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.

More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us. George Eliot
Pity sidesteps complexity in favor of narratives that we're comfortable with, reducing the nuances of a person's experience to a sound bite. Phil Klay
The fool within himself is the object of pity, until he is flattered. Sir Richard Steele
If a man is tongue-tied, don't laugh at him, but, rather, feel pity for him, as you would for a man with broken legs. Abraham Cahan
Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent. Terry Goodkind
Pity is a benign form of abuse. Michael J. Fox
Cruel people offer pity when they no longer feel threatened. However, kind people offer compassion and understanding regardless. Shannon L. Alder
That is the challenge Companion. To take what has happened to you and learn from it. Nothing is quite so destructive as pity, especially self-pity. No event in life is so terrible that one cannot rise above it. Robin Hobb
We are a society that treats people with disabilities with condescension and pity, not dignity and respect. Stella Young
If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men. Francis of Assisi
We pity in others only the those evils which we ourselves have experienced. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future. Nelson Mandela
A mixture of admiration and pity is one of the surest recipes for affection. Arthur Helps
Pity those who don't feel anything at all. Sarah J. Maas
And pity--people who inspire it in you are actually very powerful people. To get someone else to take care of you, to feel sorry for you--that takes a lot of strength, smarts, manipulation. Very powerful people. Deb Caletti
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. Bertrand Russell
Reform is born of need, not pity. Rebecca Harding Davis
Compassion doesn't, of course, mean feeling sorry for people, or pity, which is how the word has become emasculated in a way. Karen Armstrong
Pity and friendship are two passions incompatible with each other. Oliver Goldsmith