"Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering"
About this Quote
The syntax does quiet work. The repetition of “painful” establishes a rhythm like a pulse, then the sentence pivots to “not knowing,” a phrase that makes suffering feel cognitive, not romantic. Coelho’s novels are built for readers in transition - leaving someone, chasing a calling, hovering between faith and skepticism - and this line is basically a manifesto for that audience. It blesses the messy, humiliating limbo most self-help language tries to “solve.”
There’s subtext, too: uncertainty isn’t neutral. It drains time, dignity, and agency. You’re not just stuck; you’re split, forced to rehearse two lives at once. Calling it the “worse kind of suffering” (grammatical slip and all) even reinforces the point: indecision doesn’t speak elegantly. It stammers. It exhausts. And it keeps you from the only thing that reliably reduces pain in Coelho’s universe: choosing a direction, then paying the price.
Quote Details
| Topic | Heartbreak |
|---|---|
| Source | By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept , Paulo Coelho (novel). English translations commonly cite: "Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering." |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Coelho, Paulo. (n.d.). Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/waiting-is-painful-forgetting-is-painful-but-not-1212/
Chicago Style
Coelho, Paulo. "Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering." FixQuotes. Accessed February 1, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/waiting-is-painful-forgetting-is-painful-but-not-1212/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/waiting-is-painful-forgetting-is-painful-but-not-1212/. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.









