None are completely wretched but those who are without hope and few are reduced so low as that.

Surrender . . .sacrificing my life or suffering in order to change what needs to be changed

Suffering confers no privileges; it is what one does with suffering that matters.

The moment an ill can be patiently handled, it is disarmed of its poison, though not of its pain.

There is one day that has brought me unspeakable pain, & the effects of that day continue to cover & erode my world like rust. I suspect that someday the rust will eat through the joists & posts of my life & I will topple, literally as well as figuratively.

The thing is, the only real sign of life is growth. And growth requires pain. So to choose life is to accept pain. Some people go to such lengths to avoid pain that they give up on life. They bury their hearts, or they drug or drink themselves numb until they don't' feel anything anymore. The irony is, in the end their escape becomes more painful than what they're avoiding.

Nearly a million people take their lives each year. It's not about survival; it's about finding meaning in living. Even in our suffering

Sometimes life is just awful, and that's the way it is. It doesn't have to reflect so much on God, as just be noted as this is what man is willing to do to his fellow man. It doesn't mean God is like this too.

For it is not death or pain that is to be feared, but the fear of pain or death.

Pain too is just a scary mask: look under it and you will see. The body sometimes suffers, but relief is never far behind.

Suffering is traumatic and awful and we get angry and we shake our fists at the heavens and we vent and rage and weep. But in the process we discover a new tomorrow, one we never would have imagined otherwise.

Suffering degrades, embitters and enrages.