There are many different rivers that lead into despair: there's poverty; there's political repression; there's gender apartheid - there's a sense of culture loss; there's religious fanaticism.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
People think that when you're connected with other people it's more painful. The opposite is true. When you're connected to the river you have despair, but you also have joy, and there's a flow in the river.
The virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.
Despair often breeds disease.
The logs of wood which move down the river together Are driven apart by every wave. Such inevitable parting Should not be the cause of misery.
Nature is filled with tendencies and obstructions. Extremes beget limitations, even as a river by its own swiftness creates obstructions for itself.
What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn't have any doubt - it is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn't want to go anywhere else.
The Missouri is, perhaps, different in appearance and character from all other rivers in the world; there is a terror in its manner which is sensibly felt, the moment we enter its muddy waters from the Mississippi.
As for despair, it comes about when I have been a fool and hate myself and despair of my personality. I am prone to gloom, but not depression as such.
Not since the Depression has the state been this dry, have our rivers been this low, our water table this low, and our reservoirs this low.
You can't be unhappy in the middle of a big, beautiful river.