THE DANGER OF UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

'...despair is often rooted in unrealistic expectations or idealism, the kind of thinking that inevitably brings disappointment. People quit relationships, jobs, and churches over unmet expectations, often expectations that were never fair or realistic in the first place.' 

Karen Swallow Prior, On Reading Well, p.125. 

OUR AGE

'At its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily.' 

Flannery O'Connor, 'Novelist and Believer' in Mystery & Manners, p.159. 

DESPAIR

'...the gospel tells us not only how bad pride is; it says the same about despair...'
Lewis Smedes in Cornelius Platinga Jr., Beyond Doubt, p.95.

IDOLATRY

'When idolatry is mapped onto the future - when idols are theatened - it leads to paralysing fear and anxiety. When it is mapped onto the past - when we fail our idols - it leads to irremediable guilt. When idolatry is mapped onto our present life - when our idols are blocked or removed by circumstances - it roils us with anger and despair.'

Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods, p.149.