Hope has as many lives as a cat or a king.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Hope is the only good that is common to all men; those who have nothing else possess hope still.
—Thales of Miletus (c.624–c.545 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician
In time of trouble avert not thy face from hope, for the soft marrow abideth in the hard bone.
—Hafez (1325–89) Persian Poet, Mystic
The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.
—Barbara Kingsolver (b.1955) American Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Honor begets honor, trust begets trust; faith begets faith; and hope is the mainspring of life.
—Henry L. Stimson (1867–1950) American Political leader, Military Leader, Lawyer
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
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 (1936–2011) Czech Dramatist, Statesman
We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
We must have hope or starve to death.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man.
—Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) Roman Scholar, Encyclopedist
There is nothing that fear and hope does not permit men to do.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Lord save us all from… a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
We are so constituted by Nature that we easily believe the things we hope for, but believe only with difficulty those we fear, and that we regard such things more or less highly than is just. This is the source of the superstitions by which men everywhere are troubled. For the rest, I don’t think it worth the trouble to set out in detail here the vacillations of mind that stem from hope and fear – since it follows simply from the definition of these affects that there is no hope without fear, and no fear without hope (as I shall explain more fully in due course). Moreover, in hoping for or fearing something, we love it or hate it; so what I have said about love and hate can easily be applied to hope and fear.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
Hope is a pleasant acquaintance, but an unsafe friend, not the man for your banker, though he may do for a traveling companion.
—Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796–1865) Canadian Author, Humorist, Businessperson, Judge
Hope is a vigorous principle; it is furnished with light and heat to advise and execute; it sets the head and heart to work, and animates a man to do his utmost. And thus, by perpetually pushing and assurance, it puts a difficulty out of countenance, and makes a seeming impossibility give way.
—Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) Anglican Church Historian, Clergyman
It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet, I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever-approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.
—Anne Frank (1929–45) Holocaust Victim
My only hope lies in my despair.
—Jean Racine (1639–1699) French Dramatist
Of course all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side of the work – the big sudden blows that come, or seem to come, from outside – the ones you remember and blame things on and, in moments of weakness, tell your friends about, don’t show their effect all at once. There is another sort of blow that comes from within – that you don’t feel until it’s too late to do anything about it, until you realize with finality that in some regard you will never be as good a man again. The first sort of breakage seems to happen quick – the second kind happens almost without your knowing it but is realized suddenly indeed. Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation – the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
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.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
It is worth a thousand pounds a year to have the habit of looking on the bright side of things.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
In the face of uncertainty, there is nothing wrong with hope.
—Bernie S. Siegel (b.1932) American Physician, Writer
Hope is a light diet, but very stimulating.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal, with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.
—John Ciardi (1916–86) American Poet, Teacher, Etymologist, Translator
Hopes are but the dreams of those that wake.
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721) English Poet, Diplomat
In all things it is better to hope than to despair.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.
—Unknown
Hope is the poor man’s bread.
—Common Proverb
He that lives upon hope will die fasting.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Far away, there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations; I may not reach them but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.
—Louisa May Alcott (1832–88) American Novelist
Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does it appear that the happiest lot of terrestrial existence can set us above the want of this general blessing; or that life, when the gifts of nature and of fortune are accumulated upon it, would not still be wretched, were it not elevated and delighted by the expectation of some new possession, of some enjoyment yet behind, by which the wish shall at last be satisfied, and the heart filled up to its utmost extent.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. The flowers which scatter their odours from time to time in the paths of life, grow up without culture from seeds scattered by chance. Nothing is more hopeless than a scheme of merriment.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Hope is an adventure, a going forward — a confident search for a rewarding life.
—Karl Menninger (1893–1990) American Psychiatrist
Hope, like the gleaming taper’s light, adorns and cheers our way; and still, as darker grows the night, emits a brighter ray.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Author, Playwright, Poet, Physician
Just as dumb creatures are snared by food, human beings would not be caught unless they had a nibble of hope.
—Petronius Roman Courtier, Novelist
Beware how you take away hope from any human being.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Man partly is and wholly hopes to be.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
Your hopes, dreams and aspirations are legitimate. They are trying to take you airborne, above the clouds, above the storms, if you only let them.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Of all ills that one endures, hope is a cheap and universal cure.
—Abraham Cowley (1618–67) English Poet, Essayist
People who build hope into their own lives and who share hope with others become powerful people.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Hold your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but morning comes. Keep hope alive.
—Jesse Jackson (b.1941) American Baptist Civil Rights Activist, Minister
Hope — fortune’s cheating lottery, where for one prize, a hundred blanks there be.
—Abraham Cowley (1618–67) English Poet, Essayist
Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Hope — of all ills that men endure, the only cheap and universal cure; the captive’s freedom, and the sick man s health, the lover’s victory, and the beggar’s wealth.
—Abraham Cowley (1618–67) English Poet, Essayist
For hope is but the dream of those that wake.
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721) English Poet, Diplomat
My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
In the depth of winter I finally learned there was inside me an invincible summer.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
Hope arouses, as nothing else can arouse, a passion for the possible.
—William Sloane Coffin (1924–2006) American Presbyterian Clergyman, Peace Activist
Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
The grand essentials of happiness in this life are: Something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
—George Washington Burnap (1802–59) American Unitarian Priest
While there’s life, there’s hope.
—Common Proverb
Hope is the word which God has written on the brow of every man.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
It has been a thousand times observed, and I must observe it once more, that the hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowned with fruition.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Author, Playwright, Poet, Physician
Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.
—Rita Mae Brown (b.1944) American Writer, Feminist
Hope on, and save yourself for prosperous times.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices. But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly. I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn’t write anything without hope in it.
—Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960) American Songwriter, Composer, Theater Producer, Writer
Honest winter, snow clad and with the frosted beard, I can welcome not uncordially; but that long deferment of the calendar’s promise, that weeping loom of March and April, that bitter blast outraging the honor of May — how often has it robbed me of heart and hope.
—George Gissing (1857–1903) English Novelist
There is no medicine like hope, no incentives so great, and no tonics so powerful as the expectation of something better tomorrow.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Isn’t it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties? Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope; perhaps one could never find sense in life without first experiencing its absurdity…
—Vaclav Havel (1936–2011) Czech Dramatist, Statesman
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Hope is a very unruly emotion.
—Gloria Steinem (b.1934) American Feminist, Journalist, Social Activist, Political Activist
With each passing day, I didn’t lose hope. I fought to have more.
—Amy Tan (b.1952) Chinese-American Novelist
When hope is hungry, everything feeds it.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
The present is the ever moving shadow that divides yesterday from tomorrow. In that lies hope.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
We never know how high we are till we are called to rise. And then, if we are true to plan, our statures touch the skies.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
Our children are our only hope for the future, but we are their only hope for their present and their future.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
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.
—Omar Khayyam (1048–1123) Persian Mathematician
None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
In our sad condition our only consolation is the expectancy of another life. Here below all is incomprehensible.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
Everybody, my friend, everybody lives for something better to come. That’s why we want to be considerate of every man—Who knows what’s in him, why he was born and what he can do?
—Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) Russian Writer, Dramatist, Political Activist, Novelist
My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
The men whom I have seen succeed best in life always have been cheerful and hopeful men; who went about their business with a smile on their faces; and took the changes and chances of this mortal life like men; facing rough and smooth alike as it came.
—Charles Kingsley (1819–75) English Clergyman, Academic, Historian, Novelist
Hope is the major weapon against the suicide impulse.
—Karl Menninger (1893–1990) American Psychiatrist
Hope is a prodigal young heir, and experience is his banker, but his drafts are seldom honored since there is often a heavy balance against him, because he draws largely on a small capital and is not yet in possession.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
The capacity for hope is the most significant fact of life. It provides human beings with a sense of destination and the energy to get started.
—Norman Cousins (1915–90) American Journalist, Author, Academic, Activist
The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes, rather than their minds.
—William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Industrialist
We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Hope, like faith, is nothing if it is not courageous; it is nothing if it is not ridiculous.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
When you’re depressed, the whole body is depressed, and it translates to the cellular level. The first objective is to get your energy up, and you can do it through play. It’s one of the most powerful ways of breaking up hopelessness and bringing energy into the situation.
—O. Carl Simonton
Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.
—Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian Singer, Songwriter, Poet, Novelist
Where there is no vision, there is no hope.
—George Washington Carver (1864–1943) American Scientist, Botanist, Educator, Inventor
Hope is independent of the apparatus of logic.
—Norman Cousins (1915–90) American Journalist, Author, Academic, Activist
To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. No merchant or tradesman would set himself to work if he did not hope to reap benefit thereby.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
Hope is the most beneficial of all the affections, and doth much to the prolongation of life, if it be not too often frustrated; but entertaineth the fancy with an expectation of good.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Whatever enlarges hope will also exalt courage.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–99) American Lawyer, Orator, Agnostic
To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Hope is nature’s veil for hiding truth’s nakedness.
—Alfred Nobel (1833–1896) Swedish Inventor, Humanitarian
There is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
Remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
—Stephen King (b.1947) American Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Screenwriter, Columnist, Film Director
I am a little deaf, a little blind, a little impotent, and on top of this are two or three abominable infirmities, but nothing destroys my hope.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Life without idealism is empty indeed. We just hope or starve to death.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing.
—Robert Burns (1759–96) Scottish Poet, Lyricist, Farmer
Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.
—Lu Xun (1881–1936) Chinese Writer
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
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.
—Vaclav Havel (1936–2011) Czech Dramatist, Statesman
Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.
—Erik Erikson (1902–94) German-born American Psychologist, Psychoanalyst, Writer