There is nothing between the paradise dreamed of and the paradise lost. There is nothing, since we always want what we have not got. We hope, and then we regret. We hope for the future, and then we turn to the past, and then we begin slowly and desperately to hope for the past! The two most violent and abiding feelings, hope and regret, both lean upon nothing. To ask, to ask, to have not! Humanity is exactly the same thing as poverty. Happiness has not the time to live; we have not really the time to profit by what we are. Happiness, that thing which never is — and which yet, for one day, is no longer!


Light (1919) - Ch. XXIII - Face To Face

Henri Barbusse Quotes

There is nothing between the paradise dreamed of and the paradise lost. There is nothing, since we always want what we have not got. We hope, and...

There is nothing between the paradise dreamed of and the paradise lost. There is nothing, since we always want what we have not got. We hope, and...

There is nothing between the paradise dreamed of and the paradise lost. There is nothing, since we always want what we have not got. We hope, and...

There is nothing between the paradise dreamed of and the paradise lost. There is nothing, since we always want what we have not got. We hope, and...