Depression- christiansquoting.org.uk

Some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant.

There are many reasons why God would not want you. But don't worry. You're in good company.
- Moses stuttered.
-- David's armor didn't fit.
--- John Mark was rejected by Paul.
---- Hosea's wife was a prostitute.
----- Amos' only training was in the school of fig-tree pruning.
------ Jacob was a liar.
------- David had an affair.
-------- Solomon was too rich.
--------- Abraham was too old.
---------- David was too young.
----------- Timothy had ulcers.
------------ Peter was afraid of death.
------------- Lazarus was dead.
-------------- John was self-righteous.
--------------- Jesus was too poor.
-------------- Naomi was a widow.
------------- Paul was a murderer. So was Moses.
------------ Jonah ran from God.
----------- Miriam was a gossip.
---------- Gideon and Thomas both doubted.
--------- Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.
-------- Elijah was burned out.
------- John the Baptist was a loudmouth.
------ Martha was a worry-wart
----- Mary was lazy.
---- Samson had long hair.
--- Noah got drunk.
-- Did I mention that Moses had a short fuse?
- So did Peter, Paul - well, lots of folks did.
But God doesn't require a job interview.
He doesn't hire and fire like most bosses, because He's more our Dad than our Boss.
He doesn't look at financial gain or loss.
He's not prejudiced or partial, not judging, grudging, sassy, or brassy, not deaf to our cry, not blind to our need.
As much as we try, God's gifts are free.
We could do wonderful things for wonderful people and still not be . . .Wonderful.
Satan says, "You're not worthy."
Jesus says, "So what? I AM."
Satan looks back and sees our mistakes.
God looks back and sees the cross.
He doesn't calculate what you did in '78. It's not even on the record.
Sure. There are lots of reasons why God shouldn't want us.
But if we are magically in love with Him, if we hunger for Him more than our next breath,
He'll use us in spite of who we are, where we've been, or what we look like.
Step out of your limitations into the illimitable nature of who God is.

Everyone thinks his own burden heavy.... French Proverb

If you are bitter at heart, sugar in the mouth will not help you. Jewish proverb

Some days you're the pigeon; some days you're the statue. ~ Roger Anderson

Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine. Thomas Aquinas

God of our life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and weigh us down; when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies grey and threatening; when our lives have no music in them, and our hearts are lonely, and our souls have lost their courage. Flood the path with light, run our eyes to where the skies are full of promise; tune our hearts to brave music; give us the sense of comradeship with heroes and saints of every age; and so quicken our spirits that we may be able to encourage the souls of all who journey with us on the road of life, to Your honour and glory. --. Augustine

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself. Lucille Ball (1911-1989)

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.--Prov. 17:22

I am ashes where once I was fire. --Lord Byron [George Noel Gordon] (1788-1824) (To the Countess of Blessington, 1823)

I can have all the money and cars in the world and be unhappy. Once you find out that money and fame and success doesn't do it, where do you go then? That's a big dilemma. I had all those things: A beautiful wife, cars, a home, money, friends. All the things that you think a man could need and it didn't stop me drinking. I was depressed. I was suicidal. Eric Clapton

Some days are diamonds
Some days are stones
Sometimes the hard times won't leave me alone
Sometimes the cold wind blows a chill in my soul
Some days are diamonds, some days are stone.
Neil Diamond

And the best part of health is fine disposition. It is more essential than talent, even in the works of talent. Nothing will supply the want of sunshine to peaches, and, to make knowledge valuable, you must have the cheerfulness of wisdom. Whenever you are sincerely pleased, you are nourished. The joy of the spirit indicates its strength. All healthy things are sweet-tempered. Genius works in sport, and goodness smiles to the last; and, for the reason, that whoever sees the law which distributes things, does not despond, but is animated to great desires and endeavors. He who desponds betrays that he has not seen it....It is observed that a depression of spirits develops the germs of a plague in individuals and nations. Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life

He's turned his life around. He used to be depressed and miserable.Now he's miserable and depressed.- David Frost

Melancholy attends the best joys of an ideal life. --Margaret Fuller

A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected. --Samuel Johnson, Rasselas

Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every means but drinking. Boswell: Life of Johnson

No disease of the imagination ... is so difficult of cure as that which is complicated with the dread of guilt: fancy and conscience then act interchangeably upon us, and so often shift their places that the illusions of one are not distinguished from the dictates of the other. If fancy presents images not moral or religious, the mind drives them away when they give it pain; but when melancholic notions take the form of duty, they lay hold on the faculties without opposition, because we are afraid to exclude or banish them. For this reason the superstitious are often melancholy, and the melancholy almost always superstitious." - Samuel Johnson: Rasselas [the character Imlac]

Talking of constitutional melancholy, he observed, "A man so afflicted, Sir, must divert distressing thoughts, and not combat with them." Boswell: "May not he think them down, Sir?" Johnson: "No, Sir. To attempt to think them down is madness. He should have a lamp constantly burning in his bed chamber during the night, and if wakefully disturbed, take a book, and read, and compose himself to rest. To have the management of the mind is a great art, and it may be attained in a considerable degree by experience and habitual exercise.." Boswell: "Should not he provide amusements for himself? Would it not, for instance, be right for him to take a course of chymistry?" Johnson: "Let him take a course of chymistry, or a course of rope-dancing, or a course of any thing to which he is inclined at the time. Let him contrive to have as many retreats for his mind as he can, as many things to which it can fly from itself." - James Boswell: Life of Johnson

The black dog I hope always to resist, and in time to drive, though I am deprived of almost all those that used to help meWhen I rise my breakfast is solitary, the black dog waits to share it, from breakfast to dinner he continues barking, except that Dr Brocklesby for a little keeps him at a distanceNight comes at last, and some hours of restlessness and confusion bring me again to a day of solitude. What shall exclude the black dog from a habitation like this?
Samuel Johnson, Letter to Mrs Thrale, 28 June 1783, in R. W. Chapman (ed.) Letters of Samuel Johnson (1952) vol. 3 (on his attacks of melancholia; more recently associated with Winston Churchill, who used the phrase black dog when alluding to his own periodic bouts of depression)

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people. --Carl Jung

No thoroughly occupied man was ever yet very miserable. Letitia Landon (1802-1838)

[Melancholy] falls upon a contented life, like a drop of ink on white paper, which is none the less a stain that it carries no meaning with it.
John Gibson Lockhart

Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
Henry W. Longfellow. 1807-1882. The Rainy Day

Depression is the inability to construct a future. --Rollo May

I cannot stand being awake, the pain is too much. ~Spike Milligan

Believe not these suggestions, which proceed
From anguish of the mind, and humours black
That mingle with thy fancy.
John Milton. (1608 -1674). Samson Agonistes

Mirth, and even cheerfulness, when employed as remedies in low spirits, are like hot water to a frozen limb.-- Benjamin Rush (1746-1813)

Our every defence against Satan rests upon the power of Jesus Christ. Drawing upon that power, the Protestant Reformation itself a a mighty fortress. Luther also used more direct means of defence, such as cheerfulness, laughter, boisterousness, bawdiness,scorn, insults and obscenity. Everything active, assertive, earthy and good humoured fends off the depression on which the prince of darkness thrives. One of Luther's best defences was to go to bed with Katie. --J Russell The Prince of Darkness p 173

Sometimes one has simply to endure a period of depression for what it may hold of illumination if one can live through it, attentive to what it exposes or demands.- May Sarton

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Hamlet, Act III

Macbeth: Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Raze out the written troubles of the brain, and with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon the heart?
Doctor: Therein the patient Must minister to himself.
Shakespeare., Macbeth

When you are depressed, the past and the future are absorbed entirely by the present, as in the world of a three-year-old. You can neither remember feeling better nor imagine that you will feel better…. Depression means that you have no point of view.-- Andrew Solomon, "Anatomy of Melancholy". The New Yorker. 12 Jan 1998

I wonder if anyone will ever know the emptiness of my life. Personal Diary - Last entry "Oh what's the point?"
Kenneth Williams

Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm. --Steven Wright