Friedrich Engels

The bourgeoisie is charitable out of self-interest; it gives nothing outright, but makes a bargain with the poor, saying: ‘If I spend this much upon benevolent institutions, I thereby purchase the right not to be troubled any further, and you are bound thereby to stay in your dusky holes and not to irritate my tender nerves by exposing your misery.’

Dante Alighieri, Inferno

There is no greater sorrow than to recall, in misery, the time that you were happy.

Joanna Field

Sometimes I find in my happiest moments I could not believe that I had ever been miserable.

Blaise Pascal

All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.