I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.

Taxes are paid in the sweat of every man who labors

They are committing the greatest indignity human beings can inflict on one another: telling people who have suffered excruciating pain and loss that their pain and loss were illusions. 

There’s a pain in my chest I cannot explain I told myself I wasn’t gon’ cry Then somebody’s gotta come dry these eyes

Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death.

One painful duty fulfilled makes the next plainer and easier.