Women have a predestination to suffering.

Bela Lugosi, the actor who once embodied shadows on the stage and screen, uttered with somber gravity: “Women have a predestination to suffering.” Though spoken in the language of his age, these words carry with them the weight of centuries, for they reflect how history has too often bound women to chains of sorrow. From the pains of childbirth to the burdens of inequality, from the wounds of love to the cruelties of society, suffering has long been woven into the tapestry of womanhood. Lugosi’s words are not prophecy, but recognition of a grim pattern the world itself has carved.

The essence of this saying is that destiny, as shaped by human culture and custom, has long assigned women to endure more than their share of hardship. Whether through unjust laws, the demands of family, or the violence of men, women have been asked to bear pain in silence, as though it were their lot. Lugosi, in his dark reflection, gives voice to this tragic inheritance—that society itself seemed to decree suffering as their path.

History bears many examples of this truth. Consider the life of Joan of Arc, who rose from obscurity to lead armies, only to be condemned and burned by those who feared her strength. Or the countless women of the Middle Ages who died young in childbirth, their bodies sacrificed to lineage and survival. Their stories echo Lugosi’s words: that greatness and sorrow were often inseparable in the fate of women, as though they were destined to carry both crown and cross.

Yet within this grim recognition lies a deeper strength. For though Lugosi speaks of predestination, history shows that women have transformed suffering into resilience. Their endurance has built families, preserved cultures, and birthed revolutions. Out of pain, they have created compassion; out of wounds, they have forged wisdom. If suffering was their portion, then triumph was their answer.

Let this teaching endure: if the world has laid suffering upon women, it has not crushed them, but revealed their power. Lugosi’s words, though shadowed, remind us that to honor women is to acknowledge not only their sorrows, but their ability to rise above them. The ancients teach us that destiny may bring hardship, but the soul that endures transforms fate itself. Thus, women are not merely bound to suffering—they are destined to overcome it, turning pain into legacy and endurance into eternal strength.