---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sorrow itself is not so hard to bear As…"
description: "\"Sorrow itself is not so hard to bear As the thought of sorrow coming. Airy ghosts, That work no harm, do terrify us more Than men in steel with bloody ..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/thomas-bailey-aldrich-4098_airy_sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as_270014.png"
---

#  Sorrow itself is not so hard to bear As the thought of…

![“Sorrow itself is not so hard to bear As the thought of sorrow coming. Airy ghosts, That work no harm, do terrify us more Than men in steel with bloody purposes. Death is not dreadful; 'tis the dread of death— We die whene'er we think of it!” quote by Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/thomas-bailey-aldrich-4098_airy_sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as_270014.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/thomas-bailey-aldrich-4098_airy_sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as_270014.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/thomas-bailey-aldrich-4098_airy_sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as_270014.png)

> “Sorrow itself is not so hard to bear As the thought of sorrow coming. Airy ghosts, That work no harm, do terrify us more Than men in steel with bloody purposes. Death is not dreadful; 'tis the dread of death— We die whene'er we think of it!”

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Anticipating sorrow feels worse than the sorrow itself; imagined fears outweigh real threats.

**In simple terms:** Fear of imagined pain is stronger than actual pain.

Key Takeaway

Recognize and confront imagined fears.

Themes

fear anticipation psychology

Mood

anxious reflective

Type

philosophical poetic

When to use this quote

- grief counseling
- stress management
- creative work
- military decisionmaking

Key Concepts

existential dread mental projection

Questions to Reflect On

- What imagined fear holds you back?
- How can you differentiate real danger from mental projection?

A Different Perspective

Real threats may be less terrifying than imagined ones.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Airy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/airy/) [Bears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) [Bloody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bloody/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Dies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dies/) [Dread](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dread/) [Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost/) [Hard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hard/) [Harm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harm/) [Harm Terrify](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harm-terrify-2642264/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Purpose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose/) [Sorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sorrow/) [Sorrow Coming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sorrow-coming-2642262/) [Sorrow Hard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sorrow-hard-2642263/) [Steel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/steel/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thought Sorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought-sorrow-1192827/)

## Related quotes

> [“I had always thought that sorrow was the most exhausting of the emotions. Now I knew that it was anger.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-garner/i-had-always-thought-that-sorrow-was-the-most-exhausting-of-the/)

[Helen Garner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-garner/)

> [Oh! faint delicious spring-time violet, Thine odor like a key, Turns noiselessly in memory's wards to let A thought of sorrow free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-wetmore-story/oh-faint-delicious-spring-time-violet-thine-odor-like-a-key-turns/)

[William Wetmore Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-wetmore-story/)

> [And it was strange, I thought, that sorrow lasts and can make a man look forward to death, but the mood of victory fills…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-s-naipaul/and-it-was-strange-i-thought-that-sorrow-lasts-and-can-make-a-man/)

[V. S. Naipaul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-s-naipaul/)

> [Prosperity, pleasure and success, may be rough of grain and common in fibre, but sorrow is the most sensitive of all created things. There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/prosperity-pleasure-and-success-may-be-rough-of-grain-and-common-in-2/)

[Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/)

> [“I thought then that we would all die in the darkness and solitude. I thought that an executioner would come for us silently one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippa-gregory/i-thought-then-that-we-would-all-die-in-the-darkness-and-solitude-i/)

[Philippa Gregory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippa-gregory/)

> [“We kept walking, our shadows moving in shifting blobs over the ground. The sound of river rocks rattled under our feet. We turned along…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-kept-walking-our-shadows-moving-in-shifting-blobs-over-the-ground/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [There is nothing that stirs in the whole world of thought to which sorrow does not vibrate in terrible and exquisite pulsation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/there-is-nothing-that-stirs-in-the-whole-world-of-thought-to-which/)

[Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/)

> [Mutability is the badge of infirmity. It is seldom that a man continues to wish and design the same thing two days alike. Now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-charron/mutability-is-the-badge-of-infirmity-it-is-seldom-that-a-man/)

[Pierre Charron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-charron/)

> [But housekeeping is fun. It is one job where you enjoy the results right along as you work. You may work all day washing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gladys-taber/but-housekeeping-is-fun-it-is-one-job-where-you-enjoy-the-results/)

[Gladys Taber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gladys-taber/)

> [“ Autumn Days Yellow, mellow, ripened days, Sheltered in a golden coating; O'er the dreamy, listless haze, White and dainty cloudlets floating; Winking at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-carleton/autumn-days-yellow-mellow-ripened-days-sheltered-in-a-golden-coating/)

[Will Carleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-carleton/)

> [When I feel the joy of receiving a gift my heart nudges me to join creation's ballet, the airy dance of giving and receiving,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/when-i-feel-the-joy-of-receiving-a-gift-my-heart-nudges-me-to-join/)

[Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/)

> [My family dumplings are sleek and seductive, yet stout and masculine. They taste of meat, yet of flour. They are wet, yet they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-p-t-coffin/my-family-dumplings-are-sleek-and-seductive-yet-stout-and-masculine/)

[Robert P. T. Coffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-p-t-coffin/)

> [This rough magic I here abjure and when I have required some heavenly music, which even now I do, to work mine end upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/this-rough-magic-i-here-abjure-and-when-i-have-required-some-heavenly/)

[William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/)

> [When you drop your unnecessary things, you finally can swoop and fly in vast space. It is so blue, so bright, and so nice,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chogyam-trungpa/when-you-drop-your-unnecessary-things-you-finally-can-swoop-and-fly/)

[Chogyam Trungpa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chogyam-trungpa/)

> [Imagination helps you to recognize the reality of facts, but then to go beyond them, to penetrate beneath them, to rise above them in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilferd-peterson/imagination-helps-you-to-recognize-the-reality-of-facts-but-then-to/)

[Wilferd Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilferd-peterson/)

## More by Thomas Bailey Aldrich

> [No bird has ever uttered note That was not in some first bird's throat; Since Eden's freshness and man's fall No rose has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/no-bird-has-ever-uttered-note-that-was-not-in-some-first-bird-s/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [There is no man at once so unselfish and selfish as a man in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/there-is-no-man-at-once-so-unselfish-and-selfish-as-a-man-in-love/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [I have frequently noticed how circumstances conspire to help a man, or a boy, when he has thoroughly resolved on doing a thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/i-have-frequently-noticed-how-circumstances-conspire-to-help-a-man-or/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [Everywhere on the Continent, the tourist is looked upon as a bird to be plucked, and presently the bird himself feebly comes to regard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/everywhere-on-the-continent-the-tourist-is-looked-upon-as-a-bird-to/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [Imagine all human beings swept off the face of the earth, excepting one man. Imagine this man in some vast city, New York or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/imagine-all-human-beings-swept-off-the-face-of-the-earth-excepting/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [The possession of gold has ruined fewer men than the lack of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/the-possession-of-gold-has-ruined-fewer-men-than-the-lack-of-it/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [“..Fell over the prostrate steersman, and there we all lay in a heep, two or three of us quite picturesque with the nosebleed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/fell-over-the-prostrate-steersman-and-there-we-all-lay-in-a-heep-two/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [A man should have duties outside of himself; without them, he is a mere balloon, inflated with thin egotism and drifting nowhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/a-man-should-have-duties-outside-of-himself-without-them-he-is-a-mere/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [Great thoughts in crude, unshapely verse set forth lose half their preciousness, and ever must, unless the diamond with its own rich dust be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/great-thoughts-in-crude-unshapely-verse-set-forth-lose-half-their/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [So I sit there kicked my heels, thinking about New Orleans, and watching a morbid blue-bottle fly attempt to commit suicide by butting his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/so-i-sit-there-kicked-my-heels-thinking-about-new-orleans-and/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [What is more cheerful, now, in the fall of the year, than an open-wood-fire? Do you hear those little chirps and twitters coming out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/what-is-more-cheerful-now-in-the-fall-of-the-year-than-an-open-wood/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [Decoration Day is the most beautiful of our national holidays… The grim cannon have turned into palm branches, and the shell and shrapnel into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/decoration-day-is-the-most-beautiful-of-our-national-holidays-the/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [Famous old houses seem to have an intuitive perception of the value of corner lots. If it is a possible thing, they always set…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/famous-old-houses-seem-to-have-an-intuitive-perception-of-the-value/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [Every man has within himself a gold mine whose riches are limited only by his own industry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/every-man-has-within-himself-a-gold-mine-whose-riches-are-limited/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

> [The fate of the worm refutes the pretended ethical teaching of the proverb, which assumes to illustrate the advantage of early rising and does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/the-fate-of-the-worm-refutes-the-pretended-ethical-teaching-of-the/)

[Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

[Explore all 116 Thomas Bailey Aldrich quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/)

## More Airy quotes

> [Imagination helps you to recognize the reality of facts, but then to go beyond them, to penetrate beneath them, to rise above them in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilferd-peterson/imagination-helps-you-to-recognize-the-reality-of-facts-but-then-to/)

[Wilferd Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilferd-peterson/)

> [When you drop your unnecessary things, you finally can swoop and fly in vast space. It is so blue, so bright, and so nice,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chogyam-trungpa/when-you-drop-your-unnecessary-things-you-finally-can-swoop-and-fly/)

[Chogyam Trungpa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chogyam-trungpa/)

> [This rough magic I here abjure and when I have required some heavenly music, which even now I do, to work mine end upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/this-rough-magic-i-here-abjure-and-when-i-have-required-some-heavenly/)

[William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/)

> [My family dumplings are sleek and seductive, yet stout and masculine. They taste of meat, yet of flour. They are wet, yet they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-p-t-coffin/my-family-dumplings-are-sleek-and-seductive-yet-stout-and-masculine/)

[Robert P. T. Coffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-p-t-coffin/)

> [When I feel the joy of receiving a gift my heart nudges me to join creation's ballet, the airy dance of giving and receiving,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/when-i-feel-the-joy-of-receiving-a-gift-my-heart-nudges-me-to-join/)

[Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/)

> [“ Autumn Days Yellow, mellow, ripened days, Sheltered in a golden coating; O'er the dreamy, listless haze, White and dainty cloudlets floating; Winking at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-carleton/autumn-days-yellow-mellow-ripened-days-sheltered-in-a-golden-coating/)

[Will Carleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-carleton/)

> [But housekeeping is fun. It is one job where you enjoy the results right along as you work. You may work all day washing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gladys-taber/but-housekeeping-is-fun-it-is-one-job-where-you-enjoy-the-results/)

[Gladys Taber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gladys-taber/)

> [Mutability is the badge of infirmity. It is seldom that a man continues to wish and design the same thing two days alike. Now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-charron/mutability-is-the-badge-of-infirmity-it-is-seldom-that-a-man/)

[Pierre Charron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-charron/)

> [How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/how-do-you-know-but-ev-ry-bird-that-cuts-the-airy-way-is-an-immense/)

[William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/)

> [God washes the eyes by tears until they can behold the invisible land where tears shall come no more. O love! O affliction! ye…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/god-washes-the-eyes-by-tears-until-they-can-behold-the-invisible-land/)

[Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/)

> [Where are Shakespeare's imagination, Bacon's learning, Galileo's dream? Where is the sweet fancy of Sidney, the airy spirit of Fletcher, and Milton's thought severe?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-procter/where-are-shakespeare-s-imagination-bacon-s-learning-galileo-s-dream/)

[Bryan Procter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-procter/)

> [My home kitchen is airy, with a gas stove, a stainless-steel island table in the center and granite countertops. It's very modest but there's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grant-achatz/my-home-kitchen-is-airy-with-a-gas-stove-a-stainless-steel-island/)

[Grant Achatz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grant-achatz/)

> [At all costs the true world of childhood must prevail, must be restored; that world whose momentous, heroic, mysterious quality is fed on airy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/at-all-costs-the-true-world-of-childhood-must-prevail-must-be/)

[Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/)

> [Society became my glittering bride, And airy hopes my children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-wordsworth/society-became-my-glittering-bride-and-airy-hopes-my-children/)

[William Wordsworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-wordsworth/)

> [We sit in calm, airy, silent rooms opening upon sunlit and embowered lawns, not a sound except of summer and of husbandry disturbs the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/we-sit-in-calm-airy-silent-rooms-opening-upon-sunlit-and-embowered/)

[Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/)

[Browse all 117 Airy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/airy/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Sorrow itself is not so hard to bear As the thought of sorrow coming. Airy ghosts, That work no harm, do terrify us more Than men in steel with bloody purposes. Death is not dreadful; 'tis the dread of death— We die whene'er we think of it!",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Thomas Bailey Aldrich"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as-the-thought-of-sorrow-coming/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Airy"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as-the-thought-of-sorrow-coming/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/thomas-bailey-aldrich-4098_airy_sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as_270014.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/thomas-bailey-aldrich-4098_airy_sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as_270014.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/thomas-bailey-aldrich-4098_airy_sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as_270014.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Sorrow itself is not so hard to bear As the thought of sorrow coming. Airy ghosts, That work no harm, do…” — Thomas Bailey Aldrich",
                "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": "Thomas Bailey Aldrich",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Sorrow itself is not so hard...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as-the-thought-of-sorrow-coming/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as-the-thought-of-sorrow-coming/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```