Honest error is to be pitied, not ridiculed. - Lord Chesterfield
It is better to be envied than pitied. - Herodotus
Who hateth me but for my happiness? Or who is honour'd now but for his wealth? Rather had I, a Jew, be hated thus, Than pitied in a Christian poverty; For I can see no fruits in all their faith, But malice, falsehood, and excessive pride, Which methinks fits not their profession. - Christopher Marlowe
Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say? - Kurt Vonnegut
Those who do not complain are never pitied. - Jane Austen
We desire to keep the dying and the newly dead close before our eyes so as to give them full need of pity. Our Lord was brought down to be pitied, on the Cross He was too far away. - Barry Unsworth