The unfortunate man cannot be incurable, and despair has made him what he is
 Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island (1874). copy citation

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Author Jules Verne
Source The Mysterious Island
Topic despair
Date 1874
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by William Henry Giles Kingston
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1268/1268-h/1268-h.htm

Context

“Herbert then in a few words related the incidents of the voyage, and dwelt on the curious fact of the sort of passing gleam in the prisoner’s mind, when for an instant in the height of the storm he had become a sailor. “Well, Herbert,” replied the engineer, “you are right to attach great importance to this fact. The unfortunate man cannot be incurable, and despair has made him what he is; but here he will find his fellow-men, and since there is still a soul in him, this soul we shall save!” The castaway of Tabor Island, to the great pity of the engineer and the great astonishment of Neb, was then brought from the cabin which he occupied in the fore part of the” source