All hope abandon, ye who enter here. ~ Dante Hope is a waking dream. ~ AristotleThere’s no hope without endeavor. Hope has no meaning unless we are prepared to work to realize our hopes and dreams. ~ Aung San Suu KyiA leader is a dealer in hope. ~ Napoleon
When we open up about our emotional challenges, admitting we are not perfect, we give others permission to share their struggles. Together we realize there is hope and we do not have to suffer alone.
When people talk of the Freedom of Writing, Speaking, or thinking, I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.
John Adams Letter to Thomas Jefferson (15 July 1817)
Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate.
All hope abandon, ye who enter here.
Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Canto III: The Gate of Hell, line 9
This is what hope does to you when you’re not used to it. It is very like being drunk. You don’t realize how badly you’re impaired until you see the results of your spree.
You ask what hope is. He says it is a waking dream.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Book V, 18 speaking of Aristotle; ascribed to Pindar by Stobæus—Sermon CIX; to Plato by Ælian—Var. Hist, XIII. 29, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
Know then, whatever cheerful and serene Supports the mind, supports the body too: Hence, the most vital movement mortals feel Is hope, the balm and lifeblood of the soul.
John Armstrong, Art of Preserving Health (1744), Book IV, line 310
Our greatest good, and what we least can spare, Is hope: the last of all our evils, fear.
John Armstrong, Art of Preserving Health (1744), Book IV, line 318
I’ve always said there’s no hope without endeavor. Hope has no meaning unless we are prepared to work to realize our hopes and dreams but in order to that we do need to have friends. We need those who believe in us. Friends are those who believe in us and who want to help us whatever it is that we are trying to achieve.
Everything passes away — suffering, pain, blood, hunger, pestilence. The sword will pass away too, but the stars will still remain when the shadows of our presence and our deeds have vanished from the earth. There is no man who does not know that. Why, then, will we not turn our eyes towards the stars? Why?
But what is Hope? Nothing but the paint on the face of Existence. The least touch of truth rubs it off, and then we see what a hollow-cheeked harlot we have got hold of.
Lord Byron, letter to Thomas Moore, 28 October 1815, in Byrons Letters and Journals (1975), Vol 4, ed. Leslie Marchand
This is President Anton Chekov of the United Federation of Planets, broadcasting on all emergency channels. Do not approach Earth. A signal of unknown origin has turned our young against us. They have been assimilated by the Borg. Our fleet has been compromised, and as we speak, our planetary defenses are falling. Sol Station is defending Earth as best it can, but we're almost out of time. We have not been able to find a way to stop this Borg signal, and unassimilate our young. But I know, if my father were here, he'd remind us all that "hope is never lost. There are always possibilities." Until then, I implore you: save yourselves. Farewell.
As the days of spring arouse all nature to a green and growing vitality, so when hope enters the soul it makes all things new. It insures the progress which it predicts. Rooted in faith, growing up into love; these make the three immortal graces of the Gospel, whose intertwined arms and concurrent voices shed joy and peace over our human life.
James Freeman Clarke, Self-Culture: Physical, Intellectual, Moral, and Spiritual – A Course of Lectures (1880), Chapter 19: Education of Hope, p. 411
A variant, "As these summer days have roused all nature..." (with other minor alterations) appears as the entry for July 12 in Messages of Faith, Hope, and Love: Selections for Every Day in the Year from the Sermons and Writings of James Freeman Clarke (Boston: Geo. H. Ellis, 1895), p. 180
Work without hope draws nectar in a sieve, And hope without an object cannot live.
And Hope enchanted smiled, and waved her golden hair.
William Collins, The Passions, an Ode for Music (1747), line 3
But thou, O Hope, with eyes so fair, What was thy delighted measure? Still it whisper'd promised pleasure, And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail!
William Collins, The Passions, an Ode for Music (1747), line 29
Hope! of all ills that men endure, The only cheap and universal cure.
When faith and hope fail, as they do sometimes, we must try charity, which is love in action. We must speculate no more on our duty, but simply do it. When we have done it, however blindly, perhaps Heaven will show us why.
"Hope" is the thing with feathers — That perches in the soul — And sings the tune without the words — And never stops — at all — And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard — And sore must be the storm — That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm —
Emily Dickinson, Poem 254 in The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (1960), edited by Thomas H. Johnson
I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best.
Because I do not hope to turn again Because I do not hope Because I do not hope to turn Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope I no longer strive to strive towards such things (Why should the agèd eagle stretch its wings?) Why should I mourn The vanished power of the usual reign?
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
To hope means to be ready at every moment for that which is not yet born, and yet not become desperate if there is no birth in our lifetime.
Erich Fromm, The Revolution of Hope: Toward a Humanized Technology (1968)
Always believe in your dreams, because if you don't, you'll still have hope. ~ Mahatma Gandhi We always hope, and in all things it is better to hope than to despair. ~ Johann Wolfgang von GoetheThe note of hope is the only note that can help us or save us from falling to the bottom of the heap of evolution, because, largely, about all a human being is, anyway, is just a hoping machine, a working machine. ~ Woody GuthrieHope of consciousness is strength. ~ G. I. Gurdjieff
People cannot live without hope; this is one of the statements I can defend without any reservations.
Hans-Georg Gadamer in one of his last interviews, "Die Menschen können nicht ohne Hoffnung leben", Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung (February 11, 2002)
Always believe in your dreams, because if you don't, you'll still have hope.
The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men. United in Christ, they are led by the HolySpirit in their journey to the Kingdom of their Father and they have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for every man.
While there is life there's hope (he cried,) Then why such haste?—so groan'd and died.
John Gay, The Sick Man and The Angel, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
Bei so grosser Gefahr kommt die leichteste Hoffnung in Anschlag.
In so great a danger the faintest hope should be considered.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Egmont, II, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
Wir hoffen immer, und in allen Dingen Ist besser hoffen als verzweifeln.
We always hope, and in all things it is better to hope than to despair.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Torquato Tasso, III. 4. 197, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
Protesting is an act of love. It is born of a deeply held conviction that the world can be a better, kinder place. Saying "no" to injustice is the ultimate declaration of hope.
Amy Goodman Conclusion, Standing Up To the Madness: Ordinary Heroes In Extraordinary Times with David Goodman (2008)
Hope, like the gleaming taper's light, Adorns and cheers our way; And still, as darker grows the night, Emits a brighter ray.
In all my wanderings round this world of care, In all my griefs—and God has given my share— I still had hopes my latest hours to crown, Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down.
The wretch condemn'd with life to part, Still, still on hope relies; And every pang that rends the heart Bids expectation rise.
Oliver Goldsmith, Captivity, Song, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
I have hoped as many hopes and dreamed so many dreams, seen them swept aside by weather, and blown away by men, washed away in my own mistakes, that — I use to wonder if it wouldn't be better just to haul off and quit hoping. Just protect my own inner brain, my own mind and heart, by drawing it up into a hard knot, and not having any more hopes or dreams at all.
No matter how bad the wicked world has hurt you, in the long run, there is something gained, and it is all for the best] … The note of hope is the only note that can help us or save us from falling to the bottom of the heap of evolution, because, largely, about all a human being is, anyway, is just a hoping machine, a working machine.
Woody Guthrie, "Notes about Music" (29 March 1946) also quoted in Ramblin' Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie (2004) by Ed Cray
Hope of consciousness is strength Hope of feelings is slavery Hope of body is disease.
Gay hope is theirs by fancy fed, Less pleasing when possest; The tear forgot as soon as shed, The sunshine of the breast.
Thomas Gray, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1742), Stanza 5
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. ~ Václav HavelHope is the best possession. None are completely wretched but those who are without hope; and few are reduced so low as that. ~ William HazlittBeware how you take away hope from any human being. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone, you'll never walk alone.
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
Václav Havel, Disturbing the Peace (1986), Chapter 5: The Politics of Hope
Unhappy they who raise their hopes upon the shifting sand.
Hope is the best possession. None are completely wretched but those who are without hope; and few are reduced so low as that.
William Hazlitt, Characteristics, in the manner of Rochefoucauld's Maxims (1823), No. 34
History says don't hope / On this side of the grave. / But then, once in a lifetime / The longed for tidal wave / Of justice can rise up / And hope and history rhyme.
Seamus Heaney, "Doubletake", from The Cure at Troy (1990)
Beware how you take away hope from any human being.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in his valedictory address to medical graduates at Harvard University (10 March 1858), published in The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. LVIII, No. 8 (25 March 1858), p. 158; this has also been paraphrased "Beware how you take away hope from another human being"
Youth fades; love droops, the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., A Mother's Secret, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
I suppose it can be truthfully said that Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity.
Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, sickness and captivity would, without this comfort, be insupportable. ~ Samuel JohnsonHope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords. ~ Samuel Johnson
Wherever you are tonight, you can make it. Hold your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but the morning comes. Don't you surrender. Suffering breeds character, character breeds faith. In the end faith will not disappoint. You must not surrender. You may or may not get there but just know that you're qualified. And you hold on, and hold out. We must never surrender. America will get better and better.
When we realize the degree of agency we actually do have, we no longer have to "hope" at all. We simply do the work.
Derrick Jensen, Endgame Volume I: The Problem of Civilization, p. 330
Casey Maddox wrote that when philosophy dies, action begins. I would say in addition that when we stop hoping for external assistance, when we stop hoping that the awful situation we're in will somehow resolve itself, when we stop hoping the situation will somehow not get worse, then we are finally free — truly free — to honestly start working to thoroughly resolve it. I would say when hope dies, action begins.
Derrick Jensen, Endgame Volume I: The Problem of Civilization, p. 330
A wonderful thing happens when you give up on hope, which is that you realize you never needed it in the first place. You realize that giving up on hope doesn't kill you, nor did it make you less effective. In fact it made you more effective, because you ceased relying on someone or something else to solve your problems — you ceased hoping your problems somehow get solved, through the magical assistance of God, the Great Mother, the Sierra Club, valiant tree-sitters, brave salmon, or even the Earth itself — and you just began doing what's necessary to solve your problems yourself.
Derrick Jensen, Endgame Volume I: The Problem of Civilization, p. 332
In all the wedding cake, hope is the sweetest of the plums.
Douglas Jerrold, Jerrold's Wit, The Cats-paw, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
When there is no hope, there can be no endeavor.
Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 110, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, sickness and captivity would, without this comfort, be insupportable.
Yet it is necessary to hope, though hope should always be deluded, for hope itself is happiness, and its frustrations, however frequent, are yet less dreadful than its extinction.
Samuel Johnson, in reference to an unhappily married man remarrying immediately after his wife's death, as quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol. 2, p. 82
It's the hope for all the hopeless in the worst of trying times.
The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon Turns Ashes—or it prospers; and anon, Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, Lighting a little hour or two—is gone.
Hope is a timid thing, Fearful, and weak, and born in suffering; At least, such Hope as human life can bring.
Letitia Elizabeth Landon The New Monthly Magazine (1834) 'The Future' page 303. Re-used in 'Ethel Churchill' Vol. I, Chapter 31
Hope is love's happiness, but not its life;— How many hearts have nourished a vain flame In silence and in secret, though they knew They fed the scorching fire that would consume them!
This remark having been questioned by one to whose judgment I exceedingly defer, may I be permitted not to retract, but to defend my assertion? Hope is like constancy, the country, or solitude—all of which owe their reputation to the pretty things that have been said about them. Hope is but the poetical name for that feverish restlessness which hurries over to-day for the sake of to-morrow. Who among us pauses upon the actual moment, to own, "Now, even now, am I happy?" The wisest of men has said, that hope deferred is sickness to the heart: yet what hope have we that is not deferred? For my part, I believe that there are two spirits who preside over this feeling, and that hope, like love, has its Eros and Anteros. Its Eros, that reposes on fancy, and creates rather than calculates; while its Anteros lives on expectation, and is dissatisfied with all that Is, in vague longings for what may be.
Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1938), X Studies and Sketches for Pictures and Decorations, as translated by Edward MacCurdy; by the side of this passage is a sketch of a cage with a bird sitting in it.
If you've lost your faith in love and music, the end won't be long
The Libertines, "The Good Old Days", Babyshambles Sessions (2003)
One only hope my heart can cheer,— The hope to meet again.
George Linley, Song, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
Races, better than we, have leaned on her wavering promise, Having naught else but Hope.
Hope proves man deathless. It is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity. ~ Henry MelvillA man without hope is a man without fear. ~ Frank Miller I never loved a tree or flower, But 'twas the first to fade away. ~ Thomas MooreA holy life is a life of hope; and at the end of it, death is a great act of hope. ~ William Mountford
Vita dum superest, bene est.
While life remains it is well.
Mæcenas, quoted by Seneca, Epist., 101, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
Our dearest hopes in pangs are born, The kingliest Kings are crown'd with thorn.
Gerald Massey, The Kingliest Kings, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
“Hope hurts. That's what you need to learn, and fast, if you don't want it to cut you open from the inside out. Hope is bad. Hope means you keep on holding to things that won’t ever be so again, and so you bleed an inch at a time until there's nothing left. Ely-Eleanor is always saying 'don't use this word' and 'don't use that word,' but she never bans the ones that are really bad. She never bans hope.”
Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent.
Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook (1963), Chapter 5 (Often misattributed to Jean Kerr, who borrowed the line)
Hope proves man deathless. It is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity.
Henry Melvill, in "The Advantages of a State of Expectation" in Sermons by Henry Melvill, B. D (1844), edited by Charles Pettit McIlvaine, Sermon X, p. 113
So, cutting the lashing of the waterproof match keg, after many failures Starbuck contrived to ignite the lamp in the lantern; then stretching it on a waif pole, handed it to Queequeg as the standard-bearer of this forlorn hope. There, then, he sat, holding up that imbecile candle in the heart of that almighty forlornness. There, then, he sat, the sign and symbol of a man without faith, hopelessly holding up hope in the midst of despair.
And the young gay people in the Altoona, Pennsylvanias and the Richmond, Minnesotas who are coming out and hear Anita Bryant in television and her story. The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us'es, the us'es will give up. And if you help elect to the central committee and other offices, more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone.
Harvey Milk, A version of his staple "Hope Speech," quoted in Randy Shilts, The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk (1982), p. 363
Inflamed with the study of learning and the admiration of virtue; stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave men and worthy patriots, dear to God, and famous to all ages.
Hope, in its stronger forms, is a great deal more powerful stimulus to life than any sort of realized joy can ever be. Man must be sustained in suffering by a hope so high that no conflict with actuality can dash it — so high, indeed, that no fulfilment can satisfy it: a hope reaching out beyond this world.
Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it. ~ Barack ObamaHope is the bedrock of this nation. The belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be. ~ Barack ObamaHope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting. ~ Barack ObamaNo human being can truly be imprisoned if hope burns in your heart. … A true revolution of the spirit begins in each of our hearts. ~ Barack ObamaHope does not arise by putting our fellow man down; it is found by lifting others up. ~ Barack Obama
Years from now, you'll look back and you'll say that this was the moment, this was the place where America remembered what it means to hope. For many months, we've been teased, even derided for talking about hope. But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.
Hope is the bedrock of this nation. The belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.
I'm not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. I'm not talking about the wishful idealism that allows us to just sit on the sidelines or shirk from a fight. I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.
[W]e were inspired by the fierce dignity of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as she proved that no human being can truly be imprisoned if hope burns in your heart.… You're the ones who are going to have to seize freedom, because a true revolution of the spirit begins in each of our hearts.
Only by working together can we preserve those institutions of family and community, rights and responsibilities, law and self-government that is the hallmark of this nation. For, it turns out, we do not persevere alone. Our character is not found in isolation. Hope does not arise by putting our fellow man down; it is found by lifting others up.
Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ~ Paul of TarsusHope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar; Wait the great teacher, Death, and God adore; What future bliss He gives not thee to know, But gives that hope to be thy blessing now. ~ Alexander PopeA man's hope measures his civilization. The attainability of the hope measures, or may measure, the civilization of his nation and time. ~ Ezra Pound
Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
We can never enter upon the path to virtue unless we have hope as our guide and companion.
Pelagius, in "Letter to Demetrias" as translated by B. Rees, in Readings in World Christian History (2013), pp. 206-210
Nam multa præter spem scio multis bona evenisse, At ego etiam qui speraverint, spem decepisse multos.
For I know that many good things have happened to many, when least expected; and that many hopes have been disappointed.
Plautus, Rudens, II. 3. 69; Mostellaria, Act I, scene 3, line 71
Even after all that, each and every being here believe, that the heat will be defeated and coolness will prevail. The experience knows that the rule of an autocrat cannot last long.
Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar; Wait the great teacher, Death, and God adore; What future bliss He gives not thee to know, But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1733-34), Epistle II, line 273
A man's hope measures his civilization. The attainability of the hope measures, or may measure, the civilization of his nation and time.
Ezra Pound, Guide to Kulchur (1938), part 3, Section 6, Ch. 22
“It’s the hope that’s important. Big part of belief, hope. Give people jam today and they’ll just sit and eat it. Jam tomorrow, now—that’ll keep them going forever.”
Have Hope. Though clouds environ now, And gladness hides her face in scorn, Put thou the shadow from thy brow, — No night but hath its morn. ~ Friedrich SchillerHope is brightest when it dawns from fears. ~ Walter Scott Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that And manage it against despairing thoughts. Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear. ~ William Shakespeare The miserable have no other medicine But only hope: I've hope to live, and am prepar'd to die. ~ William ShakespeareFear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear. ~ Baruch SpinozaThis tree is our symbol. Our affirmation of Life, and everyone in this town gives part of their water rations to keep it alive. We've learned, administrator, that hope is a powerful weapon against anything, even drought. ~ Star Trek: The Next GenerationIt is not necessary to succeed in order to persevere. As long as there is a margin of hope, however narrow, we have no choice but to base all our actions on that margin. ~ Leó Szilárd
Who in Life's battle firm doth stand Shall bear Hope's tender blossoms Into the Silent Land.
J. G. Van Salis, Song of the Silent Land, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.
There are three lessons I would write, — Three words — as with a burning pen, In tracings of eternal light Upon the hearts of men.
Have Hope. Though clouds environ now, And gladness hides her face in scorn, Put thou the shadow from thy brow, — No night but hath its morn.
Have Faith. Where'er thy bark is driven, — The calm's disport, the tempest's mirth, — Know this: God rules the hosts of heaven, The habitants of earth.
Have Love. Not love alone for one, But men, as man, thy brothers call; And scatter, like the circling sun, Thy charities on all.
Thus grave these lessons on thy soul, — Hope, Faith, and Love, — and thou shalt find Strength when life's surges rudest roll, Light when thou else wert blind.
Friedrich Schiller, Hope, Faith, and Love (c. 1786); also known as "The Words of Strength", as translated in The Common School Journal Vol. IX (1847) edited by Horace Mann, p. 386
Verzweifle keiner je, dem in der trübsten Nacht Der Hoffnung letzte Sterne schwinden.
Let no one despair, even though in the darkest night the last star of hope may disappear.
Hope makes itself every day springs up from the tiniest places
Naomi Shihab Nye Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems (2020)
Imagine a man who doesn't believe in anything, hope for anything, doesn't love anyone. This is a description of a dead or paralyzed soul. This happens from great grief, or from an unhappy upbringing when parents make from their children's souls paralytics.
Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear.
Baruch Spinoza, Ethics, Part III, definition 13: explanation (1677)
“What hope can a man have,” my father had once shouted at me, “if he has none of Heaven?” Even in 1910 he thought the world a vale of tears without relent. “The hope of enlightened life,” I had replied then.
Let the sweet hope that Thou art mine, My life and death attend; Thy presence through my journey shine, And crown my journey's end.
Anne Steele, in "The Grace of God", as quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895) edited by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 328
This tree is our symbol. Our affirmation of Life, and everyone in this town gives part of their water rations to keep it alive. We've learned, administrator, that hope is a powerful weapon against anything, even drought.
It is not necessary to succeed in order to persevere. As long as there is a margin of hope, however narrow, we have no choice but to base all our actions on that margin. America and Russia have one interest in common which may override all their other interests: to be able to live with the bomb without getting into an all-out war that neither of them wants.
Leó Szilárd, as quoted in "Some Szilardisms on War, Fame, Peace", LIFE magazine, Vol. 51, no. 9 (1 September 1961), p. 79
While there's life there's hope, and only the dead have none. ~ TheocritusHope keeps you focused on the future, and this continued focus perpetuates your denial of the Now and therefore your unhappiness. ~ Eckhart Tolle
We do not stray out of all words into the ever silent; We do not raise our hands to the void for things beyond hope.
As long as I breathe I hope. As long as I breathe I shall fight for the future, that radiant future, in which man, strong and beautiful, will become master of the drifting stream of his history and will direct it towards the boundless horizons of beauty, joy and happiness!
Leon Trotsky, "On Optimism and Pessimism, on the Twentieth Century, and on Many Other Things" (1901), as quoted in The Prophet Armed: Trotsky, 1879-1921 (2003) by Isaac Deutscher , p. 45
In bitter despair, some people have come to believe that wars are inevitable. With tragic fatalism, they insist that wars have always been, of necessity, and of necessity wars always will be. To such defeatism, men and women of good will must not and can not yield. The outlook for humanity is not so hopeless. During the dark hours of this horrible war, entire nations were kept going by something intangible--hope! When warned that abject submission offered the only salvation against overwhelming power, hope showed the way to victory. Hope has become the secret weapon of the forces of liberation! Aggressors could not dominate the human mind. As long as hope remains, the spirit of man will never be crushed.
Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair. I remember the killers, I remember the victims, even as I struggle to invent a thousand and one reasons to hope.
Hope tells a flattering tale, Delusive, vain and hollow. Ah! let not hope prevail, Lest disappointment follow.
"Miss Wrother", in the Universal Songster, Volume II, p. 86, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 375-78
Hope of all passions, most befriends us here
Edward Young, Night Thoughts (1742-1745), Night VII, line 1,470
Hope, like a cordial, innocent, though strong, Man's heart, at once, inspirits, and serenes, Nor makes him pay his wisdom for his joys.
Edward Young, Night Thoughts (1742-1745), Night VII, line 1,514
Confiding, though confounded; hoping on, Untaught by trial, unconvinced by proof, And ever looking for the never-seen.
Edward Young, Night Thoughts (1742-1745), Night VIII, line 116
Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee. ~ Zechariah
Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
Howard Zinn, A Power Governments Cannot Suppress, p. 270
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. ~ Anonymous
Hope is the poor man's bread.
English proverb, reported in George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651), No. 437
He that lives in hope danceth without music.
English proverb, reported in George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1640), No. 1006
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
Traditional proverb, reported in Roger L'Estrange, Seneca's Morals (1702)