The earth is mankinds ultimate haven, our blessed terra firma. When it trembles and gives way beneath our feet, its as though one of Gods checks has bounced. – Gilbert Adair
Tragedy is a representation of action that is worthy of serious attention, complete in itself and of some magnitude – bringing about by means of pity and fear the purging of such emotions. – Aristotle
The true end of tragedy is to purify the passions. – Aristotle
Tragedy on the stage is no longer enough for me, I shall bring it into my own life. – Antonin Artaud
Only a great mind that is overthrown yields tragedy. – Jacques Barzun
What would be left of our tragedies if an insect were to present us his? – E. M. Cioran
What quarrel, what harshness, what unbelief in each other can subsist in the presence of a great calamity, when all the artificial vesture of our life is gone, and we are all one with each other in primitive mortal needs? – George Eliot
The bosses of our mass media, press, radio, film and television, succeed in their aim of taking our minds off disaster. Thus, the distraction they offer demands the antidote of maximum concentration on disaster. – Ernst Fischer
Mans extremity is Gods opportunity. – John Flavel
Down went the owners — greedy men whom hope of gain allured: oh, dry the starting tear, for they were heavily insured. – W. S. Gilbert
Perhaps catastrophe is the natural human environment, and even though we spend a good deal of energy trying to get away from it, we are programmed for survival amid catastrophe. – Germaine Greer
A great calamity is as old as the trilobites an hour after it has happened. – Oliver Wendell Holmes
What the American public wants in the theater is a tragedy with a happy ending. – William Dean Howells
We participate in tragedy. At comedy we only look. – Aldous Huxley
Ive come to realize that life is not a musical comedy, its a Greek tragedy. – Billy Joel
When any calamity has been suffered, the first thing to be remembered is how much has been escaped. – Samuel Johnson
