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Hope deferred maketh the heart sick. And yet, as we said, Hope is but deferred; not abolished, not abolishable. It is very notable, and touching, how this same Hope does still light onwards the French Nation through all its wild destinies. For we shall still find Hope shining, be it for fond invitation, be it for anger and menace; as a mild heavenly light it shone; as a red conflagration it shines; burning sulphurous blue, through darkest regions of Terror, it still shines; and goes out not at all, since Desperation itself is a kind of Hope. Thus is our Era still to be named of Hope, though in the saddest sense,--when there is nothing left but Hope.
Carlyle, The French Revolution