Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.

Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.

Meagre were his looks,
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones;
And in his needy shop read more

Meagre were his looks,
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones;
And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuffed, and other skins
Of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves
A beggarly account of boxes,
Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds,
Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses
Were thinly scattered, to make up a show.

Maybe men are separated from each other only by the degree of their misery.

Maybe men are separated from each other only by the degree of their misery.

But O yet more miserable!
Myself my sepulchre, a moving grave.

But O yet more miserable!
Myself my sepulchre, a moving grave.

The miserable have no other medicine but hope.

The miserable have no other medicine but hope.

The child of misery, baptized in tears!

The child of misery, baptized in tears!

Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.

Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.

Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery's shadow or reflection: the fact that you don't merely suffer read more

Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery's shadow or reflection: the fact that you don't merely suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief.

We ought never to scoff at the wretched, for who can be sure of
continued happiness?
[Fr., Il read more

We ought never to scoff at the wretched, for who can be sure of
continued happiness?
[Fr., Il ne se faut jamais moquer des miserables,
Car qui peut s'assurer d'etre toujours heureux?]