“Pity is one of the noblest emotions available to human beings; self-pity is possibly the most ignoble. Pity is the capacity to enter into the pain of another in order to do something about it; self-pity is an incapacity, a crippling emotional disease that severely distorts our perception of reality. Pity is adrenaline for acts of mercy; self-pity is a narcotic that leaves its addicts wasted and derelict.”
Eugene H. Peterson
Intentional Faith 