quotations about hope
Hope is an explorer who surveys the country ahead. That is why we know so much about the Hereafter and so little about the Heretofore.
AMBROSE BIERCE
"Epigrams of a Cynic"
Hope is but a charlatan that ceases not to deceive us. For myself happiness only began when I had lost it.
CHAMFORT
The Cynic's Breviary
Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us ... It lends promise to the future and purpose to the past. It turns discouragement to determination.
SAMUEL SMILES
Self-Help
As long as hope does not embrace and transform the thought and action of men, it remains topsy-turvy and ineffective.
JÜRGEN MOLTMANN
Theology of Hope
Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.
VACLAV HAVEL
Disturbing the Peace
We have often to be thankful for hopes frustrated.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
Fraudulent hope is one of the greatest malefactors, even enervators, of the human race, concretely genuine hope its most dedicated benefactor.
ERNST BLOCH
The Principle of Hope
Hope and milk sour by standing.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
God puts the excess of hope in one man, in order that it may be a medicine to the man who is despondent.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
No joy for which thy hungering heart has panted,
No hope it cherishes through waiting years,
But if thou dost deserve it, shall be granted
For with each passionate wish the blessing nears.
Tune up the fine, strong instrument of thy being
To chord with thy dear hope, and do not tire.
When both in key and rhythm are agreeing,
Lo! thou shalt kiss the lips of thy desire.
The thing thou cravest so waits in the distance,
Wrapt in the silences, unseen and dumb:
Essential to thy soul and thy existence--
Live worthy of it--call, and it shall come.
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
"Desire"
The life of hope, then, is shot through with social influences at every level. We learn to formulate ideals in tandem with others. We pursue particular hopes, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing, in the company of those we love. And as we develop habits of hope and the hopefulness which helps us weather our trials, we reach out to others, inspiring them, sharing our own hopes with them, and contributing our abilities as best we can to foster the growth of agency.
PATRICK SHADE
Habits of Hope
There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow.
ORISON SWETT MARDEN
He Can Who Thinks He Can
If we hope for what we are not likely to possess, we act and think in vain, and make life a greater dream and shadow than it really is.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Nov. 13, 1712
Hope just means another world might be possible, not promised, not guaranteed. Hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope.
REBECCA SOLNIT
Hope in the Dark