Pity is one of the noblest emotions available to human beings; self-pity is possibly the most ignoble.
Pity is the capacity to enter into the pain of another in order to do something about it; self-pity is an incapacity, a crippling emotional disease that severely distorts our perception of reality.
Pity discovers the need in others for love and healing and then fashions speech and action that brings strength; self-pity reduces the universe to a personal wound that is displayed as proof of significance.
Pity is adrenaline for acts of mercy; self-pity is a narcotic that leaves its addicts wasted and derelict
Eugene Peterson