The saddest thing that befalls a soul is when it loses faith in God and woman.

The line frames spiritual and emotional desolation as a crisis of trust: to lose faith in God is to lose a metaphysical anchor, while to lose faith in “woman” (often a Victorian shorthand for love, tenderness, and the moral influence of intimate relationships) is to lose confidence in human affection and virtue. Read together, the pairing suggests that a soul’s deepest sadness comes not from external misfortune but from inward cynicism—when both transcendent meaning and personal love seem unreliable. The sentiment reflects a 19th‑century moral imagination in which religious belief and idealized romantic or domestic faith were seen as mutually reinforcing supports against despair.