“It happens as with cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out.”
Book III, Ch. 5. Upon some Verses of Virgil
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
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Michel De Montaigne 264
(1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, … 1533–1592Related quotes
Act I, scene ii. Compare: "To public feasts, where meet a public rout,— Where they that are without would fain go in, And they that are within would fain go out", John Davies, Contention betwixt a Wife, etc.
The White Devil (1612)

Book III, Ch. 5
Attributed
Source: The Complete Essays

“If you are wise, mingle these two elements: do not hope without despair, or despair without hope.”
Si sapis, alterum alteri misce: nec speraveris sine desperatione nec desperaveris sine spe.
Alternate translation: Hope not without despair, despair not without hope. (translated by Zachariah Rush).
Source: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter CIV: On Care of Health and Peace of Mind, Line 12

“The same, without such opinion, DESPAIRE.”
The First Part, Chapter 6, p. 25
Leviathan (1651)

“Get yourself out of whatever cage you find yourself in.”

“There is not love of life without despair about life.”
Preface, Lyrical and Critical Essays (1970)