Literary notes about consolation (AI summary)
In literature, "consolation" is often portrayed as both a spiritual and emotional salve that alleviates suffering and uplifts the human spirit. It may appear as divine reassurance—an invitation to trust in a higher power and find strength in faith [1, 2, 3]—or as a more human gesture, a simple yet potent act of empathy that lightens the burden of grief or despair [4, 5, 6]. At times, authors cast it as an ephemeral or insufficient comfort, hinting at a subtle tension between hope and the persistence of sorrow [7, 8, 9]. Meanwhile, other narratives find consolation in the promise of future renewal, positioning it as a vital resource amid life’s hardships [10, 11, 12]. In its various incarnations, consolation becomes a key motif, bridging the gap between despair and optimism and revealing the intricate interplay between external support and inner resilience.
- I yet live, saith the Lord, ready to help thee, and to give thee more than wonted consolation if thou put thy trust in Me, and call devoutly upon Me.
— from The Imitation of Christ by à Kempis Thomas - Blessed is the soul which heareth the Lord speaking within it, and receiveth the word of consolation from His mouth.
— from The Imitation of Christ by à Kempis Thomas - It is profitable for me that confusion hath covered my face, that I may seek to Thee for consolation rather than unto men.
— from The Imitation of Christ by à Kempis Thomas - Mr. Power showed Christie many such, and silently provided her with better consolation than pity or advice.
— from Work: A Story of Experience by Louisa May Alcott - It is a natural impulse, in every one, when they hear a tale of distress, to think of something to say by way of consolation.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - You have at least the consolation of knowing that you were always the most generous and forgiving of brothers.
— from The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde - All attempts at consolation were useless; she obstinately refused to listen to probabilities, or to be comforted.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie - and, consequently, if it frights us, ‘tis a perpetual torment, for which there is no sort of consolation.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne - Such topics of consolation so obvious, so vague, or so abstruse, are ineffectual to subdue the feelings of human nature.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - This expectation will now be the consolation of your father.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - It was a great consolation to Ilusha in his suffering.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - To know how just a cause we have for grieving is already a consolation, for it is already a shift from feeling to understanding.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
