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Despair Quotes

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Despair Quotes

“I felt despair. The word’s overused and banalified now, despair, but it’s a serious word, and I’m using it seriously. For me it denotes a simple admixture — a weird yearning for death combined with a crushing sense of my own smallness and futility that presents as a fear of death. It’s maybe close to what people call dread or angst. But it’s not these things, quite. It’s more like wanting to die in order to escape the unbearable feeling of becoming aware that I’m small and weak and selfish and going without any doubt at all to die. It’s wanting to jump overboard.”

PeopleFeelingsOrderDiesFeltMy OwnSimpleDoubtSeriousBecomingDespairWeakSelfishCrushYearningDreadFear Of DeathUnbearableAngstFutilityWanting To DieSmallnessOverboardOverused
Author:David Foster Wallace
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“I hear that in many places something has happened to Christmas; that it is changing from a time of merriment and carefree gaiety to a holiday which is filled with tedium; that many people dread the day and the obligation to give Christmas presents is a nightmare to weary, bored souls; that the children of enlightened parents no longer believe in Santa Claus; that all in all, the effort to be happy and have pleasure makes many honest hearts grow dark with despair instead of beaming with good will and cheerfulness.”

PeopleGivingBelieveHeartChildrenSoulGrowsParentDarkPleasureEffortHappenedHonestDespairFilledObligationChristmasBoredHolidayEnlightenedNightmareDreadWearySantaGood WillCheerfulnessSanta ClausChristmas HolidayCarefreeXmasChristmas ThoughtsTediumMerrimentGaietyChristmas PresentBelieve In Santa
Author:Julia Peterkin
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“Your late purchase of an estate in the colony of Cayenne, with a view to emancipating the slaves on it, is a generous and noble proof of your humanity. Would to God a like spirit would diffuse itself generally into the minds of the people of this country; but I despair of seeing it.”

PeopleMindCountrySpiritHumanityViewsSeeingDespairLateSlaverySlaveNobleProofGenerousEstatesColony
Book:Writings: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private, Selected and Published from the Original Manuscripts
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“But the people of the disaster area fundamentally needed to understand that the rest of Australia had noticed their misery and their stoicism and their intense sense of community and determination to arise from the sodden wreckage of their homes, and that Australians would dig deep to help. I helped to describe the community ethos which quickly triumphed over incipient despair. It is this mobilisation of the unifying spirit that thrills us all, even as we mourn.”

PeopleHelpingHomeSpiritCommunityLeadershipNeededDespairAreasDeterminationMiseryDisasterAriseIntenseAustraliaStoicismMournEthosDig DeepUnifyingWreckage
Author:Peter Cosgrove
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“In my heart I know you didn't come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union.”

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Author:Barack Obama
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“Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things that people do”

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Book:On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction
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“Wilderness is an anchor to windward. Knowing it is there, we can also know that we are still a rich nation, tending our resources as we should - not a people in despair searching every last nook and cranny of our land for a board of lumber, a barrel of oil, a blade of grass, or a tank of water.”

PeopleKnowsShouldStillsLastsNationsWaterKnowingRichLandDespairResourcesOilGrassBoardsWildernessBladesTanksAnchorsBarrelsNature And EnvironmentBlades Of GrassLumber
Author:Clinton Presba Anderson
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“Are we aware of our obligations to a mob? It is the mob that labor in your fields and serve in your houses - that man your navy, and recruit your army - that have enabled you to defy the world, and can also defy you when neglect and calamity have driven them to despair. You may call the people a mob; but do not forget that a mob too often speaks the sentiments of the people.”

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Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lord Byron (Illustrated)
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“I never considered myself part of rock 'n' roll. My stuff was more adult. It was more difficult for teenagers to relate to; my stuff was filled with more despair than anything you'd associate with rock 'n' roll. Since I couldn't see people dancing, I didn't write jitterbugs or twists. I wrote rhythms that moved me. My style requires pure heart singing.”

PeopleWritingHeartStuffDifficultRocksStylePureDespairSingingAdultsMovedFilledDancingRhythmRelateTeenagerRock N RollAssociatesTwistsPure Heart
Author:Ray Charles
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“I had wanted simply to convey to the reader by way of concrete example that life holds a potential meaning under any conditions, even the most miserable ones. And I thought that if the point were demonstrated in a situation as extreme as that in a concentration camp, my book might gain a hearing. I therefore felt responsible for writing down what I had gone through, for I thought it might be helpful to people who are prone to despair.”

PeopleIfsWayLifeWritingBookMightWantedFeltSituationGoneConditionsExampleReaderDespairGainsResponsibleExtremesHearingMiserableConcentrationHelpfulCampsConcreteConcentration Camp
Book:Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition
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“Liberals have created, and the minority leadership has exploited, a community of dependent people, unaware of the true route to prosperity and happiness: self-reliance and self-investment. Instead, people are told that American is unjust, unfair, and full of disadvantages. They are told that their only hope is for government to fix their problems. What has happened is that generations of people have bought into this nonsense and as result have remained hopelessly mired in poverty and despair -- because the promised solutions don't work. And they will never work -- they never have.”

PeopleSelfProblemGovernmentCommunityResultsPovertyGenerationsHappenedDespairSolutionsInvestmentProsperityDependentNonsenseMinoritiesUnfairRoutesUnjustSelf RelianceRelianceDisadvantages
Author:Rush Limbaugh
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“Written in support of abolishing the Corn Laws, it became Elliott's most famous poem. The Peoples Anthem When wilt thou save the people Oh, God of mercy! When? Not kings and lords, but nations! Not thrones and crowns, but men! Flowers of thy heart, of God they are. Let them not pass like weeds, away Their heritage a sunless day! God save the people! When wilt thou save the people? Oh, God of mercy! When? The people Lord the people! Not thrones and crowns, but men! God save the people! Thine they are, Thy children, as thy angels fair, Save them from bondage and despair. God save the people!”

PeopleMenHeartChildrenLawNationsLordSupportWrittenFlowerKingsDespairAngelFairsMercyWeedHeritageCrownsThronesBondageCornAnthem
Author:Ebenezer Elliott
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“There are peaks, there are valleys. But they're all kind of carved and smoothed out, and it feels like a low level of despair you live in. Where you're not getting any answers, but you're living OK. And you can smile at the office. You know? But it's a low level of despair. I was on Prozac for a long time. It may have helped me out of a jam for a little bit, but people stay on it forever. I had to get off at a certain point because I realized that, you know, everything's just OK.”

PeopleKnowsFeelsKindMayLittlesLongCertainBitsAnswersLevelsForeverDespairOfficeDepressionLittle BitLong TimeLowsI RealizedAll KindsValleysJamProzacLow Level
Author:Jim Carrey
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“The very act of writing assumes, to begin with, that someone cares to hear what you have to say. It assumes that people share, that people can be reached, that people can be touched and even in some cases changed. So many of the things in our world lead us to despair. It seems to me that the final symptom of despair is silence, and that storytelling is one of the sustaining arts; it’s one of the affirming arts. A writer may have a certain pessimism in his outlook, but the very act of being a writer seems to me to be an optimistic act.”

PeopleWorldWritingMayArtSeemsCareCertainSilenceCasesShareChangedDespairAssumingFinalsStorytellingOptimisticTouchedOur WorldPessimismSymptomsOutlookSustainingAffirming
Author:Tobias Wolff
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“Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or woman President everything will be all right. But it won't be. Any individual who is able to raise $25 million to be considered presidential is not going to be much use to the people at large. He will represent oil, or aerospace, or banking, or whatever moneyed entities are paying for him. Certainly he will never represent the people of the country, and they know it. Hence, the sense of despair throughout the land as incomes fall, businesses fail and there is no redress.”

PeopleIfsKnowsMenYearsBelieveCountryUseAbleFallIndividualPresidentHalfMillionsFourNiceFailingLandDespairVoteRaisesOilIncomePresidentialFour YearsEntityBankingNaiveReally NiceRedressNice ManAerospace
Book:The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000
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“If this understanding of the good news of Jesus prevailed among Christians, the belief that Jesus’s message is about how to get somewhere else, you could possibly end up with a world in which millions of people were starving, thirsty, and poor; the earth was being exploited and polluted; disease and despair were everywhere; and Christians weren’t known for doing much about it. If it got bad enough, you might even have people rejecting Jesus because of how his followers lived. That would be tragic.”

PeopleIfsWorldEndsEnoughMightWould BeEarthChristianJesusBeliefUnderstandingPoorKnownMillionsDespairDiseaseMessagesNewsTragicFollowersGood NewsStarvingSomewhere ElseThirstyRejecting
Book:Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived
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“When people use the word hell, what do they mean? They mean a place, an event, a situation absent of how God desires things to be. Famine, debt, oppression, loneliness, despair, death, slaughter--they are all hell on earth. Jesus' desire for his followers is that they live in such a way that they bring heaven to earth. What's disturbing is when people talk more about hell after this life than they do about Hell here and now. As a Christian, I want to do what I can to resist hell coming to earth.”

PeopleWayWantMeanI CanUseEarthChristianDesireJesusHeavenSituationHellEventsLonelinessDespairDebtOppressionThis LifeFollowersDisturbingAbsentHere And NowFamineSlaughterHell On Earth
Author:Rob Bell
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“Step by step, you make your way forward. That’s why practices such as daily writing exercises or keeping a daily blog can be so helpful. You see yourself do the work, which shows you that you can do the work. Progress is reassuring and inspiring; panic and then despair set in when you find yourself getting nothing done day after day. One of the painful ironies of work life is that the anxiety of procrastination often makes people even less likely to buckle down in the future.”

PeopleWayWritingDoneShowsMotivationalLife IsCan DoStepsPracticeProgressExerciseOne DayDespairAnxietyPainfulIronyHelpfulFinding YourselfPanicProcrastinationBlogsReassuringWay ForwardBuckles
Author:Gretchen Rubin
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“There is a prayer intended to give strength to people faced with circumstances they don’t want to accept. The power of the prayer comes from it's insight into human nature. Because so many of us rage against the hand that life has dealt us. Because so many of us are cowardly. And afraid to stand up for what is right. Because so many of us give into despair when faced with an impossible choice. The good news for those who utter these words is that God will hear you and answer your prayer. The bad news is that sometimes the answer is no.”

PeopleWantGivingHumansSometimesHandsChoicesPrayerAnswersAcceptingImpossibleHuman NatureCircumstancesDespairNewsInsightRageGods WillGood NewsOur PrayersCowardlyBad News
Author:Mary Alice
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“Sometimes, people end up thankful for what they mourned. You cannot achieve this state by seeking tragedy, but you can keep yourself open more to sorrow's richness than to unmediated despair. Tragedies with happy endings may be sentimental tripe, or they may be the true meaning of love.”

PeopleMayEndsSometimesStatesSufferingGriefAchieveSorrowDespairTragedySeekingSentimentalRichnessHappy EndingsTrue MeaningMeaning Of LoveTripeTrue Meaning Of Love
Book:Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity
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“The modern technological world appears overwhelming to many people. It drives some to pessimism and despair. It makes others doubt the future of mankind unless we retreat to simpler lives and even to the ways of our ancestors. What these people fail to realize is that we cannot go back to those ways and those days. Furthermore, for all our difficulties, life today is far better for more people and the possibilities for the future can be brighter than ever if we develop not only new knowledge, but a greater faith and confidence in the human mind and spirit.”

PeopleIfsWorldWayMindHumansTodaySpiritRealizingDoubtGreaterFailingModernMankindPossibilityDespairDifficultyHuman MindPessimismOverwhelmingAncestorTechnologicalRetreatBrighterNew KnowledgeFuture Of Mankind
Author:Glenn T. Seaborg
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“Sports have the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope, where there was once only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination. Sports is the game of lovers.”

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Book:Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations
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