Hard Heartedness Quotes

“The fist clenched round my heart
loosens a little, and I gasp
brightness; but it tightens
again. When have I ever not loved
the pain of love? But this has moved

past love to mania. This has the strong
clench of the madman, this is
gripping the ledge of unreason, before
plunging howling into the abyss.

Hold hard then, heart. This way at least you live.”
― Derek Walcott, Collected Poems, 1948-1984

“Yes, Chevalier, you are young, your speeches illustrate it; you are wanting in experience; the day will come, and I await it, when you will be seasoned; then, my dear, you will no longer speak so well of mankind, for you will have made its acquaintance. ‘Twas men's ingratitude dried out my heart, their perfidy which destroyed in me those baleful virtues for which, perhaps, like you, I was also born.”
― Marquis de Sade, Philosophy in the Boudoir

“...the hardest conversion to go through is the conversion of the one that stayed home.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son Anniversary Edition: A Special Two-in-One Volume, including Home Tonight