quotations about despair
There's only one great evil in the world today. Despair.
EVELYN WAUGH
Vile Bodies
Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle.
VLADIMIR LENIN
"L. N. Tolstoy and the Modern Labour Movement", Nash Put, November 28, 1910
Despair is the destruction of all hope, the deathless sting, that refines the torment of the finally impenitent and lost. It is that undying worm, that unquenchable fire, so graphically described in Holy Writ. Reader, if you desire an insurance against the iron grasp of despair, you can obtain it without money and without price, by applying to the immaculate Redeemer. He stands, with open arms, to receive, and keep in safety, all who believe in His name and put their trust in Him, for time and eternity. Then you may hope on and hope ever. Then you will have a sheet anchor to your soul, that will enable you to outride the storms of time, and at last, be moored in the haven of eternal rest.
LEVI CARROLL JUDSON
The Probe
Despair was so familiar to me; it could be banished by the sight of a beautiful mannikin in the window. It could be dispelled by the spectacle of lights surrounding a tower. It could be lifted by the great ghostly shape of St. Patrick's coming into view. And then despair would come again.
ANNE RICE
Memnoch the Devil
He that despairs, limits an infinite power to a finite apprehension, and measures Providence by his own little, contracted model.
ROBERT SOUTH
Twelve Sermons
Despair ... is like froward children, who, when you take away one of their playthings, throw the rest into the fire for madness; it grows angry with itself, turns its own executioner, and revenges its misfortunes on its own head.
PIERRE CHARRON
Of Wisdom
Despair demands man's entire strength, all the seriousness and concentration of his soul. Despair can become the unhappy man's god and a guide in the discovery of his own nature. Despair is as intense as labor pains. The despairing person is about to give birth to himself and become conscious of his own value. The moment of despair can be of greater consequence than anything on heaven or earth, for man binds himself to an eternal power and perceives himself from then on as a creature whose memory can never be erased by time.
SAMUEL HUGO BERGMAN
Dialogical Philosophy from Kierkegaard to Buber
There is something sustaining in the very agitation that accompanies the first shocks of trouble, just as an acute pain is often a stimulus, and produces an excitement which is transient strength. It is in the slow, changed life that follows--in the time when sorrow has become stale, and has no longer an emotive intensity that counteracts its pain--in the time when day follows day in dull unexpectant sameness, and trial is a dreary routine--it is then that despair threatens; it is then that the peremptory hunger of the soul is felt, and eye and ear are strained after some unlearned secret of our existence, which shall give to endurance the nature of satisfaction.
GEORGE ELIOT
The Mill on the Floss
He who despaireth of the end, shall never attain unto it; and he who seeth not the pit, shall perish therein.
ROBERT DODSLEY
The Economy of Human Life
Despair puts the last touch not only to our misery but also to our weakness.
LUC DE CLAPIERS, MARQUIS DE VAUVENARGUES
Reflections and Maxims
Sometimes I'm almost there
Sometimes I fly like an eagle and
Sometimes I'm deep in despair
JOHN DENVER
"Looking for Space"
Despair is the ashes of hope, which the wind of tribulation scatters.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
attributed, Day's Collacon
Goals incapable of attainment have driven many a man to despair, but despair is easier to get to than that -- one need merely look out of the window, for example.
DONALD BARTHELME
"And Then"
The wise maketh every thing the means of advantage; and with the same countenance beholdeth he all the faces of fortune: he governeth the good, he conquereth the evil; he is unmov'd in all. Presume not in prosperity, neither despair thou in adversity.
ROBERT DODSLEY
The Economy of Human Life
The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.
MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY
The Fall of Atlantis
You don't know what despair is like. Despair that must keep quiet, and go on smiling, and go on being thankful ... despair that can never cry its rage nor drink its own oblivion.
MALCOLM MACDONALD
Goldeneye
The pain and the sorrow that you felt
Will be washed away
Like remnants of doubt and despair
From yesterday
MORCHEEBA
"Washed Away", Dive Deep
When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
A Testament of Hope
The tragedy still haunts her
The pain she cannot bear
She wants to smile
She wants to live
Free from a life of despair
ICED EARTH
"Anguish of Youth"
It is almost as if happiness is an acquired taste, like coconut cordial or ceviche, to which you can eventually become accustomed, but despair is something surprising each time you encounter it.
LEMONY SNICKET
The End