Doom Quote by Rebecca West

There is a certain sort of man whose doom in the world is disappointment, who excels in it, and whose luckless triumphs in his…

— William Makepeace Thackeray

For in every ill-turn of fortune the most unhappy sort of unfortunate man is the one who has been happy

— Boethius

Man is extraordinarily clever in preventing himself from being happy; it would seem that the less able he is to endure misfortune the more…

— Andre Gide

Men in excess of happiness or misery are equally inclined to severity. Witness conquerors and monks! It is mediocrity alone, and a mixture of…

— Baron de Montesquieu

Indeed, I have observed one ingredient, somewhat necessary in a man’s composition towards happiness, which people of feeling would do well to acquire; a…

— Henry Mackenzie

A highly learned man has two sources of happiness: Either he abandons all earthly interests or else he possesses much which could be abandoned.

— Anonymous

Though the wisdom or virtue of one can very rarely make many happy, the folly or vice of one man often make many miserable.

— Samuel Johnson

All men can bear a familiar, definite misfortune better than the cruel alternations of a fate which, from one moment to another, brings excessive…

— Honore de Balzac

“In the first place a man never is happy but spends his whole life in striving after something which he thinks will make him…

— Irvin D. Yalom

Only hope can give rise to the emotion we call despair. But it is nearly impossible for a man to try to live without…

— Samurai Champloo

Happiness lies so far from man, but he must begin by daring to will it.

— Ellen Key

The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld