Quotations and Literature Forum

I'm curious to know if there are any good that are pessimistic out there? They can be concerning anything, human nature,our existence...

I'm concerned because for me a pessimistic book means an unhappy ending ending - I can think of some good books with sad endings but don't want to spoil it.

Do you want a book with a pessimist as a main character that may or may not be a sad book?

I would like both .

There is a good collection of nihilistic quotes in a book titled The Dark Side-Thoughts on the Futility of Life from the Ancient Greeks to the Present, by Alan R. Pratt, ISBN 0-8065-1481-7. It makes for a good pessimistic read on a rainy night.

It's hard to beat nihilism.

I found John Updike's Rabbit books and Catcher is the Rye pessimistic.

jean-paul-sartre's "existencialism and humanism", is pretty depressing and it explains why so.....
its a pretty difficult read though however its very very short which is good if you have a bad attention span like me :/

i have a book which is the most pessimistic thing i have ever read. It is called Everything Is Bad For You Its By David French. Its almost a dictionary. It tells you about the most horrible things, like how when a person laughs, it weakens their muscles and they may end up with narcolepsy because of that!

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Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke

Thanks for all of ur sharings
I would like more pessimistic fictions tho.

Sylvia Plath- 'The Bell Jar'
John Steinbeck 'Grapes of Wrath'

fish are quick!

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"The proper study of mankind is man."
Alexander Pope

I've read this great book, it's called Catcher In The Rye, you should really read it! The boy in the book looks only at the dark side of things. It's really a great book, it's easy to read and isn't that long But eventhough it has real pessimestic aspects the book is very cheerfull

If you're looking for something sad I would recommend anything by Nicholas Sparks. If you're looking for something that ends depressingly, I found A farewell to arms by Ernest Hemingway to have a depressing ending. That's all I can think of right now, I don't know if it helps or not.

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"The unexamined life is not worth living for man" Socrates

I'm assuming that you have read 1984, but if not that is a good one.

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"A crazy man sees things nobody else can see. But what about someone who sees things nobody else can-but that turn out to be there after all? There is a word for people like that too. The word is genius." - The Victorious Opposition

Read Sylvia Plath...don't read the Bell Jar if you are feeling depressed.

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Ben Miller
Purdue University

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education--Mark Twain

Finnigans Wake? No!!.....ach well!

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I started out with nothing and still have most of it left.

Oldie, but goodie. My favorite, in fact. "Notes from the Undergound". It's by a russian writer (and I'm not even going to attempt to spell his name) but I love it, or rather, it brings me down.

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They say it's better than the alternative, but maybe that's just reckless optomism.