, and sympathy with pain is not the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/up-to-the-present-man-has-hardly-cultivated-sympathy-at-all-he-has/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“I have also learnt sympathy with suffering. To me, suffering seems now a sacramental thing, that makes those whom it touches holy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/i-have-also-learnt-sympathy-with-suffering-to-me-suffering-seems-now/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“So far as we feel sympathy, we feel we are not accomplices to what caused the suffering. Our sympathy proclaims our innocence as well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/so-far-as-we-feel-sympathy-we-feel-we-are-not-accomplices-to-what/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“I felt great empathy for my friend, as one form of cancer after another emerged to challenge him. I felt sympathy for his suffering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brent-green/i-felt-great-empathy-for-my-friend-as-one-form-of-cancer-after/) [Brent Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brent-green/) > [Many times I am asked why the suffering of animals should call forth more sympathy from me than the suffering of human beings; why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/many-times-i-am-asked-why-the-suffering-of-animals-should-call-forth/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [“Nor do I in any way approve of the modern sympathy with invalids.  I consider it morbid.  Illness of any kind is hardly a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/nor-do-i-in-any-way-approve-of-the-modern-sympathy-with-invalids-i/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“It must be remembered that while sympathy with joy intensifies the sum of joy in the world, sympathy with pain does not really diminish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/it-must-be-remembered-that-while-sympathy-with-joy-intensifies-the/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [If there was less sympathy in the world, there would be less trouble in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/if-there-was-less-sympathy-in-the-world-there-would-be-less-trouble/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathise with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/there-is-something-terribly-morbid-in-the-modern-sympathy-with-pain/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [There is something very morbid about modern sympathy with pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/there-is-something-very-morbid-about-modern-sympathy-with-pain/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“I remember talking once on this subject to one of the most beautiful personalities I have ever known: a woman, whose sympathy and noble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/i-remember-talking-once-on-this-subject-to-one-of-the-most-beautiful/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) ## More by Oscar Wilde > [How else but through a broken heart may Lord Christ enter in?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/how-else-but-through-a-broken-heart-may-lord-christ-enter-in/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-books-that-the-world-calls-immoral-are-the-books-that-show-the/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Bachelors should be heavily taxed. 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Paul Getty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-paul-getty/) Browse all 14,306 Easy quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to have sympathy with thought.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Oscar Wilde" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-with-suffering-than-it-is-to/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Easy" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-with-suffering-than-it-is-to/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d6/oscar-wilde-16_easy_it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-wi_2624207.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d6/oscar-wilde-16_easy_it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-wi_2624207.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d6/oscar-wilde-16_easy_it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-wi_2624207.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is much more easy to have sympathy with suffering than it is to have sympathy with thought.” — Oscar Wilde", "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": "Oscar Wilde", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It is much more easy to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-with-suffering-than-it-is-to/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/it-is-much-more-easy-to-have-sympathy-with-suffering-than-it-is-to/#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 } } ] } ```