“Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed”

—  Alexander Pope

Letter, written in collaboration with John Gay, to William Fortescue (23 September 1725).
A similar remark was made in a letter to John Gay (16 October 1727): "I have many years magnify'd in my own mind, and repeated to you a ninth Beatitude, added to the eight in the Scripture: Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."
Variant: Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
Context: "Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed" was the ninth Beatitude which a man of wit (who, like a man of wit, was a long time in gaol) added to the eighth.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 12, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed" by Alexander Pope?
Alexander Pope photo
Alexander Pope 158
eighteenth century English poet 1688–1744

Related quotes

Tallulah Bankhead photo

“The cynic says "blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed." I say "blessed is he who expecteth everything, for he can't always be disappointed.”

Tallulah Bankhead (1902–1968) American actress

"I want everything" in What I Want from Life (1934) edited by Edmund George Cousins, p. 108
Context: The cynic says "blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed." I say "blessed is he who expecteth everything, for he can't always be disappointed."

Sylvia Plath photo

“If you expect nothing from somebody you are never disappointed.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar (1963), Ch. 5

Nicholas Sparks photo

“He who does nothing is the one who does nothing.'…'Blessed are the lazy who lie in boats, for they shall inherit a suntan.”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

Stephanie Parker, Chapter 9, p. 107
2000s, The Choice (2007)

“He who expects little is rarely disappointed.”

Edmund Cooper book Seed of Light

Seed of Light (1959)

“I wasn’t disappointed, inasmuch as I expected nothing.”

Roger Zelazny book This Immortal

Source: This Immortal (1965), p. 29

Sarah Dessen photo

“If you expect the worst, you'll never be disappointed.”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

Cinda Williams Chima photo

“He expects nothing, she thought, because he's never had anything. And nothing was expected of him. He was free in a way she never would be.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

“Kenneth Burke calls form the satisfaction of an expectation; The Man Who Loved Children is full of such satisfactions, but it has a good deal of the deliberate disappointment of an expectation that is also form.”

Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist

“An Unread Book”, p. 40
The Third Book of Criticism (1969)

John R. Commons photo

“The binding power of custom is its security of expectations. What has happened before may be expected to happen again, and he who arbitrarily disappoints expectations must be restrained or punished.”

John R. Commons (1862–1945) United States institutional economist and labor historian

Source: Legal foundations of capitalism. 1924, p. 301

George Washington photo

“Those, who expect more, will be disappointed, but no change will be effected by it.”

George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States

Letter to George William Fairfax (25 June 1786), published in The Writings Of George Washington (1835) by Jared Sparks, p. 175
1780s
Context: My manner of living is plain. I do not mean to be put out of it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton are always ready; and such as will be content to partake of them are always welcome. Those, who expect more, will be disappointed, but no change will be effected by it.

Related topics