No one has the right to sit down and feel hopeless. There's too much work to do.
—Dorothy Day
Because we are laughed at, I don’t think people really understand how essential [comedians] are to their sanity. If it weren’t for the brief respite we give the world with our foolishness, the world would see mass suicide in numbers that compare favorably with the death rate of the lemmings. I’m sure most of you have heard the story of the man who, desperately ill, goes to an analyst and tells the doctor that he has lost his desire to live and that is seriously considering suicide. The doctor listens to his tale of melancholia and then tells the patient that what he needs is a good belly laugh. He then advises the unhappy man to go to the circus that night and spend the evening laughing at Grock, the world’s funniest clown. The doctor sums it up, “After you have seen Grock, I am sure you will be much happier.” The patient rises to his feet, looks sadly at the doctor, turns and ambles toward the door. As he starts to leave the doctor says, “By the way, what is your name?” The man turns and regards the analyst with sorrowful eyes. “I am Grock.”
—Groucho Marx in Groucho And Me
Acknowledging fear is not a cause for depression or discouragement. Because we possess such fear, we also are potentially entitled to experience fearlessness. True fearlessness is not the reduction of fear; but going beyond fear.
—Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
He's turned his life around. He used to be miserable and depressed; now he's depressed and miserable.
—David Frost
I am stronger than depression and I am braver than loneliness and nothing will ever exhaust me.
—Elizabeth Gilbert in Love
It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.
—Harry S. Truman
Depression is sadness gone wrong.
—Lewis Wolpert
No matter how hard it feels, you don't need to be afraid to move on. There's always more to see and feel.
—Emily Henry in The Love That Split the World