What does the truth matter? Haven't we mothers all given our sons a taste for lies, lies which from the cradle upwards lull them, reassure them, send them to sleep: lies as soft and warm as a breast!
Georges BernanosRead
I know the compassion of others is a relief at first. I don't despise it. But it can't quench pain, it slips through your soul as through a sieve. And when our suffering has been dragged from one pity to another, as from one mouth to another, we can no longer respect or love it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Compassion can initially ease suffering, but it may not provide lasting relief.
Georges Bernanos reflects on the nature of compassion and suffering, suggesting that while the support and compassion of others may bring temporary relief, it ultimately fails to address the depth of one's pain. As individuals move from receiving pity and support to feeling burdened by it, their ability to appreciate or love that compassion diminishes. This highlights the complexity of suffering and the limitations of external sympathy.
Themes
CompassionPainSufferingEmpathyRespect
In practice
Example use cases
During a therapy session, one might refer to this quote to discuss the limits of empathy in healing.
More from Georges Bernanos
All quotes →Fear, true fear, is a savage frenzy. Of all the insanities of which we are capable, it is surely the cruelest. There is naught to equal its drive, and naught can survive its thrust.
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It's a fine thing to rise above pride, but you must have pride in order to do so.
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Hell, madame, is to love no longer.
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God! how is it that we fail to recognize that the mask of pleasure, stripped of all hypocrisy, is that of anguish?
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Have you never been moved by poor men's fidelity, the image of you they form in their simple minds? Why should you always talk of their envy, without understanding that what they ask of you is not so much your worldly goods, as something very hard to define, which they themselves can put no name to; yet at times it consoles their loneliness; a dream of splendor, of magnificence, a tawdry dream, a poor man's dream -and yet God blesses it!
Georges BernanosRead
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