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Despair Quotes

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Despair Quotes

“But the thing that stands eternally in the way of really good writing is always one: the virtual impossibility of lifting to the imagination those things which lie under the direct scrutiny of the senses, close to the nose. It is this difficulty that sets a value upon all works of art and makes them a necessity. The senses witnessing what is immediately before them in detail see a finality which they cling to in despair, not knowing which way to turn. Thus this so-called natural or scientific array becomes fixed, the walking devil of modern life.”

WayWritingArtLyingValuesTurnsImaginationNaturalKnowingModernWalkingDespairDevilDirectDifficultyDetailsSensesNosesFixedWorks Of ArtNot KnowingImpossibilityModern LifeLiftingScrutinyGood WritingFinality
Book:Kora in Hell: Improvisations
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“Jas in the Arab language is despair, And Min the darkest meaning of a lie. Thus cried the Jessamine among the flowers, How justly doth a lie Draw on its head despair! Among the fragrant spirits of the bowers The boldest and the strongest still was I. Although so fair, Therefore from Heaven A stronger perfume unto me was given Than any blossom of the summer hours.”

StillsSpiritLyingLanguageGivenHeavenHoursFlowerDespairSummerDrawsFairsStrongerStrongestCriedPerfume
Book:The Music-lesson of Confucius, and Other Poems
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“[The masses] ... must turn their hopes toward a miracle. In the depths of their despair reason cannot be believed, truth must be false, and lies must be truth. "Higher bread prices," "lower bread prices," "unchanged bread prices" have all failed. The only hope lies in a kind of bread price which is none of these, which nobody has ever seen before, and which belies the evidence of one's reason.”

KindReasonLyingTurnsHigherDespairMassEvidenceMiracleDepthBread
Book:The End of Economic Man: The Origins of Totalitarianism
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“We must face the bitter fact that we have forsaken our great dream of a life of, for, and by the people; that the burning passions and ideals of the American dream lie congealed by cold cynicism. Great parts of the masses of our people no longer believe that they have a voice or a hand in shaping the destiny of this nation. They have not forsaken democracy because of any desire or positive action of their own; they have been driven down into the depths of a great despair born of frustration, hopelessness, and apathy. A democracy lacking in popular participation dies of paralysis.”

PeopleBelieveHas BeensFactsDreamHandsActionAmericaFacesLyingDesireDiesPassionNationsVoiceBornDestinyDemocracyColdDespairMassIdealsDepthDrivenBitterBurningFrustrationApathyCynicismAmerican DreamLackingParticipationHopelessnessParalysisForsakenBurning Passion
Author:Saul Alinsky
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“All the things that are negative in me as a person - the incompetence and despair and weakness and pain - are like a gift from God in a performer. If you don't hide them and if you stop lying to yourself about what you are and are not, there is a ring or a tent or a stage where you can take them and use them to make something beautiful.”

IfsPersonsUsePainBeautifulLyingActorsStageDespairWeaknessNegativeRingsPerformersIncompetenceGift From GodTentsSomething BeautifulLying To YourselfStop Lying
Author:Elizabeth Ashley
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“Trying every day to tell the truth is hard. There are harder things, of course - arguably, living with lies and meaninglessness, living in despair is harder, but it's hardship disguised as luxury and easier perhaps to grow accustomed to, since truth is usually the enemy of custom. There are harder things than writing, being President Obama, for instance, and having to deal with House Republicans, or trying to fix the leak at the Fukushima reactor, these are harder, but writing is hard.”

WritingTryingHardLyingCoursesHouseGrowsPresidentDealsEnemyEasierRepublicanTruth IsDespairHarderInstanceLuxuryTelling The TruthHardshipCustomsPresident ObamaAccustomedLeaksMeaninglessnessFukushima
Author:Tony Kushner
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“When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

WorldFeelsMayChildrenStillsLightLyingNightStarsGrowsWaitingSoundWaterNatureGriefGraceTaxesDespairBlindWoodsMy ChildrenWild ThingsForethoughtStill WatersHerons
Book:New Collected Poems
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“Market moralities and mentalities-- fueled by economic imperatives to make a profit at nearly any cost-- yield unprecedented levels of loneliness, isolation, and sadness. And our public life lies in shambles, shot through with icy cynicism and paralyzing pessimism. To put it bluntly, beneath the record-breaking stock markets on Wall Street and bipartisan budget-balancing deals in the White House lurk ominous clouds of despair across this nation.”

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Book:Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America
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“The dove descending breaks the air With flame of incandescent terror Of which the tongues declare The one discharge from sin and error. The only hope, or else despair Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre- To be redeemed from fire by fire. Who then devised the torment? Love. Love is the unfamiliar Name Behind the hands that wove The intolerable shirt of flame Which human power cannot remove. We only live, only suspire Consumed by either fire or fire.”

HumansHandsLyingChoicesNamesSinLove IsBehindsBreakFireAirHolyDespairErrorsTerrorTongueFlamesShirtsHoly SpiritRemoveTormentConsumedDoveUnfamiliarRedeemedDischargeDescendingQuartetsHuman Power
Author:T. S. Eliot
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“My Friend: Art thou abroad on this stormy night on thy journey of love, my friend? The sky groans like one in despair. I have no sleep tonight. Ever and again I open my door and look out on the darkness, my friend! I can see nothing before me. I wonder where lies thy path! By what dim shore of the ink-black river, by what far edge of the frowning forest, through what mazy depth of gloom art thou threading thy course to come to me, my friend?”

LooksArtI CanLyingNightCoursesBlackSleepWonderDarknessPathDoorsJourneySkyDespairMy FriendsRiversDepthEdgesForestsTonightShoreInkGloomStormyFrowningNo SleepStormy NightsLove Journey
Book:Gitanjali
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“Beyond love, beyond unrequited love, perhaps even beyond any other passion known to humanity, deep, deep in the depths of the turgid, clinging, swamplike pit of despair that lies dormant within every soul, lurks JEALOUSY. Jealousy, that most demeaning and debilitating of emotions. Jealousy, which can double the strength of the love upon which it is based, but whilst doubling it, warp and pervert it, untill it is no longer recognizable as the thing of beauty it once was. Jealous love is no more like true love than Mr Hyde was like Dr Jekyll or a stagnant swamp is like a freshwater lake.”

SoulLyingHumanityPassionLove IsEmotionKnownDespairDepthLakesJealousUnrequited LoveDrsPitsClingingUnrequitedStagnantSwampsDormantWarpDemeaningHydeJekyllMr HydeJealous LoveBeyond Love
Author:Ben Elton
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“Pessimism is not in being tired of evil but in being tired of good. Despair does not lie in being weary of suffering, but in being weary of joy. It is when for some reason or other good things in a society no longer work that the society begins to decline; when its food does not feed, when its cures do not cure, when its blessings refuse to bless.”

DoeReasonJoyLyingSufferingEvilBlessingDespairTiredGood ThingsRefuseCuresBlessPessimismDeclineWeary
Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
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“Lie is more worth living, more full of interest when you are likely to lose it. It shouldn't be, perhaps, but it is. When you're young and strong and healthy, and life stretches ahead of you, living isn't really important at all. It's young people who commit suicide easily, out of despair from love, sometimes from sheer anxiety and worry. But old people know how valuable life is and how interesting. - Jane Marple”

PeopleKnowsImportantSometimesYoungLife IsLyingStrongInterestLosesInterestingWorryKnow HowHealthyDespairAnxietySuicideValuableCommitSheerOld PeopleJaneWorth LivingAnxiety And WorryValuable LifeLiving More
Book:A Caribbean Mystery ; A Pocket Full of Rye ; The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side ; They Do it with Mirrors
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“When I rest I feel utterly lifeless except that my throat burns when I draw breath... I can scarcely go on. No despair, no happiness, no anxiety. I have not lost the mastery of my feelings, there are actually no more feelings. I consist only of will. After each few metres this too fizzles out in unending tiredness. Then I think nothing. I let myself fall, just lie there. For an indefinite time I remain completely irresolute. Then I make a few steps again.”

ThinkingFeelsI CanFeelingsLyingFallLostStepsGoes OnDespairAnxietyDrawsBreathsThroatMasteryUnendingLifelessTiredness
Author:Reinhold Messner
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“Then I felt that every inflection of my voice, every word in my mouth, was a lie, a play whose sole purpose was to cover emptiness and boredom. There was only one way I could avoid a state of despair and a breakdown. To be silent. And to reach behind the silence for clarity or at least try to collect the resources that might still be available to me.”

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Author:Ingmar Bergman
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“There is a legend of an artist who long sought for a piece of sandalwood, out of which to carve a Madonna. He was about to give up in despair, leaving the vision of his life unrealized, when in a dream he was bidden to carve his Madonna from a block of oak wood which was destined for the fire. He obeyed and produced a masterpiece from a log of common firewood. Many of us lose great opportunities in life by waiting to find sandalwood for our carvings, when they really lie hidden in the common logs that we burn.”

GivingLongDreamLyingArtistOpportunityWaitingLosesCommonVisionFirePiecesDespairGiving UpLeavingWoodsBlockLegendsMasterpieceDestinedOaksGreat OpportunityCarvingFirewoodSandalwood
Book:ORISON SWETT MARDEN Premium Collection - Wisdom & Empowerment Series (18 Books in One Volume): Steps to Success and Power, How to Get What You Want, An Iron Will, Be Good to Yourself, Every Man A King, Keeping Fit, Prosperity – How to Attract It, Stepping-Stones To Fame And Fortune...
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