„As if Misfortune made the throne her seat,
And none could be unhappy but the great.“

„In every adversity of fortune, to have been happy is the most unhappy kind of misfortune.“

—  Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius philosopher of the early 6th century 480

Prose IV, line 2
The Consolation of Philosophy · De Consolatione Philosophiae, Book II
Original: (la) Nam in omni adversitate fortunae infelicissimum est genus infortunii fuisse felicem.

„None of the great discoveries was made by a "specialist" or a "researcher."“

—  Martin H. Fischer American university teacher (1879-1962) 1879 - 1962

„Thus indeed, as though seated on a royal throne, the sun governs the family of planets revolving around it.“

—  Nicolaus Copernicus, buch De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

Alternate translation: Then in the middle of all stands the sun. For who, in our most beautiful temple, could set this light in another or better place, than that from which it can at once illuminate the whole? Not to speak of the fact that not unfittingly do some call it the light of the world, others the soul, still others the governor. Tremigistus calls it the visible God; Sophocles' Electra, the All-seer. And in fact does the sun, seated on his royal throne, guide his family of planets as they circle round him.
Book 1, Ch. 10, Alternate translation as quoted in Edwin Arthur Burtt in The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science (1925)
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
Kontext: At rest, however, in the middle of everything is the sun. For, in this most beautiful temple, who would place this lamp in another or better position than that from which it can light up the whole thing at the same time? For, the sun is not inappropriately called by some people the lantern of the universe, its mind by others, and its ruler by still others. The Thrice Greatest labels it a visible god, and Sophocles' Electra, the all-seeing. Thus indeed, as though seated on a royal throne, the sun governs the family of planets revolving around it.

„And amongst us one,
Who most has suffer’d, takes dejectedly
His seat upon the intellectual throne.“

—  Matthew Arnold English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools 1822 - 1888

St. 19
The Scholar Gypsy (1853)

„The door could not be heard slamming; they had probably left it open, as is the custom in homes where a great misfortune has occurred.“

—  Franz Kafka, buch Die Verwandlung

Quelle: The Metamorphosis

„They came three thousand miles, and died,
To keep the Past upon its throne;
Unheard, beyond the ocean tide,
Their English mother made her moan.“

—  James Russell Lowell American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat 1819 - 1891

Graves of Two English Soldiers on Concord Battleground, st. 3 (1849)

„And it is said that when he took his seat for the first time under the golden canopy on the royal throne, Demaratus the Corinthian, a well-meaning man and a friend of Alexander's, as he had been of Alexander's father, burst into tears, as old men will, and declared that those Hellenes were deprived of great pleasure who had died before seeing Alexander seated on the throne of Dareius.“

—  Plutarch, buch Parallel Lives

Alexander, 37, 7 (Loeb)
Parallel Lives

„A woman had to choose her own particular unhappiness carefully. That was the only happiness in life: to choose the best unhappiness. An unwise move, good God, you could squander everything.“

—  Lorrie Moore American writer 1957

Quelle: Bark: Stories

„If it be a great misfortune to love another man's wife, be she ever so commonplace, it is an infinitely greater misfortune to love a virtuous woman.“

—  Henryk Sienkiewicz, buch Without Dogma

4 August
Without Dogma (1891)
Kontext: If it be a great misfortune to love another man's wife, be she ever so commonplace, it is an infinitely greater misfortune to love a virtuous woman. There is something in my relations to Aniela of which I never heard or read; there is no getting out of it, no end. A solution, whether it be a calamity or the fulfilment of desire, is something, but this is only an enchanted circle. If she remain immovable and I do not cease loving her, it will be an everlasting torment, and nothing else. And I have the despairing conviction that neither of us will give way.

„With eyes up-raised, as one inspired,
Pale Melancholy sate retired,
And from her wild sequestered seat,
In notes by distance made more sweet,
Poured thro' the mellow horn her pensive soul.“

—  William Collins English poet, born 1721 1721 - 1759

Quelle: The Passions, an Ode for Music (1747), Line 57. Compare: "Sweetest melodies / Are those that are by distance made more sweet", William Wordsworth, Personal Talk, stanza 2.

„In some great boarding schools for the fair sex, it is customary, upon the introduction of a novice, for the scholars to receive her with much pretended solemnity, and decorate a throne in which she is to be installed, in order to hear a set speech, addressed to her by one of the young ladies in the name of the rest. The throne is wide enough for three persons to sit conveniently, and is made with two stools, having a tub nearly filled with water between them, and the whole is covered by a counterpane or blanket, ornamented with ribands and other trifling fineries, and drawn very tightly over the two stools, upon each of which a lady is seated to keep the blanket from giving way when the new scholar takes her place; and these are called her maids of honour. The speech consists of high-flown compliments calculated to flatter the vanity of the stranger; and as soon as it is concluded, the maids of honour rising suddenly together, the counterpane of course gives way, and poor miss is unexpectedly immerged in the water.“

—  Joseph Strutt British engraver, artist, antiquary and writer 1749 - 1802

pg. 396
The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (1801), Initiation

„Great lovers will always be unhappy, because, for them, love is of supreme importance. Consequently they demand of their beloved the same intensity of thought as they have for her, otherwise they feel betrayed.“

—  Cesare Pavese Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator 1908 - 1950

This Business of Living (1935-1950)

„Her crop was a miscellany
When all was said and done,
A little bit of everything,
A great deal of none.“

—  Robert Frost American poet 1874 - 1963

"A Girl's Garden
1910s

„For always in her there was a dark place full of despair and a great dividing force to make meaning because there was none.“

—  Anne Rice American writer 1941

„She said I'd better not make her unhappy because I oughta know that she's never unhappy alone.“

—  Megan Abbott, buch Dare Me

Quelle: Dare Me

„… children of ignorance, who have at all times made the misfortunes of the human races.“

—  François-Noël Babeuf French political agitator and journalist of the French Revolutionary period 1760 - 1797

...enfans de l'ignorance qui ont fait en tous tems le malheur des races humaines.
[in Gracchus Babeuf avec les Egaux, Jean-Marc Shiappa, Les éditions ouvrières, 1991, 49, 27082 2892-7, ; Avec l'orthographe personnelle de Babeuf]
On prejudices

„Attunement could occur through any of the great religions, but would be tied exclusively to none of them.“

—  Ken Wilber American writer and public speaker 1949

An Integral Spirituality
Kontext: Attunement could occur through any of the great religions, but would be tied exclusively to none of them. A person could be attuned to an "integral spirituality" while still be a practicing Christian, Buddhist, New-Age advocate, or Neopagan. This would be something added to one's religion, not subtracted from it. The only thing it would subtract (and there's no way around this) is the belief that one's own path is the only true path to salvation.

„A crown, a throne could not be based on the not too very solid foundation of blood.“

—  Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Shah of Iran 1919 - 1980

David Frost (January 1980), The Shah Speaks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKUQUDf5IBo&feature=related (video)
Interviews

„I've always thought tests are a gift. And great tests are a great gift. To fail the test is a misfortune. But to refuse the test is to refuse the gift, and something worse, more irrevocable, than misfortune. Do you understand what I’m saying?“

—  Lois McMaster Bujold, Vorkosigan Saga

Quelle: Vorkosigan Saga, Shards of Honor (1986), Chapter 15 (p. 235)
Quelle: Shards of Honour