Victor Hugo

As we have said, robust souls are sometimes almost, but not entirely, overthrown by strokes of misfortune. . . . Despair has steps leading upward. From total depression we rise to despondency, from despondency to affliction, from affliction to melancholy. Melancholy is a twilight state in which suffering transmutes into a somber joy. . . . Melancholy is the enjoyment of being sad.