Some of the Best Sayings About Hope

Here are some sayings about hope to lift you up when you're feeling down.
Some of the Best Sayings About Hope
Valeria Sabater

Written and verified by the psychologist Valeria Sabater.

Last update: 15 November, 2021

This article gives you a list of sayings about hope. They’re like little rays of sunshine. Indeed, these proposals and reflections are a fascinating blend of both wisdom and inspiration. In fact, you might find they come in handy when you’re searching for a little peace during these chaotic days that are so full of uncertainty.

From a therapeutic point of view, without a doubt, cultivating hope and putting it into practice reduces anguish, and improves your self-confidence, and mental flexibility. Furthermore, hope better equips you to deal with your past and face both your present and future.

However, remember that having a hopeful mind doesn’t necessarily mean you assume that tomorrow will always be good. As a matter of fact, hopefulness is a characteristic of those who find their own resources and pursue what they want in life. In fact, the key lies in combining your dreams with action and your confidence with determination. Hopefully, the following phrases will inspire you to do just that.

A woman full of life, hope, and love

Sayings about hope

The following phrases will remind you of the personal growth you should strive to attain on a daily basis.

“Hope is a waking dream.”

-Aristotle-

Life, hope, and love are daily exercises that require you to remain alert, awake, and receptive to your surroundings.

“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”

-Victor Hugo-

Dreaming, yearning, and keeping your desires alive are essential ingredients for a life full of hope, and love. Indeed, thanks to them, you can visualize what you hope for in the future and work on achieving it.

“Hope is passion for what is possible.”

-Søren Kierkegaard-

Søren Kierkegaard adds a key component to the understanding of hope. This is positivity. The positive hope that something credible, feasible, and real will happen. That’s because anyone who expects the impossible will only end up feeling disappointed.

“While there’s life, there’s hope.”

-Marcus Tullius Cicero-

This is one of Cicero’s best-known sayings about hope. He meant that in life, there always exists the psychological value of hope.

“Hope means hoping when things are hopeless or it is no virtue at all.”

-GK Chesterton-

When things look absolutely hopeless, hopeful people find a lifeboat to save them.

“If we will be quiet and ready enough we shall find compensation in every disappointment.”

-Henry David Thoreau-

Philosopher David Thoreau, the author of Walden, taught the value of being patient and of remaining calm in the midst of difficulties. Because, sooner or later, change will come.

“However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. Where there’s life, there’s hope.”

-Stephen Hawking-

Stephen Hawking left behind numerous lessons in personal growth. Here, he claims that in any difficulty, there’s always something you can do. This is because hope leads to action.

“I dwell in possibility.”

-Emily Dickinson-

Dwelling in possibility is always better than living in fear. Or, in a place where you can see no solutions to your problems or escape from your anguish.

“In all things it is better to hope than to despair.”

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe-

This is a classic phrase, not to be forgotten. Remember, despair will get you nowhere.

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”

-Nelson Mandela-

Every choice, every decision, and every step you take in life must be guided by hope.

“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”

-JRR Tolkien-

Tolkien left behind a wealth of phrases worth remembering. In this quote, he claims that there’s always something worth living for, fighting for, and striving for. In fact, it’s what gives hope and meaning to your life.

“I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”

-Anne Frank-

Even in the midst of adversity, find the light filtering through the crack. That’s the key.

“Hope is the ocean for the river, the sun for trees and the sky for us.”

-Maxime Lagarce-

Few definitions of hope are more beautiful than the one offered by this historian.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry-

No task will ever be meaningful as long as a person doesn’t initially have hopes, wishes, and desires …

“I find hope in the darkest days and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.”

-Dalai Lama-

The Universe brings days of light and darkness. However, the most important thing is to keep moving forward in any circumstances, whether they be happy or challenging.

“I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best.”

-Benjamin Disraeli-

Nothing makes you more worthy and wise than being ready for both the best and the worst. This is because life is sometimes kind but it can also suddenly snatch away what you might have been taking for granted. Indeed, without a doubt, this is one of the best phrases of hope to remember.

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”

-Aristotle-

Aristotle reminds you that waiting is difficult for everyone. However, those who are patient will always eventually see results.

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

-Confucius-

This phrase of hope from Confucius is one of the most outstanding. Because no matter how many times you fall, the most courageous thing you can do is to keep getting back up.

“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows.”

-Helen Keller-

Always look on the bright side of life.

“You will face many defeats in your life, but never let yourself be defeated.”

-Maya Angelou-

Going down without a fight or allowing yourself to fall without giving it all you’ve got are never good ideas. Therefore, avoid this kind of regret by cultivating hope.

“To live without hope is to cease to live.”

-Fyodor Dostoyevsky-

The absence of hope leads to fear and surrender.

“When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.”

-Theodore Roosevelt-

President Roosevelt and his wife gave us a number of worthy reflections. This one provides a particularly memorable metaphor.

“The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

-Winston Churchill-

A rule that never fails. Learn to see hope where others only see closed doors.

“A leader is a dealer in hope.”

-Napoleon Bonaparte-

There’s no one like Bonaparte to define what a leader really is: a manager of hopes, a giver of wishes, and a maker of possibilities.

“Hope springs eternal.”

-Alexander Pope-

Hope should never cease to germinate within you.

“If you are going through hell, keep going.”

-Winston Churchill-

Continue to move forward if you’re going through a difficult time right now. Just keep going… Sooner or later you’ll find the light at the end of the tunnel.

“However long the night, the dawn will break.”

-African proverb-

This idea is directly related to the previous quote by Churchill. Hope forces you to be patient because, sooner or later, you’ll reap the rewards.

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”

-William Faulkner-

Maintaining hope also forces you to be courageous. In fact, to act, in spite of fear and uncertainty, in order to attain what you desire.

“If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh-

Thich Nhat Hanh provides many inspirational sayings. In this one, he suggests you’ll be able to cope with any difficulty as long as you keep your ultimate goal in mind and are confident in your abilities.

“A strong mind always hopes and has always cause to hope.”

-Thomas Carlyle-

To hope, to trust, to be patient… These are the roots that make hope flourish in your heart.

“What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.”

-Oscar Wilde-

Sometimes, twists of fate can lead you to more fortunate scenarios.

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not.  Remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”

-Epicurus-

Hope also means knowing how to appreciate what comes to you.

“The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep.”

-E. Joseph Cossman-

Without a doubt, this is one of the most original phrases of hope. Indeed, things always look much brighter after a good night’s sleep.

“He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.”

-Thomas Carlyle-

Nothing in this life will ever be as important as good health for both ourselves and our loved ones.

A person looking at the stars.

“The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.”

-T.S. Eliot-

This is another of those sayings you should never forget. The fact that culture will always be a beacon of encouragement, and the key to progress.

“You want nothing but patience – or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.”

-Jane Austen-

Anyone who wants something has no choice but to be patient and work for it every day.

“There can be no hope without fear and no fear without hope.”

-Baruch Spinoza-

This is a saying that really makes you sit up and take notice. Spinoza says that hope is the opposite of fear. Nevertheless, hope also contains fear. This is because your mind always strives to expect the best outcome, no matter how uncertain you may feel.

“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.”

-Martin Luther-

Every action has a purpose, an end, and a sense of hope imprinted upon it.

“If it were not for hope, the heart would break.”

-Thomas Fuller’

What would become of the human race without illusion and hope?

“That was all a man needed: hope. it was lack of hope that discouraged a man.” 

-Charles Bukowski-

You’re nothing without hope. In fact, without hope, the world fades away, and you lose your way.

“Where there is no hope, we must invent it.”

-Albert Camus-

Camus is another author who left us with many interesting reflections. Here, he suggests that it’s your duty to nourish your dreams and start up that engine of hope.

“Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune -without the words – and never stops at all-“

-Emily Dickinson-

One not to be missed from the renowned poet, Emily Dickinson. One of the most beautiful phrases of hope.

“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering “it will be happier “.”

-Alfred Tennyson-

Look up, look around you, there are a thousand reasons to smile.

“Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances that we know to be desperate.”

-GK Chesterton-

Hope is a matter of focus and mental endurance so you must maintain it under any circumstance.

“Hope is a verb with its shirtsleeves rolled up.”

-David Orr-

This phrase is a reminder that action and hope go hand in hand. In fact, positive changes only come to those who work for their dreams.

“Remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

-Stephen King-

The master of horror gives some valuable advice here. That nothing positive ever fades away. Therefore, hope is eternal.

“What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.”

-Thomas Merton-

The best opportunities reside in the present moment.

“Hope is a good breakfast but it is a bad supper.”

-Francis Bacon-

Sir Frances Bacon was right. Indeed, somehow, when the end of the day comes, people always find it harder to keep their hopes and illusions alive.

“It’s always something, to know you’ve done the most you could. But, don’t leave off hoping, or it’s of no use doing anything. Hope, hope to the last!”

-Charles Dickens-

This quote comes from Dickens’ famous book, Nicholas Nickleby. It means if you don’t have hope there’s no point in doing anything at all.

“Walk on with hope in your heart and you’ll never walk alone.”

-Shah Rukh Khan-

There’s no lack of purpose or companionship as long as there’s hope within you.

“Hope itself is like a star – not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity.”

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon-

This is so true. People only hope when they have problems.

“Hope is the only good that is common to all men; those who have nothing else possess hope still.”

-Thales of Miletus-

Even if you have nothing, you can still have hope.

“A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope.”

-Epitecto-

Life without hope has no direction and no meaning.

“Withdrawing is not fleeing, nor is waiting around considered prudent when there’s more danger than hope .

-Miguel de Cervantes-

Knowing when to act and when to surrender is the essence of wisdom.

“The desires in our life form links and those links make a long chain: hope.”

-Seneca-

Always maintain a long chain of shiny links of hope around you.

“To hope means to be ready at every moment for that which is not yet born.” 

-Erich Fromm-

The author left behind this beautiful phrase of hope to reflect upon..

“Any little thing can give hope, just like a candle in the dark.”

-Christiaan Mostert-

The smallest of things can give you hope. For example, you might remember someone precious or relive some happy childhood memories.

“The most terrible of all feelings is the feeling of one’s hope having died.”

-Federico García Lorca-

Few things are as debilitating as the loss of illusion and hope.

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”

-Barak Obama-

A great reflection by the former USA president.

“Only the man who believes truly hopes, and only whoever truly hopes believes.”

-Miguel De Unamuno-

Hope is belief and belief is hope.

“We need never be hopeless, for we can never be irreparably broken.”

-John Green-

You’ll never be really despondent or helpless as long as you maintain hope.

“Where there is no hope in the future, there is no power in the present.”

-John Maxwell-

The here and now has no meaning if you stop believing in tomorrow and the good it may bring you.

A flower that implies life and hope.

“Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.”

-Roy T. Bennett-

No adversity will last forever as long as you maintain hope.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

-Albert Einstein-

This is a cycle that should never end. Learn from the past, appreciate the present and nurture hope for tomorrow. Who could ask for anything more?

“The past is made up of facts … I guess the future is just hope.”

-Isaac Marion-

Another saying along the same lines: the future is made of hope.

“Faith is the very first thing you should pack in a hope chest.”

-Sarah Ban Breathnach-

Faith, hope, longing, trust… All these dimensions are one and the same thing.

“Yesterday is but a dream. Tomorrow is only a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.”

-Kālidāsa-

Another saying not to be forgotten. Trust in the future.

“Every moment has its pleasures and its hope.”

-Jane Austen-

Happiness is about enjoying every moment and maintaining your inner hopes.

“Hope herself ceases to be happiness when impatience companions her.”

-John Ruskin-

The impatient person is hasty. For this reason, they won’t always be good architects of hope.

“Hope is definitely not the same 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-

This is one of the most accurate and valuable phrases of hope. Remember that hoping doesn’t mean you take it for granted that everything’s going to be all right. Instead, hope means understanding that you’ll be able to face and accept whatever happens.

“Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.”

-Samuel Smiles-

Keep your eyes straight ahead and always walk along the path of light, hope, and love.

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”

-Desmond Tutu-

Life is a game of light and shadow. However, there must always be a space in between for hope.

“What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life.”

-Emil Brunne-

Hope activates and drives you on. In fact, it’s the engine that helps you move forward.

“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.”

-Lin Yutang-

Always remember that you need to work on hope daily. It requires dynamism, effort, and will.

“Hope, of all ills that men endure, the only cheap and universal cure.”

-Abraham Cowley-

We should dish out hope in large quantities. That’s because there’s never enough in the world.

“Hope is tenacious. It goes on living and working when science has dealt it what should be its deathblow.”

-Paul Laurence Dunbar-

This poet and playwright gave us another original saying about life, hope, and love. Never give up.

“Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.”

-Robert H. Schuller-

Put aside the pain of yesterday, only allow tomorrow and what’s yet to come to matter.

“What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope.”

-Mahatma Gandhi-

Keep this phrase in mind and don’t let anyone and anything take your hopes away.

“While I breathe, I hope”

-Latin proverb-

To breathe is to live so as long as there’s life there’ll be hope.

“You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot keep spring from coming.”

-Pablo Neruda-

Whatever happens, life and love always move forward, and there’s peace and hope in the end.

“Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.”

-Maya Angelou-

This beautiful and important reflection by Maya Angelou concludes the list. Hope isn’t a good companion to fear, so get rid of the latter. Then, you can continue to work on your dreams and enjoy your life.

 


This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.