I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
I saw that all beings are fated to happiness: action is not life, but a way of wasting some force, an enervation. Morality is the weakness of the brain.
—Arthur Rimbaud (1854–91) French Poet, Adventurer
If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.
—Michael Jordan (b.1963) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
We tend to live up to our expectations.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
You begin by always expecting good things to happen.
—Tom Hopkins (b.1911) English Sportsperson
Don’t lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality.
—Ralph Marston
When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.
—Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) English Theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, Academic
Real life is, to most men … a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Expect nothing, live frugally on surprise.
—Alice Walker (b.1944) American Novelist, Activist
Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing.
—William Congreve (1670–1729) English Playwright, Poet
Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
One of the things that my parents have taught me is never listen to other people’s expectations. You should live your own life and live up to your own expectations, and those are the only things I really care about it.
—Tiger Woods (b.1975) American Sportsperson
High expectations are the key to everything.
—Sam Walton (1918–92) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
What is destructive is impatience, haste, expecting too much too fast.
—May Sarton (1912–95) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, Novelist
Man’s real life is happy, chiefly because he is ever expecting that it soon will be so.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
I stake to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.
—Wayne Gretzky (b.1961) Canadian Sportsperson
We expect everything and are prepared for nothing.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Mystic, Writer
To expect defeat is nine-tenths of defeat itself.
—Francis Marion Crawford (1854–1909) Italian-born American Novelist, Writer
If pleasures are greatest in anticipation, just remember that this is also true of troubles.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
We tend to get what we expect.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing, through the overtaking and possessing of a wish discovers the folly of the chase.
—William Congreve (1670–1729) English Playwright, Poet
We could hardly believe that after so many ordeals, after all the trials of modern skepticism, there was still so much left in our souls to destroy.
—Alexander Herzen (1812–70) Russian Revolutionary, Writer
I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.
—Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) Greek Novelist, Poet, Dramatist
Aerodynamically, the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know that; so it goes on flying anyway.
—Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
We find what we expect to find, and we receive what we ask for.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
We will always tend to fulfill our own expectation of ourselves.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
People expect a certain reaction from a business and when you pleasantly exceed those expectations, you’ve somehow passed an important psychological threshold.
—Richard Thalheimer (b.1948) American Entrepreneur
Now it is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
If you expect nothing, you’re apt to be surprised. You’ll get it.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Satisfaction with an experience depends significantly on our expectations going into it.
—Ben Casnocha (b.1988) American Entrepreneur
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
To work without attachment is to work without the expectation of reward or fear of any punishment in this world or the next. Work so done is a means to the end, and God is the end.
—Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836–86) Indian Hindu Philosopher
We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Life … tends to respond to our outlook, to shape itself to meet our expectations.
—Richard DeVos (1926–2018) American Businessman, Philanthropist
Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect.
—Margaret Mitchell (1900–49) American Author, Novelist
Don’t cross the bridge till you come to it.
—Common Proverb
Letters are expectation packaged in an envelope.
—Shana Alexander (1925–2005) American Journalist, Editor, Author
What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
Your expectations opens or closes the doors of your supply, If you expect grand things, and work honestly for them, they will come to you, your supply will correspond with your expectation.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
The boy who expects every morning to open into a new world finds that today is like yesterday, but he believes tomorrow will be different.
—Charles Dudley Warner (1829–1900) American Essayist, Novelist