“To be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing.”
Raymond Williams (1921–1988) philosopher
Resources of Hope (published posthumously in 1989), p. 118
Credo quia absurdam — I believe because it is absurd
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), Conclusion : Don Quixote in the Contemporary European Tragi-Comedy
“To be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing.”
Raymond Williams (1921–1988) philosopher
Resources of Hope (published posthumously in 1989), p. 118
“It's not the despair, Laura, I can stand the despair. It's the hope.”
Michael Frayn (1933) British writer
Clockwise (1986), cited from Malcolm Page File on Frayn (London: Methuen, 1994) p. 65.
“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.
Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist
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
“Prayer is a bridge from despair to hope.”
Bill Hybels (1951) American writer
Too Busy Not to Pray (2008, InterVarsity Press)
“The future belongs to those who can generate hope from the past rather than despair.”
Donal McKeown (1950) Roman Catholic bishop
Northern Ireland: Bloody Sunday commemorated 50 years on https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2022-01/northern-ireland-bloody-sunday-commemorated-50-years-on.html (29 January 2022)
Dennis Prager (1948) American writer, speaker, radio and TV commentator, theologian
2010s, A Dark Time in America (2016)
“2542. Hope is as cheap as Despair.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)