from A Field Guide to Melancholy
… melancholy & genius:
Aristotle: ‘Why is it that all those who have become eminent in philosophy or politics or poetry or the arts are clearly melancholics, and some of them to the extent as to be affected by diseases caused by black bile?’
sub rosa 
I wonder which came first? Melancholy or thought?
For me, melancholy and depression (are they the same?) are as familiar as an old winter coat, one that is heavy and has pockets full of lint left from the things that disturb me. If I can remember to head out in the new landscape that, once I have determined to not dwell on the discomfort of this weight, this new landscape with subtle colours and quiet music, dissonant and at times, surprisingly compelling, like the sudden flight of dark birds against a snow covered field, I can feel sort of calm in this solitude and even a find a hopeful thread…this is a thread…I am trying to unravel it…
You ask if melancholy and depression are the same – and I think they are not, similar but not fully consistent. It is the melancholic sanity that really interests me.
Ah. The term “melancholic sanity” is interesting.
yes, isn’t it?!
🙂