quotations about hope
"I hope" is used in order to voice a bunch of trivial alibis that express (or deserve) no commitment or future--that ally themselves with the acceptance of the most awful present. People "hope to" win the lottery, or the slots, or to be the ninth caller to a radio station; and pretty soon this caricature is too much of a burden to carry. The delicate fabric of hope is easy to tear; then all we are left with is a tic, we have gone to the opposite extreme from the firmness of faith--and extremes often touch, we know: there are those who go straight from a church service to a bingo game.
ERMANNO BENCIVENGA
Dancing Souls
Hope deceives more men than cunning can.
MARQUIS DE VAUVENARGUES
Reflecions et Maximes
How can hope be false when it is as much a part of the human experience as birth or death?
LORI HOPE
Help Me Live
Hope is the shadow of faith.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
Men of warm imaginations and towering thoughts are apt to overlook the goods of fortune which are near them, for something that glitters in the sight at a distance; to neglect solid and substantial happiness for what is showy and superficial; and to contemn that good which lies within their reach, for that which they are not capable of attaining. Hope calculates its schemes for a long and durable life; presses forward to imaginary points of bliss; grasps at impossibilities; and consequently very often ensnares men into beggary, ruin, and dishonour.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Nov. 13, 1712
The most tragic form of loss isn't the loss of security; it's the loss of the capacity to imagine that things could be different.
ERNST BLOCH
The Principle of Hope
With thee, sweet Hope! resides the heav'nly light,
That pours remotest rapture on the sight:
Thine is the charm of life's bewilder'd way,
That calls each slumb'ring passion into play:
Wak'd by thy touch, I see the sister band,
On tiptoe watching, start at thy command,
And fly where'er thy mandate bids them steer,
To Pleasure's path, or Glory's bright career.
THOMAS CAMPBELL
The Pleasures of Hope
In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Human
Man ever talks, and Man ever dreams
Of better days that are yet to be,
After glittering goal, that distant gleams,
Running and racing untiringly.
The worldly may grow old and young as it will,
But the Hope of man is Improvement still.
Hope bears him into life in her arms,
She flutters around the boy's young bloom,
The soul of youth with her magic warms,
Nor rests with age in the silent tomb;
For ends man his weary course at the grave,
There plants he Hope o'er his ashes to wave.
FRIEDRICH SCHILLER
"Hope"
Who turns away from gazing at the sun
Sees its dusk images fill all the air.
It is not otherwise when Hope is done:
Her darkling phantoms make the heaven of Despair.
EDITH MATILDA THOMAS
"When Hope Is Done"
Hope is a flatterer; but the most upright of parasites; for she frequents the poor man's hut, as well as the palace of his superior.
WILLIAM SHENSTONE
Essays on Men and Manners
Hope was a dangerous emotion that more often than not led men into foolishness and peril, made them risk their lives and lose their wives and part with fortunes that they never recovered.
BENTLEY LITTLE
The Policy
Though Hope be a small child, she can carry a great anchor!
EDWARD BULWER-LYTTON
The Last of the Barons
We all hope. It's what keeps us alive.
DAVID MAMET
Speed-the-Plow
Never give out while there is hope; but hope not beyond reason, for that shows more desire than judgment.
WILLIAM PENN
Some Fruits of Solitude
Hope is the soul's best bower anchor let go in good holding ground. Through every trial, through every woe, in health, in sickness, in poverty, and in want, hope, like a bright fixed star of promise, shines aloft, and bids us not despair.
T. AUGUSTUS FORBES LEITH
"On Hope", Short Essays
Hope never abandons you; you abandon it.
GEORGE WEINBERG
Self Creation
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy.
BIBLE
Proverbs 13:12
Hope, deceitful as it is, carries us through life agreeably enough.
FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
Moral Maxims
Hope is a waking dream.
ARISTOTLE
attributed, Lives of Eminent Philosophers