Know how sublime a thing it is to suffer and be strong.

This line is attributed to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and is commonly cited as a concise expression of his recurring moral theme: dignified endurance in the face of grief. Longfellow’s life was marked by profound personal losses, including the death of his first wife, Mary Storer Potter, in 1835, and the accidental death of his second wife, Frances “Fanny” Appleton Longfellow, in 1861—events that shaped the somber, consolatory strain in much of his later writing. The quotation circulates widely in anthologies and inspirational collections, often presented as a standalone maxim rather than with its original literary surroundings.

The sentence treats suffering not as mere misfortune but as a proving ground for character. “Sublime” suggests something elevated and awe-inspiring: the capacity to endure pain without moral collapse can be a kind of greatness. The imperative “Know” turns the line into counsel, urging the reader to recognize that strength is not the absence of suffering but the disciplined response to it. In Longfellow’s typical ethical register, endurance becomes a form of quiet heroism—an inward victory that confers dignity. The quote’s lasting appeal lies in its compression of a stoic ideal into a single, memorable aphorism.