Quiet Desperation Quotes

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  Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Life, Song, Men

  Henry David Thoreau (2006). “Thoreau and the Art of Life: Precepts and Principles”, p.27, Heron Dance Press

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• Civilizations grow by agreements and accomodations and accretions, not by repudiations. The rebels and the revolutionaries are only eddies, they keep the stream from getting stagnant but they get swept down and absorbed, they're a side issue. Quiet desperation is another name for the human condition. If revolutionaries would learn that they can't remodel society by day after tomorrow -- haven't the wisdom to and shouldn't be permitted to -- I'd have more respect for them ... Civilizations grow and change and decline -- they aren't remade.

  Wallace Stegner

  Agreement, Civilization, Names

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• The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Wisdom, Country, Men

  'Walden' (1854) 'Economy'

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• The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Inspirational, Life, Success

  Walden ch. 1 (1854)

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• Nowadays men lead lives of noisy desperation.

  James Thurber

  Fear, Men, Desperation

  James Thurber (1956). “Further fables for our time”

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• I do believe that most men live lives of quiet desperation. For despair, optimism is the only practical solution. Hope is practical. Because eliminate that and it's pretty scary. Hope at least gives you the option of living.

  Harry Nilsson

  Inspirational, Hope, Believe

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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  It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Quotable Thoreau: An A to Z Glossary of Inspiring Quotations from Henry David Thoreau”, p.87, BookBaby

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• It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Wise, Wisdom, Business

  'Walden' (1854) 'Economy'

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• Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. I can't take quiet desperation!

  Ray Milland

  Men, Quiet, Desperation

  "Fictional character: Don Birnam". "The Lost Weekend", www.imdb.com. October 5, 1945.

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• The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Sad, Men, Despair

  Walden ch. 1 (1854)

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• Boys, you must strive to find your own voice, because the longer you wait to begin the less likely you are to find it at all.

  Robin Williams

  Carpe Diem, Boys, Dead Poets Society

  "Ficitonal character: John Keating". "Dead Poets Society", www.imdb.com. 1989.

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  If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined...

  Henry David Thoreau

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  "Walden". Book by Henry David Thoreau, 1854.

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  I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Nature, Adventure, Dead Poets Society

  Walden ch. 2 (1854)

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• A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Games, Despair, Amusement

  Henry David Thoreau (1882). “Walden”, p.15

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• Human beings, as far as I can tell, seem to be divided into two subspecies -- the resigned, who live in quiet desperation, and the exhausted, who exist in restless agitation.

  Sarah Ban Breathnach

  Two, Agitation, Exhausted

  Sarah Ban Breathnach (1999). “Something More: Excavating Your Authentic Self”, G K Hall & Company

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• How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Life, Beautiful, Book

  Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.8, Penguin

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• No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Thinking, Way, Ancient

  Henry David Thoreau, Nancy L. Rosenblum (1996). “Thoreau: Political Writings”, p.27, Cambridge University Press

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• The worst curse to befall anyone is stagnation, a banal existence, the quiet desperation that comes out of a need for conformity.

  Deepak Chopra

  Spiritual, Individuality, Needs

  Deepak Chopra (1996). “The Return of Merlin”, Wheeler Pub Incorporated

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• Be still, and the world is bound to turn herself inside out to entertain you. Everywhere you look, joyful noise is clanging to drown out quiet desperation.

  Barbara Kingsolver

  Patience, Looks, World

  Barbara Kingsolver (2011). “High Tide in Tucson”, p.196, Faber & Faber

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• The vast majority of the people who populate our planet live lives of quiet desperation that are all too often quite harsh and painful, lives in which events and circumstances usually don't turn out the way they had hoped or planned.

  Frederick Lenz

  Inspirational, Live Life, Buddhism

  Frederick Lenz (1994). “Surfing the Himalayas: conversations and travels with Master Fwap”, Interglobal Seminars

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• People used to live lives of quiet desperation - now they go on talk shows!

  Bob Thaves

  Live Life, People, Goes On

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• On Painting Rats, and the Glorification of Them. They exist without permission. They are hated, hunted and persecuted. They live in quiet desperation amongst the filth. And yet they are capable of bringing entire civilizations to their knees. If you are dirty, insignificant, and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model.

  Banksy

  Dirty, Civilization, Role Models

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• The Samaritan woman grasped what He said with fervor that came from an awareness of her real need. The transaction was fascinating. She has come with a buket. He sent her back with a spring of living water. She had come as a reject. He sent her back being accepted by God Himself. She came wounded. He sent her back whole. She came laden with questions. He sent her back as a source for answers. She came living a life of quiet desperation. She ran back overflowing with hope. The disciples missed it all. It was lunchtime for them.

  Ravi Zacharias

  Spring, Real, Water

  74 Copy quote

• Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.

  Roger Waters

  Hanging On, Way, Quiet

  "Song: 'Time'". 1973.

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• The gift of willingness is the only thing that stands between the quiet desperation of a disingenuous life and the actualization of unexpressed potential.

  Jim McDonald

  Fear, Inner Peace, Quiet

  12 Copy quote