Meagre were his looks,
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones;
And in his needy shop read more

Meagre were his looks,
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones;
And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuffed, and other skins
Of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves
A beggarly account of boxes,
Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds,
Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses
Were thinly scattered, to make up a show.

The white man's happiness cannot be purchased by the black man's misery

The white man's happiness cannot be purchased by the black man's misery

All of which misery I saw, part of which I was.
[Lat., Quaeque ipse misserrima vidi, et quorum pars read more

All of which misery I saw, part of which I was.
[Lat., Quaeque ipse misserrima vidi, et quorum pars magna fui.]

Money can't buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.

Money can't buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.

Fire tries gold, misery tries brave men.
[Lat., Ignis aurum probat, misera fortes viros.]

Fire tries gold, misery tries brave men.
[Lat., Ignis aurum probat, misera fortes viros.]

Grim-visaged, comfortless despair.

Grim-visaged, comfortless despair.

Friends love misery, in fact. Sometimes, especially if we are too lucky or too successful or too pretty, our misery read more

Friends love misery, in fact. Sometimes, especially if we are too lucky or too successful or too pretty, our misery is the only thing that endears us to our friends.

Any genuine philosophy leads to action and from action back again to wonder, to the enduring fact of mystery.

Any genuine philosophy leads to action and from action back again to wonder, to the enduring fact of mystery.

Maybe men are separated from each other only by the degree of their misery.

Maybe men are separated from each other only by the degree of their misery.