The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called
resignation is confirmed
desperation. From the desperate city you go into the
desperate country, and have to console yourself with the
bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious
despair is concealed even under what are called the games
and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for
this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of
wisdom not to do desperate things.
-- Henry David Thoreau. Walden (1854) p.14