--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: At first I was almost about to despair, I…" description: "\"At first I was almost about to despair, I thought I never could bear it — but I did I bear it. The question remains: how?\" — Heinrich Heine" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53f/heinrich-heine-1170_bears_at-first-i-was-almost-about-to-despair-i_246677.jpg" --- # At first I was almost about to despair, I thought I never… ![“At first I was almost about to despair, I thought I never could bear it — but I did I bear it. The question remains: how?” quote by Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53f/heinrich-heine-1170_bears_at-first-i-was-almost-about-to-despair-i_246677.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53f/heinrich-heine-1170_bears_at-first-i-was-almost-about-to-despair-i_246677.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53f/heinrich-heine-1170_bears_at-first-i-was-almost-about-to-despair-i_246677.jpg) > “At first I was almost about to despair, I thought I never could bear it — but I did I bear it. The question remains: how?” [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Describes overcoming despair through perseverance despite uncertainty **In simple terms:** Endured hardship and survived, questioning how it was possible Key Takeaway Resilience can emerge from deep struggle Themes perseverance hope inner strength Mood reflective inspirational Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - personal crisis - grief recovery - creative process Key Concepts existential reflection mental endurance Questions to Reflect On - What inner resources helped you endure? - Is suffering essential for personal growth? A Different Perspective The quote may romanticize suffering as necessary for growth ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) [Despair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/despair/) [Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought/) ## Related quotes > [Dude! said a party pony as he unloaded his gear. Did you see that bear guy? He was all like: 'Whoa, I have an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/dude-said-a-party-pony-as-he-unloaded-his-gear-did-you-see-that-bear/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) > [I despair at the thought that my life might slip by without God showing Himself mighty in my life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-cymbala/i-despair-at-the-thought-that-my-life-might-slip-by-without-god/) [Jim Cymbala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-cymbala/) > [“But had I not cut the cord? and now was I seeing what happens when there is no gravity. There is indeed nothing, nothing;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-mosley/but-had-i-not-cut-the-cord-and-now-was-i-seeing-what-happens-when/) [Nicholas Mosley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-mosley/) > [“That night, as Cork lay in his bedroll, he thought about the bear they were after. He was glad Sam had changed his mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-kent-krueger/that-night-as-cork-lay-in-his-bedroll-he-thought-about-the-bear-they/) [William Kent Krueger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-kent-krueger/) > [When I was in Greenough, Montana, I came across a bear cub. I was off this path, and I thought, If there's a bear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-roker/when-i-was-in-greenough-montana-i-came-across-a-bear-cub-i-was-off/) [Al Roker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-roker/) > [“I thought: I cannot bear this world a moment longer. Then, child, make another. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeline-miller/i-thought-i-cannot-bear-this-world-a-moment-longer-then-child-make/) [Madeline Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeline-miller/) > [“Thinking can push you to do or say things that are destructive, or it can create a lot of love. Every thought will bring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/th-ch-nh-t-h-nh/thinking-can-push-you-to-do-or-say-things-that-are-destructive-or-it/) [Thich Nhat Hanh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/th-ch-nh-t-h-nh/) > [If you have a dear one in Heaven your heart yearns to see, do not despair, for you will meet again. The voice you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-lockyer/if-you-have-a-dear-one-in-heaven-your-heart-yearns-to-see-do-not/) [Herbert Lockyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-lockyer/) > [I think in particular of our need to speak to the hearts of young people, who, despite their constant exposure to messages contrary to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-benedict-xvi/i-think-in-particular-of-our-need-to-speak-to-the-hearts-of-young/) [Pope Benedict XVI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-benedict-xvi/) > [Do you know what I am going to tell you, he said with his wry mouth, a pint of plain is your only man.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flann-o-brien/do-you-know-what-i-am-going-to-tell-you-he-said-with-his-wry-mouth-a/) [Flann O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flann-o-brien/) > [Whatever comes out of despair cannot bear the title of valor, which should be lifted up to such a height that holding all things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sidney/whatever-comes-out-of-despair-cannot-bear-the-title-of-valor-which/) [Philip Sidney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sidney/) > [Before you realize this truth, say the Yogis, you will always be in despair, a notion nicely expressed in this exasperated line from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/before-you-realize-this-truth-say-the-yogis-you-will-always-be-in/) [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/) > [Le biologiste passe, la grenouille reste. The biologist passes, the frog remains.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rostand/le-biologiste-passe-la-grenouille-reste-the-biologist-passes-the-frog/) [Jean Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rostand/) > [A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-man-cannot-speak-but-he-judges-himself-with-his-will-or-against-his/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [ Neither Italian fascism nor German national "socialism" have anything in common with such a \[Soviet socialistic\] society, primarily because private ownership of factories, plants,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-stalin/neither-italian-fascism-nor-german-national-socialism-have-anything/) [Joseph Stalin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-stalin/) ## More by Heinrich Heine > [Great genius takes shape by contact with another great genius, but, less by assimilation than by friction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/great-genius-takes-shape-by-contact-with-another-great-genius-but/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [Lo, sleep is good, better is death--in sooth The best of all were never to be born.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/lo-sleep-is-good-better-is-death-in-sooth-the-best-of-all-were-never/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/ordinarily-he-was-insane-but-he-had-lucid-moments-when-he-was-merely/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [Human misery is too great for men to do without faith.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/human-misery-is-too-great-for-men-to-do-without-faith/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [Every age has its problem, by solving which humanity is helped forward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/every-age-has-its-problem-by-solving-which-humanity-is-helped-forward/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [The beauteous dragonfly's dancing By the waves of the rivulet glancing; She dances here and she dances there, The glimmering, glittering flutterer fair. Full…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/the-beauteous-dragonfly-s-dancing-by-the-waves-of-the-rivulet/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [I am no longer a divine biped. I am no longer the freest German after Goethe, as Ruge named me in healthier days. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/i-am-no-longer-a-divine-biped-i-am-no-longer-the-freest-german-after/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [First, I thought, almost despairing, This must crush my spirit now; Yet I bore it, and am bearing- Only do not ask me how.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/first-i-thought-almost-despairing-this-must-crush-my-spirit-now-yet-i/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [Nothing is more futile than theorizing about music. No doubt there are laws, mathematically strict laws, but these laws are not music; they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/nothing-is-more-futile-than-theorizing-about-music-no-doubt-there-are/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [A lonely fir-tree is standing On a northern barren height; It sleeps, and the ice and snow-drift Cast round it a garment of white.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/a-lonely-fir-tree-is-standing-on-a-northern-barren-height-it-sleeps/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [Thought is invisible nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/thought-is-invisible-nature/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [“Still is the night, it quiets the streets down, In that window my love would appear; She's long since gone away from this town,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/still-is-the-night-it-quiets-the-streets-down-in-that-window-my-love/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [The dragon-fly is dancing,— Is on the water glancing, She flits about with nimble wing, The flickering, fluttering, restless thing. Besotted chafers all admire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/the-dragon-fly-is-dancing-is-on-the-water-glancing-she-flits-about/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [There is one thing on earth more terrible than English music, and that is English painting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/there-is-one-thing-on-earth-more-terrible-than-english-music-and-that/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) > [He is noble who both feels and acts nobly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/he-is-noble-who-both-feels-and-acts-nobly/) [Heinrich Heine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) [Explore all 262 Heinrich Heine quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/) ## More Bears quotes > [For not only every democracy, but certainly every republic, bears within itself the seeds of its own destruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-not-only-every-democracy-but-certainly-every-republic-bears/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [She'd read once that if you ran into a bear in the woods you should avoid eye contact and you shouldn't run away, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-ursu/she-d-read-once-that-if-you-ran-into-a-bear-in-the-woods-you-should/) [Anne Ursu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-ursu/) > [In the movie, the stars above the ship bear no correspondence to any constellations in a real sky. Worse yet, while the heroine bobs...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/in-the-movie-the-stars-above-the-ship-bear-no-correspondence-to-any/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [Television series are like the stock market. There's room for bears and bulls but no room for pigs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-newhart/television-series-are-like-the-stock-market-there-s-room-for-bears/) [Bob Newhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-newhart/) > [The Germans are the most philosophic people in the world, and the greatest smokers: now I trace their philosophy to their smoking. Smoking has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-henry-borrow/the-germans-are-the-most-philosophic-people-in-the-world-and-the/) [George Henry Borrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-henry-borrow/) > [...Gratitude transforms the torment of memory of good things now gone into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/gratitude-transforms-the-torment-of-memory-of-good-things-now-gone/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [You've had a whole lot of experience, but everything is also radically new at each moment, and you have to bring a kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-houston/you-ve-had-a-whole-lot-of-experience-but-everything-is-also-radically/) [Jean Houston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-houston/) > [The rationale which accompanies that imposition of male authority euphemistically referred to as 'the battle of the sexes' bears a certain resemblance to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-millett/the-rationale-which-accompanies-that-imposition-of-male-authority/) [Kate Millett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-millett/) > [Pay no heed to the passing religious vogue. Go back to the grass roots. Open your hearts and search the Scriptures. Bear your cross,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/pay-no-heed-to-the-passing-religious-vogue-go-back-to-the-grass-roots/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [I want you to take a red-hot bath as hot as you can bear it, and just relax your nerves. You can read in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/i-want-you-to-take-a-red-hot-bath-as-hot-as-you-can-bear-it-and-just/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [He sank into the rocking chair, the same one in which Rebecca had sat during the early days of the house to give embroidery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/he-sank-into-the-rocking-chair-the-same-one-in-which-rebecca-had-sat/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [Some things in this world just ain't meant to be, not in the times we want 'em to, and the heart has to hold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-mcbride/some-things-in-this-world-just-ain-t-meant-to-be-not-in-the-times-we/) [James McBride](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-mcbride/) > [And if anyone knows anything about anything," said Bear to himself, "it's Owl who knows something about something," he said, "or my name's not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/and-if-anyone-knows-anything-about-anything-said-bear-to-himself-it-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm totally independent. I don't bear any responsibility to any system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/i-m-totally-independent-i-don-t-bear-any-responsibility-to-any-system/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [I'm supportive of women, absolutely, and it's so gratifying to have girls come up and say, 'I'm really inspired by your guitar playing.' I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-vincent/i-m-supportive-of-women-absolutely-and-it-s-so-gratifying-to-have/) [St. Vincent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-vincent/) [Browse all 4,111 Bears quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "At first I was almost about to despair, I thought I never could bear it — but I did I bear it. The question remains: how?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Heinrich Heine" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/at-first-i-was-almost-about-to-despair-i-thought-i-never-could-bear/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bears" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/at-first-i-was-almost-about-to-despair-i-thought-i-never-could-bear/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53f/heinrich-heine-1170_bears_at-first-i-was-almost-about-to-despair-i_246677.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53f/heinrich-heine-1170_bears_at-first-i-was-almost-about-to-despair-i_246677.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53f/heinrich-heine-1170_bears_at-first-i-was-almost-about-to-despair-i_246677.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“At first I was almost about to despair, I thought I never could bear it — but I did I bear it. The question…” — Heinrich Heine", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Heinrich Heine", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-heine/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "At first I was almost about...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/at-first-i-was-almost-about-to-despair-i-thought-i-never-could-bear/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-heine/at-first-i-was-almost-about-to-despair-i-thought-i-never-could-bear/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```