There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when read more

There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope.

Despair is a great incentive to honorable death.
[Lat., Desperatio magnum ad honeste moriendum incitamentum.]

Despair is a great incentive to honorable death.
[Lat., Desperatio magnum ad honeste moriendum incitamentum.]

O, break, my heart! poor bankrout, break at once!
To prison, eyes; ne'er look on liberty!
Vile read more

O, break, my heart! poor bankrout, break at once!
To prison, eyes; ne'er look on liberty!
Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here,
And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier!

Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in read more

Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.

Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim. It is, one is told, the unforgivable sin, read more

Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim. It is, one is told, the unforgivable sin, but it is a sin the corrupt or evil man never practices. He always has hope. He never reaches the freezing-point of knowing absolute failure. Only the man of goodwill carries always in his heart this capacity for damnation.

The man who lives only by hope will die with despair.

The man who lives only by hope will die with despair.

Despair is perfectly compatible with a good dinner, I promise you.

Despair is perfectly compatible with a good dinner, I promise you.

Despair is the damp of hell, as joy is the serenity of heaven

Despair is the damp of hell, as joy is the serenity of heaven

Above all, we must abolish hope in the heart of man. A calm despair, without angry convulsions, without reproaches to read more

Above all, we must abolish hope in the heart of man. A calm despair, without angry convulsions, without reproaches to Heaven, is the essence of wisdom.