--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is quite deplorable to see how many…" description: "\"It is quite deplorable to see how many rational creatures, or at least who are thought so, mistake suffering for sanctity, and think a sad face and a g..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a95/sydney-lady-morgan-47060_creatures_it-is-quite-deplorable-to-see-how-many-r_2131931.jpg" --- # It is quite deplorable to see how many rational creatures… ![“It is quite deplorable to see how many rational creatures, or at least who are thought so, mistake suffering for sanctity, and think a sad face and a gloomy habit of mind propitious offerings to that Deity whose works are all light and lustre and harmony and loveliness.” quote by Sydney, Lady Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a95/sydney-lady-morgan-47060_creatures_it-is-quite-deplorable-to-see-how-many-r_2131931.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a95/sydney-lady-morgan-47060_creatures_it-is-quite-deplorable-to-see-how-many-r_2131931.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a95/sydney-lady-morgan-47060_creatures_it-is-quite-deplorable-to-see-how-many-r_2131931.jpg) > “It is quite deplorable to see how many rational creatures, or at least who are thought so, mistake suffering for sanctity, and think a sad face and a gloomy habit of mind propitious offerings to that Deity whose works are all light and lustre and harmony and loveliness.” [Sydney, Lady Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-lady-morgan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote criticizes the tendency to equate suffering with holiness, warning that glorifying sorrow misrepresents a divine nature of light and harmony. **In simple terms:** Suffering is not holy; glorifying it misrepresents truth. Key Takeaway Recognize and value joy over unnecessary sorrow. Themes spirituality philosophy human nature religion ethics Mood reflective critical thoughtful Type philosophical ethical literary When to use this quote - personal reflection - theological debate - mental health counseling - literary analysis Key Concepts suffering sanctity misinterpretation divine nature Questions to Reflect On - How does cultural context shape views on suffering? - Can joy be a spiritual practice? A Different Perspective It may overlook cultures where suffering is integral to identity or growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Creatures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/) [Creatures Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures-thought-4397795/) [Deities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deities/) [Deplorable Rational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deplorable-rational-4397794/) [Faces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faces/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Gloomy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gloomy/) [Habit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habit/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Habits of mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits-of-mind/) [Harmony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harmony/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Loveliness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loveliness/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Mistake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mistake/) [Mistake Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mistake-suffering-4397793/) [Offering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/offering/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Rational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rational/) [Rational Creatures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rational-creatures-797596/) [Sad face](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sad-face/) [Sadness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sadness/) [Sanctity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sanctity/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Suffering Sanctity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering-sanctity-4397792/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [“Max smiled, the smile of comfort, the one you give to someone who's made a big mistake and is suffering the consequences, the one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-robson/max-smiled-the-smile-of-comfort-the-one-you-give-to-someone-who-s/) [Justina Robson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-robson/) > [“my first impression of those people, founded on face and manner alone, was invariably true. My mistake was in suffering them to come nearer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/my-first-impression-of-those-people-founded-on-face-and-manner-alone/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [After making a mistake or suffering a misfortune, the man of genius always gets back on his feet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/after-making-a-mistake-or-suffering-a-misfortune-the-man-of-genius/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [TO fear God, is one of the first and greatest Duties of his rational Creatures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-inglis/to-fear-god-is-one-of-the-first-and-greatest-duties-of-his-rational/) [Charles Inglis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-inglis/) > [My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-wollstonecraft/my-own-sex-i-hope-will-excuse-me-if-i-treat-them-like-rational-2/) [Mary Wollstonecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-wollstonecraft/) > [Who should know better than a cosmetician that human beings are less than rational creatures?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-brunner/who-should-know-better-than-a-cosmetician-that-human-beings-are-less/) [John Brunner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-brunner/) > [People in the voting booth are not purely rational creatures any more than they're purely rational creatures outside the voting booth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/people-in-the-voting-booth-are-not-purely-rational-creatures-any-more/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [We are rational creatures: Our virtue and perfection is to love reason, or rather to love order.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-malebranche/we-are-rational-creatures-our-virtue-and-perfection-is-to-love-reason/) [Nicolas Malebranche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-malebranche/) > [“Human beings are rational creatures, in the descriptive though not always the normative sense of the word rational-and thus every impulse we form is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-r-graver/human-beings-are-rational-creatures-in-the-descriptive-though-not/) [Margaret R. Graver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-r-graver/) > [“If we were rational creatures we would never get out of bed or live or love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/belinda-jeffrey/if-we-were-rational-creatures-we-would-never-get-out-of-bed-or-live/) [Belinda Jeffrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/belinda-jeffrey/) > [“As if women were all fine ladies, instead of rational creatures.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/as-if-women-were-all-fine-ladies-instead-of-rational-creatures/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [Pleasure is the object, duty and the goal of all rational creatures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/pleasure-is-the-object-duty-and-the-goal-of-all-rational-creatures/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [“Because we're not reasonable and rational creatures. Far from it. We resort to reason when it suits us. For most people life is comfortable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-g-ballard-2/because-we-re-not-reasonable-and-rational-creatures-far-from-it-we/) [J.G. Ballard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-g-ballard-2/) > [Long discourses, and philosophical readings, at best, amaze and confound, but do not instruct children. When I say, therefore, that they must be treated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-locke/long-discourses-and-philosophical-readings-at-best-amaze-and-confound/) [John Locke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-locke/) > [“The Men who cannot deny us to be rational creatures, wou'd have us justify their irrational opinion and treatment of us, by descending to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lady-sophia-fermor/the-men-who-cannot-deny-us-to-be-rational-creatures-wou-d-have-us/) [Lady Sophia Fermor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lady-sophia-fermor/) ## More by Sydney, Lady Morgan > [Vulgarity is setting store by the things which are seen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-lady-morgan/vulgarity-is-setting-store-by-the-things-which-are-seen/) [Sydney, Lady Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-lady-morgan/) > [Race and temperament go for much in influencing opinion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-lady-morgan/race-and-temperament-go-for-much-in-influencing-opinion/) [Sydney, Lady Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-lady-morgan/) > [You see, my good friend, how much we are the creatures of situation and circumstance, and with what pliant servility the mind resigns itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-lady-morgan/you-see-my-good-friend-how-much-we-are-the-creatures-of-situation-and/) [Sydney, Lady Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-lady-morgan/) > [Amiability is very often a weakness, but the most unobjectionable one as a rule.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-lady-morgan/amiability-is-very-often-a-weakness-but-the-most-unobjectionable-one/) [Sydney, Lady Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-lady-morgan/) > [The influence of woman will ever be exercised directly in all good or evil. Give her, then, such light as she is capable of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-lady-morgan/the-influence-of-woman-will-ever-be-exercised-directly-in-all-good-or/) [Sydney, Lady Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-lady-morgan/) > [Architecture is the printing-press of all ages, and gives a history of the state of the society in which it was erected, from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-lady-morgan/architecture-is-the-printing-press-of-all-ages-and-gives-a-history-of/) [Sydney, Lady Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-lady-morgan/) > [The playful kitten, with its pretty little tigerish gambols, is infinitely more amusing than half the people one is obliged to live with in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-lady-morgan/the-playful-kitten-with-its-pretty-little-tigerish-gambols-is/) [Sydney, Lady Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-lady-morgan/) [Explore all 8 Sydney, Lady Morgan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-lady-morgan/) ## More Creatures quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [Almost everywhere we find . . . the use of various coercive measures, to rid ourselves as quickly as possible of the child withinus--i.e.,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-miller/almost-everywhere-we-find-the-use-of-various-coercive-measures-to-rid/) [Alice Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-miller/) > [We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/we-need-in-a-special-way-to-work-twice-as-hard-to-help-people/) [Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [I could not have slept tonight if I had left that helpless little creature to perish on the ground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-could-not-have-slept-tonight-if-i-had-left-that-helpless-little/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ananda-coomaraswamy/no-creature-can-attain-a-higher-grade-of-nature-without-ceasing-to/) [Ananda Coomaraswamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ananda-coomaraswamy/) > [Most people are sensitized to animals through their cats and dogs, but for me it was a flounder. I used to go fishing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mathews/most-people-are-sensitized-to-animals-through-their-cats-and-dogs-but/) [Dan Mathews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mathews/) > [...it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/it-was-a-huge-creature-luminous-ghastly-and-spectral-i-have-cross/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [How do we know that we have a right to kill creatures that we are so little above, as dogs, for our curiosity or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/how-do-we-know-that-we-have-a-right-to-kill-creatures-that-we-are-so/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [My dad's family were political and he was always a theatrical creature, whereas my mum is really musical and her father was the touring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-jones/my-dad-s-family-were-political-and-he-was-always-a-theatrical/) [Grace Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-jones/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [What greater weakness can there be than not to know what is the source of one's being, of one's life, of one's senses, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/what-greater-weakness-can-there-be-than-not-to-know-what-is-the/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/children-are-not-a-zoo-of-entertainingly-exotic-creatures-but-an/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) [Browse all 3,703 Creatures quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is quite deplorable to see how many rational creatures, or at least who are thought so, mistake suffering for sanctity, and think a sad face and a gloomy habit of mind propitious offerings to that Deity whose works are all light and lustre and harmony and loveliness.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sydney, Lady Morgan" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-lady-morgan/it-is-quite-deplorable-to-see-how-many-rational-creatures-or-at-least/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Creatures" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-lady-morgan/it-is-quite-deplorable-to-see-how-many-rational-creatures-or-at-least/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a95/sydney-lady-morgan-47060_creatures_it-is-quite-deplorable-to-see-how-many-r_2131931.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a95/sydney-lady-morgan-47060_creatures_it-is-quite-deplorable-to-see-how-many-r_2131931.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a95/sydney-lady-morgan-47060_creatures_it-is-quite-deplorable-to-see-how-many-r_2131931.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is quite deplorable to see how many rational creatures, or at least who are thought so, mistake suffering…” — Sydney, Lady Morgan", "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": "Sydney, Lady Morgan", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-lady-morgan/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It is quite deplorable to see...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-lady-morgan/it-is-quite-deplorable-to-see-how-many-rational-creatures-or-at-least/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-lady-morgan/it-is-quite-deplorable-to-see-how-many-rational-creatures-or-at-least/#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 } } ] } ```