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.

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.

The world goes whispering to its own,
"This anguish pierces to the bone;"
And tender friends go read more

The world goes whispering to its own,
"This anguish pierces to the bone;"
And tender friends go sighing round,
"What love can ever cure this wound?"
My days go on, my days go on.

What we call despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.

What we call despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.

. . . then black despair
The shadow of a starless night, was thrown
Over the world read more

. . . then black despair
The shadow of a starless night, was thrown
Over the world in which I moved alone.

He who has never hoped can never despair.

He who has never hoped can never despair.

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a cross-roads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The read more

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a cross-roads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.

Alas for him who never sees
The stars shine through his cypress-trees
Who, hopeless, lays his dead read more

Alas for him who never sees
The stars shine through his cypress-trees
Who, hopeless, lays his dead away,
Nor looks to see the breaking day
Across the mournful marbles play!

Despair is like forward children, who, when you take away one of their playthings, throw the rest into the fire read more

Despair is like forward 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.