“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)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Michel De Montaigne264
(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)
Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman
Book III, Ch. 5
Attributed
Source: The Complete Essays
“such mad confidence within despair.”
Jean Paul Sartre book Saint Genet
Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr (1952)
Original: (60).
“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
“The same, without such opinion, DESPAIRE.”
Thomas Hobbes book Leviathan
The First Part, Chapter 6, p. 25
Leviathan (1651)
“Get yourself out of whatever cage you find yourself in.”
John Cage (1912–1992) American avant-garde composer
“There is not love of life without despair about life.”
Albert Camus (1913–1960) French author and journalist
Preface, Lyrical and Critical Essays (1970)
