I never knew whether to pity or congratulate a man on coming to his senses. – William Makepeace Thackeray

Fate stalks us with depressing monotony from womb to tomb, and, when we are least expecting it, deals us a series of crushing blows from behind. – Hesketh Pearson, The Whispering Gallery

God made everything out of nothing. But the nothingness shows through. РPaul Val̩ry, Mauvaises pens̩es et autres, 1942

[M]an is a machine made expressly for sorrow; he has only five senses with which to receive pleasure, and suffering comes to him through the whole surface of his body…. The man who does not suffer is an ill-made machine, an imperfect creature… – Claude Tillier (1801–1844), My Uncle Benjamin: A Humorous, Satirical, and