“Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keep friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.” – Greenville Kleisser

“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.” –Laini Taylor – Daughter of Smoke & Bone

“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.” – Jack Layton

“Does anything in nature despair except man? An animal with a foot caught in a trap does not seem to despair. It is too busy trying to survive. It is all closed in, to a kind of still, intense waiting. Is this a key? Keep busy with survival. Imitate the trees. Learn to lose in order to recover, and remember that nothing stays the same for long, not even pain, psychic pain. Sit it out. Let it all pass. Let it go.” ― May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude

“Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.” –H. G. Wells

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

“Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world: making the most of one’s best.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick

“Sometimes I can only groan, and suffer, and pour out my despair at the piano!” – Frederic Chopin

“Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.” – Blaise Pascal

“Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.” – Edmund Burke

“I tried out various experiments described in treatises on physics and chemistry, and the results were sometimes unexpected. At times, I would be encouraged by a little unhoped-for success; at others, I would be in the deepest despair because of accidents and failures resulting from my inexperience.” – Marie Curie

Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference.” –Charlie Chaplin

“The artist’s job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.” ― Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris: The Shooting Script

Terrorism is a real despair. These are people for whom life has been so negative that they’re willing to die if they can take down some of their enemies.” – John Shelby Spong

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

“Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

“Do not let arrogance go to your head and despair to your heart; do not let compliments go to your head and criticisms to your heart; do not let success go to your head and failure to your heart.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

“Losing your life is not the worst thing that can happen. The worst thing is to lose your reason for living.” ― Jo Nesbø

“Despair is the price one pays for self-awareness. Look deeply into life, and you’ll always find despair.” ― Irvin D. Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept