By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
— Confucius
Terrific Bitterest quotations
Someday, somewhere - anywhere, unfailingly, you'll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life.
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.
A common danger unites even the bitterest enemies.
Without bitterest cold that penetrates to the very bone, how can plum blossoms send forth their fragrance all over the world?
One of the bitterest ironies of life is that one truly appreciates a blessing only after having been deprived of it or imagining that.
Peace does not dwell in outward things but within the soul;
we may preserve it in the midst of the bitterest pain, if our will remains firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs from acquiescence to, not an exemption from, suffering.
Never cease loving a person, and never give up hope for him, for even the prodigal son who had fallen most low, could still be saved; the bitterest enemy and also he who was your friend could again be your friend; love that has grown cold can kindle.
The bitterest creature under heaven is the wife who discovers that her husband's bravery is only bravado, that his strength is only a uniform, that his power is but a gun in the hands of a fool.
I asked God "Why, why, why?" I turned my face away and wished that I were imagining it all. I had tasted the bitterest essence of war, the sight of helpless comrades being slaughtered, and it filled me with disgust.
The complete irresponsibility of man for his actions and his nature is the bitterest drop which he who understands must swallow.
To dare to live alone is the rarest courage;
since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest enemy in the field, than their own hearts in their closet.
There is no burden of the spirit but is lightened by kneeling under it.
Little by little, the bitterest feelings are sweetened by the mention of them in prayer. And agony itself stops swelling, if we can only cry sincerely, "My God, my God!"
An injured friend is the bitterest of foes.
An ingenuous mind feels in unmerited praise the bitterest reproof.
If you reject it you are unhappy, if you accept it you are undone.
Women always find their bitterest foes among their own sex.
Cheat me not with time, with the dull ache of flesh, for all flesh turns, even the loveliest ankle and frail thigh, to bitterest dust.
Of earth's goods, the best is a good wife; a bad, the bitterest curse of human life.
The bitterest satires and noblest eulogies on married life have come from poets.
That is the bitterest of all,--to wear the yoke of our own wrong-doing.
The bitterest truth is better than the sweetest lie.
An ingenuous mind feels in unmerited praise the bitterest reproof.
Perhaps it would have been possible to see in him a new Prometheus.
..the hero who for the good of mankind exposes himself to the agonies of the damned...undaunted by failure, by an unceasing effort of courage holding despair at bay, doggedly persistent in the face of self-doubt, which is the artist's bitterest enemy.
Nothing can be more touching than to behold a soft and tender female, who had been all weakness and dependence, and alive to every trivial roughness while treading the prosperous paths of life, suddenly rising in mental force to be the comforter and supporter of her husband under misfortune, and abiding with unshrinking firmness the bitterest blast of adversity.
There are three methods to gaining wisdom.
The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest.
Of all men's miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing.
But Robin: their dear little Robs. More than ten years later, his death remained an agony; there was no glossing any detail; its horror was not subject to repair or permutation by any of the narrative devices that the Cleves knew. And—since this willful amnesia had kept Robin's death from being translated into that sweet old family vernacular which smoothed even the bitterest mysteries into comfortable, comprehensible form—the memory of that day's events had a chaotic, fragmented quality, bright mirrorshards of nightmare which flared at the smell of wisteria, the creaking of a clothes-line, a certain stormy cast of spring light.
In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all;
and to the young, it comes with bitterest agony because it takes them unawares. I have had experience enough to know what I say.
What you'll always get from me is a variety of emotions.
Whenever you listen to my CD, whether you're the hardest dude or the bitterest cat, I'll give you a real story to think about.
Obligation is the bitterest thraldom.
Death is the only monastery; the tomb is the only cell, and the grave that adjoins the convent is the bitterest mock of its futility.
When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the "big canoe" of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.
O God, protect me from my friends, that they have not power over me.
Thou hast giv'n me power to protect myself from thy bitterest enemies.
But neither Europe nor Africa can show any such desolation as America.
The proudest, stubbornest, bitterest peasant of deserted Spain, the most primitive and superstitious Arab of the remotest oases, are a little more than kin and never less than kind at their worst; whereas in the United States one is almost always conscious of an instinctive lack of sympathy and understanding with even the most charming and cultured people.
God has laid upon us many severe trials in this world, but He has created labour for us, and all is compensated. Thanks to labour, the bitterest tears are dried; a serious consoler, it always promises less than it bestows; a pleasure unparalleled, it is still the salt of other pleasures. Everything abandons you -- gaiety, wit, love -- labour alone is always present.