Hope calls: 'one more effort - perhaps it will be the last effort needed.' Irony retorts: 'Silly fellow! Haven't you been listening to hope all this time, and see where it has landed you.' Optimism says: 'While there is life, there is hope.' Pessimism growls: 'While there is life, there is pain.' Does the exhausted climber make one more effort, or does he let himself sink into the abyss ? In a few years, those of us who are still alive will know the answer.'
Source:The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, v.3 chap. 1: Return to England, 1969
More info.:http://russell-j.com/beginner/AB31-310.HT