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About this quote

What does it mean?
Suffering is subjective and claims of unique misery are trivial.
In plain terms
People think their misery is unique but it is not.
What can you take from it?
Misery is common and claiming uniqueness is vain.

Where it applies

  • personal struggle
  • group suffering
  • empathy

Putting it to work

  • cultivate empathy
  • avoid complaining
  • share burden

Questions to consider

  • Is pain comparable?
  • Does suffering matter?

Another view

It minimizes individual pain by comparing it.

More from Samuel Beckett

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  2. Nell: Nothing is funnier than unhappiness. Nagg: Oh? Nell: Yes, yes, it's the most comical thing in the world. And we laugh, we laugh, with a will, in the begi…

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  3. Hamm: Look at the ocean! (Clov gets down, takes a few steps towards window left, goes back for ladder, carries it over and sets it down under window left, gets…

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