Quotes

Quotes about Despair


It happens as with cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out.

Michel Eyquem, seigneur de Montaigne

"By Destiny compell'd, and in Despair, the Greeks grew weary of the tedious War: And by Minerva's Aid a Fabrick rear'd, Which like steed of monstrous height appear'd." -Aeneas describing the Trojan Horse

Most fine notions begin in despair

...no battle is ever won...they are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and Victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.

William Faulkner [The Sound and the Fury]

Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.

William Faulkner

When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it, always.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.

H.G. Wells

One day I sat thinking, almost in despair; a hand fell on my shoulder and a voice said reassuringly: cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and, sure enough, things got worse.

James Hagerty

A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.

Henry David Thoreau

Miss Flora McFlimsey of Madison Square, Has made three separate journeys to Paris, And her father assures me each time she was there That she and her friend Mrs. Harris . . . Spent six consecutive weeks, without shopping In one continuous round of shopping,-- . . . And yet, though scarce three months have passed since the day This merchandise went on twelve carts, up Broadway, This same Miss McFlimsey of Madison Square The last time we met was in utter despair Becasue she had nothing whatever to wear.

William Allen Butler

They mustn't know my despair, I can't let them see the wounds which they have caused, I couldn't bear their sympathy and their kind-hearted jokes, it would only make me want to scream all the more. If I talk, everyone thinks I'm showing off; when I'm silent they think I'm ridiculous; rude if I answer, sly if I get a good idea, lazy if I'm tired, selfish if I eat a mouthful more than I should, stupid, cowardly, crafty, etc. etc.

Anne Frank

Feast of Francis of Assisi, Friar, Deacon, Founder of the Friars Minor, 1226 The gaps in his education were of marvelous service to him. More learned, the formal logic of the schools would have robbed him of that flower of simplicity which is the great charm of his life; he would have seen the whole extent of the sore of the Church, and would no doubt have despaired of healing it. If he had known ecclesiastical discipline, he would have felt obliged to observe it; but, thanks to his ignorance, he could often violate it without knowing it, and be a heretic quite unawares.

Paul Sabatier

Commemoration of Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877 The truth of Christ's supremacy over all the powers in the universe is one which modern man sorely needs to learn. He is oppressed by a sense of impotence in the grasp of merciless forces which he can neither overcome nor escape. These forces may be Frankenstein monsters of man's own creation, or they may be horrors outside his conscious control; either way, he is intimidated by the vastness of those fateful currents which threaten to sweep him on to destruction, whether he will or no. And to modern man in his frustration and despair, the full-orbed gospel of Christ, as Paul presents it to the Colossians, is the one message of hope. Christ crucified and risen is Lord of all; all the forces in the universe, well-disposed and ill-disposed, are subject to Him. To be united to Christ by faith is to throw off the thraldom of hostile powers, to enjoy perfect freedom, to gain the mastery over the dominion of evil—because Christ's victory is ours.

F. F. Bruce

Now conscience wakes despair That slumber'd, wakes the bitter memory Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue!

John Milton

Never despair, keep pushing on!

Sir Thomas Lipton

Death is one of the few things that can be done as easily lying down. The difference between sex and death is that with death you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you. •Woody Allen At the end of the game the king and the pawn go back in the same box. •Italian Proverb Life is a great surprise. I don't see why death should not be an even greater one. •Vladimir Nabokov Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck. •George Sanders, his suicide note There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. •Santayana Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh. •George Bernard Shaw Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. •Dylan Thomas To live is to dream and to die is to awaken. •Anonymous We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the moment of waking from a troubled dream; it may be so at the moment after death. •Nathaniel Hawthorne All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. •Anatole France We are bound to our bodies like an oyster is to its shell. •Plato Dying is like getting out of a car. You leave a shell behind, but you're the same person as ever. •President Klein The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy . What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. •Richard Bach If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life. •Albert Camus We do not know what to do with this short life, yet we yearn for another that will be eternal. •Anatole France I'm the one who has to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life, the way I want to. •Jimi Hendrix The real malady is fear of life, not of death.

Woody Allen

The pleasures of the world are deceitful; they promise more than they give. They trouble us in seeking them, they do not satisfy us when possessing them and they make us despair in losing them.

Madame de Lambert

I will indulge my sorrows, and give way To all the pangs and fury of despair.

Joseph Addison

Despair of ever being saved, "except thou be born again," or of seeing God "without holiness," or of having part in Christ except thou "love him above father, mother, or thy own life." This kind of despair is one of the first steps to heaven.

Richard Baxter

The nympholepsy of some fond despair.

Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)

Darkness our guide, Despair our leader was.

Sir John Denham

Night was our friend, our leader was Despair.

Sir John Denham

Never despair while under the guidance and auspices of Teucer. [Lat., Nil desperandum Teucro duce et auspice Teucro.]

Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)

Thus repuls'd, our final hope Is flat despair.

John Milton

Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest spirit That fought in heaven, now fiercer by despair.

John Milton

Authors | Quotes | Digests | Submit | Interact | Store

Copyright © Classics Network. Contact Us