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There are many different rivers that lead into despair: there's poverty; there's political repression; there's gender apartheid - there's a sense of culture loss; there's religious fanaticism.

I believe we are all connected to other people. I am connected to people who are suffering. We all are.

Suffering is a kind of ecstasy in a way. Having pain all the time makes me terribly, terribly grateful for every moment I've got.

You can't be unhappy in the middle of a big, beautiful river.

To connect with the great river we all need a path, but when you get down there there's only one river.

When you are suffering, you become more understanding about yourself, but also about other people's sufferings too. That's the first step to understand somebody is to understand their sufferings. So then love follows.

I think we have a creative impulse where suffering can magnify our work, but so can joy. You can be in love and write the greatest love song ever. Sometimes I think too much suffering makes it difficult to do one's work.

When you have adversity and you have pain, you never feel more alone than you do at that moment. And you can be surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people.

The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.

Painful emotions show you what prevents you from creating harmony, cooperation, sharing and reverence for life.