Despair of ever being saved, except thou be born again, or of seeing God without holiness, or of having part in Christ except thou love him above father, mother, or thy own life. This kind of despair is one of the first steps to heaven. BaxterSaints Rest. Ch. VI.
The world goes whispering to its own, This anguish pierces to the bone; And tender friends go sighing round, What love can ever cure this wound? My days go on, my days go on. E. B. BrowningDe Profundis. St. 5.
Desperatio magnum ad honeste moriendum incitamentum. Despair is a great incentive to honorable death. Quintus Curtius RufusDe Rebus Gestis Alexandri Magni. IX. 5. 6.
Oh, break, my heart! poor bankrupt, break at once! To prison, eyes, neer look on liberty! Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here; And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier! Romeo and Juliet. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 57.
Thou tyrant! Do not repent these things, for they are heavier Than all thy woes can stir: therefore, betake thee To nothing but despair. Winters Tale. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 208.
* * * then black despair, The shadow of a starless night, was thrown Over the world in which I moved alone. ShelleyRevolt of Islam. Dedication. St. 6.
Alas for him who never sees The stars shine through his cypress-trees Who, hopeless, lays his dead away, Nor looks to see the breaking day Across the mournful marbles play! WhittierSnow-Bound. L. 204.