“He had cast out of heaven his dim star; it had fallen, and its track was lost in the darkness of night. It would never return to the sky again, because life was given only once and never came a second time. If he could have turned back the days and years of the past, he would have replaced the falsity with truth, the idleness with work, the boredom with happiness; he would have given back purity to those whom he had robbed of it. He would have found God and goodness, but that was as impossible as to put back the fallen star into the sky, and because it was impossible he was in despair.” The Duel

Drag your thoughts away from your troubles — by the ears, by the heels, or any other way, so you manage it. The American Claimant

For myself I am an optimist -- it does not seem to be much use being anything else. Never Give In!

Pity is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the human sufferer. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man