“... from the outside what can you see of the deepest despair?”
“Hope is the key... at times of despair!”
“The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.”
“my beerdrunk soul is sadder than all the dead christmas trees of the world.”
“Life ... is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”
“The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss - an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. - is sure to be noticed.”
“Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.”
“Let them think what they liked, but I didn t mean to drown myself. I meant to swim till I sank -- but that s not the same thing.”
“It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.”
“The prince is never going to come. Everyone knows that; and maybe sleeping beauty s dead.”
“Me? You are laughing at me. Put your hand here. This has no theology. I mocked myself while I made love. I flung myself into pleasure like a suicide on to a pavement.”
“I can still hear the screams. They wake me in the night. Terrible, gut wrenching, painful screams; screams that can only come from the deepest and darkest recesses of the mind. These were not screams of pain. These were screams of years of sorrow and despair. These were screams that made your skin crawl. These were the worst screams I have ever heard. I cannot get them out of my head. Perhaps, they will be with me forever. I shouldn t be so lucky.”
“The point is that we are not doomed because we are homosexual, my dear, we are doomed only if we live in despair because of it, as we did on the beaches and the streets of Suck City.”
“It is a curious thing, but as one travels the world getting older and older, it appears that happiness is easier to get used to than despair. The second time you have a root beer float, for instance, your happiness at sipping the delicious concoction may not be quite as enormous as when you first had a root beer float, and the twelfth time your happiness may be still less enormous, until root beer floats begin to offer you very little happiness at all, because you have become used to the taste of vanilla ice cream and root beer mixed together. However, the second time you find a thumbtack in your root beer float, your despair is much greater than the first time, when you dismissed the thumbtack as a freak accident rather than part of the scheme of a soda jerk, a phrase which here means ice cream shop employee who is trying to injure your tongue, and by the twelfth time you find a thumbtack, your despair is even greater still, until you can hardly utter the phrase root beer float without bursting into tears. It is almost as if happiness is an acquired taste, like coconut cordial or ceviche, to which you can eventually become accustomed, but despair is something surprising each time you encounter it.”
“Despair is the price one pays for self-awareness. Look deeply into life, and you ll always find despair.”
“Whatever happens in your life, no matter how troubling things might seem, do not enter the neighborhood of despair. Even when all doors remain closed, God will open up a new path only for you. Be thankful!”
“There s no such thing as perfect writing, just like there s no such thing as perfect despair.”