“It is possible to suffer and despair an entire lifetime and still not give up the art of laughter.”

Source: A Ring of Endless Light

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is possible to suffer and despair an entire lifetime and still not give up the art of laughter." by Madeleine L'Engle?
Madeleine L'Engle photo
Madeleine L'Engle 223
American writer 1918–2007

Related quotes

Craig Ferguson photo

“Laughter separates us from despair and gives us a chance at love.”

Craig Ferguson (1962) Scottish-born American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, producer and voice a…

During a dinner discussion with Kristen Bell and Jean Reno. Filmed for a week of shows in Paris, France.
2011-08-05 broadcast
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2005–2014)

Groucho Marx photo

“The only real laughter comes from despair.”

Source: The Groucho Letters

Deepak Chopra photo

“Laughter is Humanity's mechanism to escape suffering.”

Deepak Chopra (1946) Indian-American physician, public speaker and writer

"Iconoclasts" Sundance Channel Original Series episode 3.03 (Original Air Date: 8 November 2007)

Nelson Mandela photo

“I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”

Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist

1990s, Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
Context: I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.

Jules Verne photo

“While his heart still beats, while his flesh still moves, I cannot accept that a being endowed with will-power can give in to despair.”

Et tant que son coeur bat, tant que sa chair palpite, je n'admets pas qu'un être doué de volonté laisse en lui place au désespoir.
Source: Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Ch. XLII in the French text, Tr. William Butcher (1992)

Hiro Mashima photo
Walker Percy photo
Neamat Imam photo
Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned photo

“To give every child the chance to be educated is a gift of promise. A gift of wonderment. A gift that opens up possibilities that can transform lives and develop thinkers, leaders, and creators of great art.”

Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned (1958) wife of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani

Speech at Jazz at Lincoln Centre; quoted on official website http://www.mozabintnasser.qa/en/Pages/ArticlePreview.aspx?ArticleGuid=de04d373-9eaa-46c8-9f4d-033ff7b8fe1f&Type=Speech# (May 16 2013)

Wendell Berry photo

“Much protest is naive; it expects quick, visible improvement and despairs and gives up when such improvement does not come.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

"A Poem of Difficult Hope".
What Are People For? (1990)
Context: Much protest is naive; it expects quick, visible improvement and despairs and gives up when such improvement does not come. Protesters who hold out for longer have perhaps understood that success is not the proper goal. If protest depended on success, there would be little protest of any durability or significance. History simply affords too little evidence that anyone's individual protest is of any use. Protest that endures, I think, is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence.

Related topics