“Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?”

“Who can depart from his pain, and his aloneness without regret??”

“Do not the spirits who dwell in the ether envy man his pain?”

“Many of us spend our whole lives running from feeling with the mistaken belief that you can not bear the pain. But you have already borne the pain. What you have not done is feel all you are beyond that pain.”

“You often say,'I would give, but only to the deserving.'The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. ”

“And a woman spoke, saying, "Tell us of Pain." And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief. Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity: For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen, And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.”

“And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.”