39. PITY

There are two kinds of pity. i) The weak and sentimental kind, which is really no more than the hearts' impatience to be rid, as quickly as possible, of the painful emotion aroused by the sight of another's unhappiness. That which is not compassion but only an instinctive desire to fortify one's own soul against the suffering of another. ii) The other, the only kind that counts, the unsentimental but creative kind, which knows what it is about and is determined to hold out, in patience and forbearance, to the very limit of its strength and even beyond.