Noble also means courageous. Calling suffering a noble thing does not at all suggest that it is something to be avoided or escaped from. The Buddha is saying that to be a human being who necessarily suffers is a dignified thing to be. What he is overthrowing is the idea that the spiritual quest consists of a flight from suffering. On the contrary, it is the flight which is undignified and shameful.
— David Brazier, The Feeling Buddha