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

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.

X, 6
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X
Context: By remembering then that I am a part of such a whole, I shall be content with everything that happens. And inasmuch as I am in a manner intimately related to the parts which are of the same kind with myself, I shall do nothing unsocial, but I shall rather direct myself to the things which are of the same kind with myself, and I shall turn all my efforts to the common interest, and divert them from the contrary.

Sleeping with Strangers

Source: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), Ch. 4

A Change of Heart

On whether she considers herself hopeful in “Jia Tolentino: What It’s Like Being the Most Talked About Millennial Writer” https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/11896/jia-tolentino-trick-mirror-book-interview-new-yorker-staff-writer-2019 in AnOther (2019 Sep 15)

Variant: Plant an expectation; reap a disappointment." (Quoting an old adage)
Source: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Source: Drenai series, The King Beyond the Gate, Ch. 2

Source: Lock and Key