The tale of the Divine Pity was never yet believed from lips that were not felt to be moved by human pity.

But human experience is usually paradoxical, that means incongruous with the phrases of current talk or even current philosophy.

There are characters which are continually creating collisions and nodes for themselves in dramas which nobody is prepared to act with them. Their susceptibilities will clash against objects that remain innocently quiet.

Consequences are unpitying. Our deeds carry their terrible consequences, quite apart from any fluctuations that went before—consequences that are hardly ever confined to ourselves. And it is best to fix our minds on that certainty, instead of considering what may be the elements of excuse for us.

You know I have duties──we both have duties──before which feeling must be sacrificed.

More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us.

It is as useless to fight against the interpretations of ignorance as to whip the fog.