The person who lives by hope will die by despair.
—Italian Proverb
Depression is the inability to construct a future.
—Rollo May (1909–94) American Philosopher
But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
It is a time when one’s spirit is subdued and sad, one knows not why; when the past seems a storm-swept desolation, life a vanity and a burden, and the future but a way to death.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
In all things it is better to hope than to despair.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
He that despairs measures Providence by his own little contracted model and limits infinite power to finite apprehensions.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
Despair is the offspring of fear, of laziness, and impatience; it argues a delect of spirit and resolution, and often of honesty too. I would not despair unless I saw my misfortune recorded in the book of fate, and signed and sealed by necessity.
—Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) Anglican Church Historian, Clergyman
Then my verse I dishonor, my pictures despise, my person degrade and my temper chastise; and the pen is my terror, the pencil my shame; and my talents I bury, and dead is my fame.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
All experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Fatalism is the lazy man’s way of accepting the inevitable.
—Natalie Clifford Barney (1876–1972) American Playwright, Poet, Novelist
He that despairs degrades the Deity, and seems to intimate that He is insufficient, or not just to his word; in vain hath he read the Scriptures, the world, and man.
—Owen Feltham (1602–1668) English Essayist
I don’t want any promises, I won’t have false hopes, I won’t be romantic about myself. I can’t live in their world any longer, she told herself, listening to the voices back of her. Let them tell their stories to each other. Let them go on explaining how things happened. I don’t care. At least I can know the truth about what happens to me, she assured herself silently, making a promise to herself, in her hopefulness, her ignorance.
—Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980) American Short-Story Writer, Novelist
Despair is the damp of hell, as joy is the serenity of heaven.
—John Donne (1572–1631) English Poet, Cleric
She wore far too much rouge last night and not quite enough clothes. That is always a sign of despair in a woman.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Now, God be praised, that to believing souls gives light in darkness, comfort in despair.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Dissipation is a form of self-sacrifice.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Despair is the only genuine atheism.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
Now the standard cure for one who is sunk is to consider those in actual destitution or physical suffering
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
What is most original in a man’s nature is often that which is most desperate. Thus new systems are forced on the world by men who simply cannot bear the pain of living with what is. Creators care nothing for their systems except that they be unique. If Hitler had been born in Nazi Germany he wouldn’t have been content to enjoy the atmosphere.
—Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian Singer, Songwriter, Poet, Novelist
O God, O God, how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his Helper is omnipotent.
—Jeremy Taylor
Intellectual despair results in neither weakness nor dreams, but in violence. It is only a matter of knowing how to give vent to one’s rage; whether one only wants to wander like madmen around prisons, or whether one wants to overturn them.
—Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French Essayist, Intellectual
Washington was a man of exceptional, almost excessive self-command, rarely permitting himself any show of discouragement or despair.
—David McCullough (b.1933) American Historian
Today we come across an individual who behaves like an automaton, who does not know or understand himself, and the only person that he knows is the person that he is supposed to be, whose meaningless chatter has replaced communicative speech, whose synthetic smile has replaced genuine laughter, and whose sense of dull despair has taken the place of genuine pain. Two statements may be said concerning this individual. One is that he suffers from defects of spontaneity and individuality which may seem to be incurable. At the same time it may be said of him he does not differ essentially from the millions of the rest of us who walk upon this earth.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
Despair gives courage to a coward.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Whether or not we have hope depends on two dimensions of our explanatory style; pervasiveness and permanence. Finding temporary and specific causes for misfortune is the art of hope: Temporary causes limit helplessness in time, and specific causes limit helplessness to the original situation. On the other hand, permanent causes produce helplessness far into the future, and universal causes spread helplessness through all your endeavors. Finding permanent and universal causes for misfortune is the practice of despair… The optimistic style of explaining good events is the opposite of that used for bad events: It’s internal rather than external. People who believe they cause good things tend to like themselves better than people who believe good things come from other people or circumstances.
—Martin Seligman (b.1942) American Psychologist, Author
The fact that God has prohibited despair gives misfortune the right to hope all things, and leaves hope free to dare all things.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Mystic, Writer
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Make sense who may. I switch off.
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) Irish Novelist, Playwright
All my life I believed I knew something. But then one strange day came when I realized that I knew nothing; yes, I knew nothing. And so words became void of meaning. I have arrived too late at ultimate uncertainty.
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American Poet, Translator, Critic
It is not hard to live through a day, if you can live through a moment. What creates despair is the imagination, which pretends there is a future, and insists on predicting millions of moments, thousands of days, and so drains you that you cannot live the moment at hand.
—Andre Dubus (1936–99) American Short Story Writer, Essayist
So long as we have failed to eliminate any of the causes of human despair, we do not have the right to try to eliminate those means by which man tries to cleanse himself of despair.
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) French Actor, Drama Theorist
Through our sunless lanes creeps Poverty with her hungry eyes, and Sin with his sodden face follows close behind her. Misery wakes us in the morning and Shame sits with us at night.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Religion converts despair, which destroys, into resignation, which submits.
—Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (1789–1849) Irish Novelist, Writer
When the tide of life turns against you
And the current upsets your boat,
Don’t waste tears on what might have been,
Just lie on your back and float.
—Anonymous
Despair is perfectly compatible with a good dinner, I promise you.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
We’d like to fight but we fear defeat, we’d like to work but we’re feeling too weak, we’d like to be sick but we’d get the sack, we’d like to behave, we’d like to believe, we’d like to love, but we’ve lost the knack.
—Cecil Day-Lewis (1904–72) British Poet, Critic
The reason why all men honor love is because it looks up, and not down; aspires and not despairs.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The depth of our despair measures what capability and height of claim we have to hope.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
To be thoroughly conversant with a man’s heart, is to take our final lesson in the iron-clasped volume of despair.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
Just as he had shown no signs of despair when prospects looked bleak, he now showed no elation in what he wrote or in his outward manner or comments.
—David McCullough (b.1933) American Historian
Let judges secretly despair of justice: their verdicts will be more acute. Let generals secretly despair of triumph; killing will be defamed. Let priests secretly despair of faith: their compassion will be true.
—Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian Singer, Songwriter, Poet, Novelist
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To believe is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes they are slaves; they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.
—Anonymous
To those who despair of everything reason cannot provide a faith, but only passion, and in this case it must be the same passion that lay at the root of the despair, namely humiliation and hatred.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
Despair, in short, seeks its own environment as surely as water finds its own level.
—Al Alvarez (1929–2019) English Critic, Poet, Novelist
He who despairs wants love and faith, for faith, hope, and love are three torches which blend their light together, nor does the one shine without the other.
—Metastasio (1698–1782) Italian Poet, Librettist
Beware of desperate steps.—The darkest day, live till tomorrow, will have passed away.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.
—William S. Burroughs (1914–97) American Novelist, Poet, Short Story Writer, Painter
Resignation, not mystic, not detached, but resignation open-eyed, conscious, and informed by love, is the only one of our feelings for which it is impossible to become a sham.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist