Community Quote by William Dean Howells

I believe that man to be wretched whom none can please.

— Martial

He is the most wretched of men who has never felt adversity.

— William Shakespeare

The recognition of human wretchedness is difficult for whoever is rich and powerful because he is almost invincibly led to believe that he is…

— Simone Weil

We live in a world which is full of misery and ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to…

— Anonymous

For there is no one so great or mighty that he can avoid the misery that will rise up against him when he resists…

— John Calvin

Wretched men cringe before tyrants who have no power, the victims of their trivial hopes and fears. They do not realise that anger is…

— Boethius

Wretched are those who are vindictive and spiteful.

— Pope Francis

O wretched man, wretched not just because of what you are, but also because you do not know how wretched you are!

— Marcus Tullius Cicero

However wretched a fellow-mortal may be, he is still a member of our common species.

— Seneca the Younger

He who thinks all mankind is vile is a pessimist who mistakes his introspection for observation; he looks into his own heart and thinks…

— William George Jordan

“By seeing the multitude of people around it, by being busied with all sorts of worldly affairs, by being wise to the ways of…

— Kierkegaard

I have known sorrow and learned to aid the wretched.

— Virgil