As for despair, it comes about when I have been a fool and hate myself and despair of my personality. I am prone to gloom, but not depression as such.
Alain de Botton
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My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasan...
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JACQUELINE WILSON When I love, I am at least one step ahead of myself, when I despair, many leagues behind.
MARIANA FULGER I am not made for despair
LIAN HEARN I am writing in despair. I am cursing the day of my birth just like Job. I would have wished a quick...
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ALAIN DE BOTTON In the midst of my despair
I find myself frantically looking for any flicker of light
Even if it com...
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AS GOOD AS IT GETS My soul in despair. You brought me a healing touch. Now I am at peace within myself.
DEBBIE NICHOLSON I have often been downcast but never in despair; I regard our hiding as a dangerous adventure, roman...
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BONNIE ZACKSON KOURY I am the despair of my accountant; I am the plastic bags of receipts.
VAL MCDERMID Depression is the flaw in love. To be creatures who love, we must be creatures who can despair at wh...
ANDREW SOLOMON When night comes do not despair; rejoice instead and say to yourself, “At least now I can see the ...
MATSHONA DHLIWAYO I am very averse to bringing myself forward in print, but as my account will only appear as an appen...
MARY SHELLEY I might look successful and happy being in front of you today, but I once suffered from severe depre...
JI-HAE PARK I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of bei...
NELSON MANDELA We are humiliated by what is powerful and mean, but awed by what is powerful and noble.
ALAIN DE BOTTON There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow...
GEORGE ELIOT There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorro...
GEORGE ELIOT Look, if I were alone in the world, I would have the right to choose despair, solitude and self-fulf...
ELIE WIESEL I have times when I despair, and I cry. There are moments when I want to give up. But my husband nee...
MARIA JONES There's no such thing as perfect writing, just like there's no such thing as perfect despair.
HARUKI MURAKAMI I know what my limitations are as an actor, but my strength is putting myself into a well-written pa...
GEORGE CLOONEY For tho' we know what we ought to be; & what it would be very sweet & beautiful to be; yet w...
HERMAN MELVILLE I can endure my own despair but not another's hope.
WILLIAM WALSH When I think of Hungarian films, I think of despair and bleakness, and what's more, despair and ...
TIBOR FISCHER Towards the end of last season, Titus was outstanding for us and I have been very happy with Jean-Al...
GRAEME SOUNESS I compare myself with my former self, not with others. Not only that, I tend to compare my current s...
KAY REDFIELD JAMISON My love is of a birth as rare
As 'tis, for object, strange and high;
It was begotten by De...
ANDREW MARVELL You ask whether I have ever been in love: fool as I am, I am not such a fool as that. But if one is ...
C.S. LEWIS It's almost scary how amateur I am when it comes to musicals - I'm a musical goer, but I am ...
DAVID LEVITHAN I can endure my own despair,
but not another's hope.
WILLIAM WALSH [Marriage] happens as with cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of g...
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE I feel special. Most women will have only one menopause, and they will hate it. I will have two, and...
ROSE GEORGE For there comes a day on which we will see a mirror of judgement; to gaze not on man, but within our...
ROBERT VANLEEUWEN We can alleviate physical pain, but mental pain - grief, despair, depression, dementia - is less acc...
RICHARD EYRE Interestingly, I matured as a musician and as an artist before I matured as a man. What I mean by th...
MIGUEL What do I fear? Myself? There’s none else by.
Richard loves Richard; that is, I and I.
I...
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There...
MAHATMA GANDHI When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. Ther...
MAHATMA GANDHI Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.
ELIE WIESEL Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.
ELIE WIESEL What we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do. There are people we trust b...
STEPHEN R. COVEY I hate mankind, for I think of myself as one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.
SAMUEL JOHNSON Whether you are man or woman, rich or poor, dependent or free, happy or unhappy; whether you bore in...
SøREN KIERKEGAARD I am a scientist, and as such I am proud to say that being stupid at times is a very human thing. Be...
ABHIJIT NASKAR Sinner, I would be loth to have thy soul destroyed by wilful self-delusion. . . . So consequently, t...
RICHARD BAXTER The dupe of friendship, and the fool of love; have I not reason to hate and to despise myself? Indee...
WILLIAM HAZLITT As an entrepreneur, I have been known for taking risks throughout my career, but leaving the Europea...
RICHARD BRANSON I treated despair in terms of hierarchy: if there was a more important pain in the world, it meant m...
LUCY GREALY As soon as I finished 'The Finkler Question,' I was in despair. I'd changed my English p...
HOWARD JACOBSON When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There ...
MAHATMA GANDHI When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. Ther...
MAHATMA GANDHI When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth
and love has always won. There ...
MAHATMA GANDHI When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There ...
MOHANDAS GANDHI I know that military alliances and armament have been the reliance for peace for centuries, but they...
FRANK B. KELLOGG I am fiercely loyal and over-possessive, but I am learning to control my being possessive. I have be...
RANVEER SINGH I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair.
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair.
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair.
ALFRED TENNYSON Depression, gloom, pessimism, despair, discouragement, these slay ten human beings to every one murd...
GILBERT MURRAY ...we, the goths, do know how death, depression, despair, grief, misery and sorrow feels.
OUTCAST ANGEL I suppose I'm interested in sorrow, which is very different from depression or despair. Sorrow i...
ALEKSANDAR HEMON SINCE YOU HAVE BROKEN UP WITH ME
MY HEART IS PAINTED BLACK
MY THOUGHTS ARE BLIND
FOR THEY SEE NO LIG...
HLONIM And an inky-colored despair of rejection enveloped me like the black tortilla of depression around a...
CHRISTOPHER MOORE I need not to be afraid of the void. The void is part of my person. I need to enter consciously into...
MICHAEL NOVAK So long as we have failed to eliminate any of the causes of human despair, we do not have the right ...
ANTONIN ARTAUD When you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easil...
DR. SEUSS One despairs of others so as not to despair too much of oneself
HENRI PETIT My family claims I think I'm always right, although I'm always willing to be proven wrong. I...
ERIC WALTERS I looked out across the Ocean, and determined to drown myself.
I was up to my chin when the sho...
JEANETTE WINTERSON I am not a lobbyist. I am not a political activist. I am not a leader, as far as I'm concerned.
JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS My biggest challenge in life has been teaching myself that I am capable of enough, just as I am. Emp...
DR ANIL KUMAR SINHA I think my securities far outweigh my insecurities. I am not nearly as afraid of myself and my imagi...
BILLY CONNELLY I think my securities far outweigh my insecurities. I am not nearly as afraid of myself and my imagi...
BILLY CONNOLLY All my life,I've been afraid of things, as a child and a woman must be. I lied about it naturally. I...
ANNE RICE I am going to do as much as I can do, because I hate to do anything and not give my all.
ANGIE MARTINEZ I've never been a great enthusiast about how I look and I am very... when I was young I had a re...
BILL NIGHY I write because there is nothing as joyful as writing, even when the writing is twisted and full of ...
GARY SHTEYNGART When the book comes out it may hurt you -- but in order for me to do it, it had to hurt me first. I ...
JAMES BALDWIN Madness does not always howl. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "Hey, i...
DESPAIR INC. But today when I am 17 and warm and well fed, I'm keeping this journal for myself so I can always re...
SUSAN BETH PFEFFER I think that's my personality, to have a good laugh and not to take myself too seriously. And of...
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI I have often been afraid, but I wouldn't give in to it. I made myself act as though I was not afraid...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT ... As far I did it... I lost playing against my computer... and I won against my computer. So far t...
DEYTH BANGER I enjoy wearing fragrance every day and have found myself searching for the one signature scent that...
IVANKA TRUMP Your destiny grows clearer, Jason Grace. When the choice comes again- storm or fire- remember me. An...
RICK RIORDAN I’ve been told that I cannot change shit, so I might as well stop torturing myself. My emotions ar...
ASAAD ALMOHAMMAD I had kind of high hopes for myself, but to do as well as I have, I've surprised myself, ... It's un...
KATE ZIEGLER Yes! Very funny this terrible thing is. A man that is born falls into a dream like a man who falls i...
JOSEPH CONRAD I have always felt deep within myself that I do not trust that I am already OK as I am, and that I d...
SWAMI DHYAN GITEN Nelly, I am Heathcliff - he's always, always in my mind - not as a pleasure, any more then I am alwa...
EMILY BRONTë At fifteen, I have taken up the burdens of a woman, and have come to feel I am one. Furthermore, I a...
GERALDINE BROOKS 'In My Hands,' the title track, is my very first vocal attempt, and I'm not a singer as ...
NATALIE MACMASTER Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I a...
DALAI LAMA XIV Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a
precious human life, I a...
THE DALAI LAMA It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.
J.R.R. TOLKIEN I am not a fool, you know, although I am a woman, and have my woman’s moments.
THOMAS HARDY
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ALAIN DE BOTTON A storyteller who provided us with such a profusion of details would rapidly grow maddening. Unfortu...
ALAIN DE BOTTON We used to build temples, and museums are about as close as secular society dares to go in facing up...
ALAIN DE BOTTON The Anxiety of Sunday afternoon: your unlived lives and infinite possibility pressing upon the const...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Blessed with riches and possibilities far beyond anything imagined by ancestors who tilled the unpre...
ALAIN DE BOTTON We need a home in the psychological sense as much as we need one in the physical: to compensate for ...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Even if our loved ones have assured us that they will be busy at work, even if they told us they hat...
ALAIN DE BOTTON You normally have to be bashed about a bit by life to see the point of daffodils, sunsets and uneven...
ALAIN DE BOTTON What a peculiar civilisation this was: inordinately rich, yet inclined to accrue its wealth through ...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Despite the best efforts of critics and the hopes of authors, our tastes in books are probably as in...
ALAIN DE BOTTON We would like to go and see the field that Millet…shows us in his Springtime, we would like Claude...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Our feelings of anxiety are genuine but confused signals that something is amiss, and so need to be ...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Paying tax should be framed as a glorious civic duty worthy of gratitude - not a punishment for maki...
ALAIN DE BOTTON It was no longer her absence that wounded me, but my growing indifference to it. Forgetting, however...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Perhaps it is true that we do not really exist until there is someone there to see us existing, we c...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Every fall into love involves the triumph of hope over self-knowledge. We fall in love hoping we won...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Nature puts us all in our places. Being made to feel small isn't something we welcome when it's done...
ALAIN DE BOTTON in Flaubert’s eyes, that only entirely illiterate and uneducated Frenchmen now stood a chance of b...
ALAIN DE BOTTON A clean conscience is the preserve of those without sufficient imagination.
ALAIN DE BOTTON In the past, Flaubert implied, idiots had had no clue as to what the carbon structure of diamonds wa...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Never too late to learn some embarrassingly basic, stupidly obvious things about oneself.
ALAIN DE BOTTON But we would do well to meditate daily, rather as the religious do on their God, on the 9.5 trillion...
ALAIN DE BOTTON To a shameful extent, the charm of marriage boils down to how unpleasant it is to be alone. This isn...
ALAIN DE BOTTON One of the best protections against disappointment is to have a lot going on.
ALAIN DE BOTTON What kills us isn't one big thing, but thousands of tiny obligations we can't turn down for fear of ...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Booksellers are the most valuable destination for the lonely, given the numbers of books written bec...
ALAIN DE BOTTON It is precisely when we hear little from our partner which frightens, shocks, or sickens us that we ...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Unrequited love may be painful, but it is safely painful, because it does not involve inflicting dam...
ALAIN DE BOTTON It's clear to me that there is no good reason for many philosophy books to sound as complicated as t...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Jarenlang kwam ik bij het boodschappen doen langs een huis dat weliswaar een van de lelijkste gebouw...
ALAIN DE BOTTON Snobbery exists in all areas of life, not least literary criticism. By snobbery I mean, any method o...
ALAIN BOTTON Kant and Hegel are interesting thinkers. But I am happy to insist that they are also terrible writer...
ALAIN BOTTON I passionately believe that's it's not just what you say that counts, it's also how you say it - tha...
ALAIN BOTTON I am in general a very pessimistic person with an optimistic, day-to-day take on things. The bare fa...
ALAIN BOTTON