Pity Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old pity quotes, pity sayings, and pity proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

To love with the spirit is to pity, and he who pities most loves most. Miguel de Unamuno
Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too. William Blake
That sort of half sigh, which, accompanied by two or three slight nods of the head, is pity's small change in general society. Charles Dickens
When the severity of the law is to be softened, let pity, not bribes, be the motive. Miguel de Cervantes
Pity addresses the perceived suffering, not the whole individual. Phil Klay
Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one's soul. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Let no one underestimate the need of pity. We live in a stony universe whose hard, brilliant forces rage fiercely. Theodore Dreiser
There is little for the great part of the history of the world except the bitter tears of pity and the hot tears of wrath. Woodrow Wilson
Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds. Arundhati Roy
Care and pity are two different things. Vince Staples
A pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love. William Butler Yeats
Pity speaks to grief more sweetly than a band of instruments. Bryan Procter
Sensual excess drives out pity in man. Marquis De Sade
The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn't know how to read. Benjamin Franklin
All those who offer an opinion on any doubtful point should first clear their minds of every sentiment of dislike, friendship, anger or pity. Sallust
Only those who spread treachery, fire, and death out of hatred for the prosperity of others are undeserving of pity. Jose Marti
It's a mistake to confuse pity with love. Stanley Kubrick
Self pity is the worst possible disease that can affect mankind. And if we do just the opposite, which is love, then we have God's feelings with us at all times. Jon Huntsman, Sr.
It is easy to condemn, it is better to pity. Lyman Abbott
To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike. Horace Mann
Pity the selfishness of lovers: it is brief, a forlorn hope; it is impossible. Elizabeth Bowen
Cruelty is softened by fear, not pity. Mason Cooley
Compassion has enemies, and those enemies are things like pity, moral outrage, fear. Joan Halifax
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door. William Blake
Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Don Marquis
Pity is the deadliest feeling that can be offered to a woman. Vicki Baum
Pity those who nature abuses; never those who abuse nature. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Anger and hate against one we love steels our hearts, but contempt or pity leaves us silent and ashamed. Edgar Rice Burroughs
We need to suffer, that we may learn to pity. Letitia Elizabeth Landon
There is an electric fire in human nature tending to purify - so that among these human creatures there is continually some birth of new heroism. The pity is that we must wonder at it, as we should at finding a pearl in rubbish. John Keats