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Yet, let it not be thought that I would exclude pity from the human mind. There are scarcely any that are not, to some degree, possessed of this pleasing softness; but it is at best but a short-lived passion, and seldom affords distress more than transitory assistance; with some it scarce lasts from the first impulse till the hand can be put into the pocket…

— Oliver Goldsmith

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Sympathy

More quotes by Oliver Goldsmith

Man wants but little here below,
Nor wants that little long.

The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)

Certainly, in two opposite opinions, if one be perfectly reasonable, the other can't be perfectly right.

The Good-Natur'd Man (1768)

This same philosophy is a good horse in the stable, but an arrant jade on a journey.

The Good-Natur'd Man (1768)

Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse.

The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)

The nakedness of the indigent world may be clothed from the trimmings of the vain.

The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)

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A pity beyond all telling
Is hid in the heart of love.

William Butler Yeats The Pity Of Love in The Rose (1893)

O, brother man! fold to thy heart thy brother;
where pity dwells, the peace of God is there.

John Greenleaf Whittier

The craving for sympathy is the common boundary-line between joy and sorrow.

Julius Hare Guesses at Truth (1827)

Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle.

Ian Maclaren

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Oliver Goldsmith (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.