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Is there such a thing as a blog repeat? i have lived by this quote for over 5 years and it really is the maxim which i live by. so i think it’s a decent repeat.

“How often we hear people say that suffering can purify one’s soul, ennoble one’s heart, and strengthen one’s moral fiber…. Indeed, some great men and women are fortified and redeemed through their suffering, and they even seek sadness instead of happiness, just as van Gogh asserted, “Sorrow is better than joy,” and Balzac declared, “Suffering is one’s teacher.” But these dicta are suitable only for extroadinary souls, the select few. For ordinary people like us, too much suffering can only make us meaner, crazier, pettier, and more wretched. (and) in Yunnan Tan’s case, it was a little hope, happiness, and human warmth that made the seed of goodness sprout.”

Ha Jin, from the book the Crazed