“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
A collection of quotes on the topic of success, perseverance, dreams, hope.
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
“Patience is the art of hoping.”
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist
La patience est l’art d’espérer.
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 180.
“Once you choose hope, anything's possible.”
Christopher Reeve (1952–2004) actor, director, producer, screenwriter
“Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby
Source: The Great Gatsby
“Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.”
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author
No. 36
Apophthegms (1624)
Variant: Money is a great servant but a bad master.
“Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.”
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881) Swiss philosopher and poet
Amiel's journal; the Journal intime of Henri-Frédéric Amiel 1890 (p.368)
Journal Intime (1882), Journal entries
Source: https://archive.org/details/amielsjournaljou00amieiala
“All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope.”
Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) French writer and dramatist, father of the homonym writer and dramatist
José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor
Source: Interview. Torreblanca, M. E. Entrevista al escritor José Baroja. Fondo de Cultura Económica. https://www.fondodeculturaeconomica.com/Noticia/706
Yuzuru Hanyu (1994) Japanese figure skater (1994-)
Other quotes, 2015
Original: (ja) 明日の自分が今の自分を見たら胸張っていられるように、そんな今を過ごし続けたいなという風に思ってます。
Source: Interview with NHK on 15 June 2015, aired the same day in the evening news program News Watch 9.
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) British singer, songwriter and record producer
Statement to the press (23 November 1991), the day before his death, as quoted at The Biography Channel http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/338:294/1/Freddie_Mercury.htm.
Jane Goodall (1934) British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist
Reported in Janelle Rohr, Animal rights: opposing viewpoints (1989), p. 100; Jane Goodall and Jennifer Lindsey, Jane Goodall: 40 Years at Gombe (1999), p. 6. Occasionally misreported in truncated form, as "The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves", in, e.g., quote honored on XOEarth eco money http://xoearth.org/jane-goodall/
Carl Sagan book Pale Blue Dot
Source: Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994), p. 8, Supplemental image at randi.org http://www.randi.org/images/122801-BlueDot.jpg
Anthony the Great (251–357) Christian saint, monk, and hermit
Book II, Chapter 10
From St. Athanasius' Life of St. Antony
Marie Curie (1867–1934) French-Polish physicist and chemist
Pierre Curie (1923), as translated by Charlotte Kellogg and Vernon Lyman Kellogg, p. 168
Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America
Trump: How to Get Rich (2004), p. 74
2000s
Billie Eilish (2001) American singer-songwriter
Come Out and Play (20 November 2018), co-written with Finneas O'Connell.
Singles (2017 - )
“Where there's hope, there's life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.”
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
“Dead my old fine hopes
And dry my dreaming but still…
Iris, blue each spring”
Ome Shushiki (1669–1725) Japanese waka poet in the middle of the Edo period
Source: Japanese Haiku
“Hope is the only good that is common to all men; those who have nothing else possess hope still.”
Thales (-624–-547 BC) ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician
A Dictionary of Thoughts (1908) by Tryon Edwards, p. 234
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
Address at the Belgrade train station (1 June 1892)
“I think it's a mistake to ever look for hope outside of one's self.”
After the Fall (1964)
Context: I think it's a mistake to ever look for hope outside of one's self. One day the house smells of fresh bread, the next of smoke and blood. One day you faint because the gardener cuts his finger off, within a week you're climbing over corpses of children bombed in a subway. What hope can there be if that is so? I tried to die near the end of the war. The same dream returned each night until I dared not to go to sleep and grew quite ill. I dreamed I had a child, and even in the dream I saw it was my life, and it was an idiot, and I ran away. But it always crept onto my lap again, clutched at my clothes. Until I thought, if I could kiss it, whatever in it was my own, perhaps I could sleep. And I bent to its broken face, and it was horrible … but I kissed it. I think one must finally take one's life in one's arms.
“I hope the fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say "yes women can".”
Dilma Rousseff (1947) 36th President of Brazil
“I went to the worst of bars hoping to get killed but all I could do was to get drunk again.”
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer
“We were all at once terribly alone; and alone we must see it through.”
Erich Maria Remarque book All Quiet on the Western Front
Source: All Quiet on the Western Front
Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…
Rosa Parks (1913–2005) African-American civil rights activist
Quoted in "Standing Up for Freedom," Academy of Achievement.org (2005-10-31)
Helena Bonham Carter (1966) British actress
On making "Sweeney Todd" while pregnant; The Daily Mirror (London); Jan 25, 2008; John Hiscock; p. 15
Michael Jackson (1958–2009) American singer, songwriter and dancer
Also used at his funeral (3 Sep. 2009) invitation. Quoted in "Dead stars and classic art will surround Michael Jackson " in CNN.com/entertainment (03 July 2009) http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/03/michael.jackson.funeral/index.html#cnnSTCOther1
Elliot Rodger (1991–2014) American spree killer
My Twisted World (2014), Thoughts at 14
Patch Adams (1945) Physician, activist, diplomat, author
As quoted in "Entrevista com o médico americano P. Adams" in Roda Viva - Entrevista (13 November 2007)
Alexander Rybak (1986) Norwegian singer, actor, violinist, composer, pianist
"Funny Little World" (2009).
Anthony Hopkins (1937) Welsh stage and television actor
"Sir Anthony Hopkins: I couldn't be an atheist". https://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2011/02/11/sir-anthony-hopkins-i-couldnt-be-an-atheist/ (February 11, 2011)
Aung San Suu Kyi (1945) State Counsellor of Myanmar and Leader of the National League for Democracy
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (2012)
Context: Of the sweets of adversity, and let me say that these are not numerous, I have found the sweetest, the most precious of all, is the lesson I learnt on the value of kindness. Every kindness I received, small or big, convinced me that there could never be enough of it in our world. To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others. Even the briefest touch of kindness can lighten a heavy heart. Kindness can change the lives of people.
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
"Experiments With Alternate Currents Of High Potential And High Frequency" (February 1892)
Context: Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point of the universe. This idea is not novel. Men have been led to it long ago by instinct or reason; it has been expressed in many ways, and in many places, in the history of old and new. We find it in the delightful myth of Antaeus, who derives power from the earth; we find it among the subtle speculations of one of your splendid mathematicians and in many hints and statements of thinkers of the present time. Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic! If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic — and this we know it is, for certain — then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature.
Joanne K. Rowling (1965) British novelist, author of the Harry Potter series
2000s <br class="br">Context: Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced. … It is that absence of being able to envisage that you will ever be cheerful again. The absence of hope. That very deadened feeling, which is so very different from feeling sad. Sad hurts but it's a healthy feeling. It's a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.<br><br>As quoted in "J. K. Rowling : The Interview," by Ann Treneman in The Times (30 June 2000) http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0600-times-treneman.html
Greta Thunberg book No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference
2019, World Economic Forum (January 2019) <br class="br">Source: Greta Thunberg, 16, urges leaders to act on climate, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/25/our-house-is-on-fire-greta-thunberg16-urges-leaders-to-act-on-climate (25 January 2019)<br>Cited in ', Penguin Books, 2019, pages 19-24 (ISBN 9780141991740).
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
On voluntary euthanasia as quoted in People's Daily Online (14 June 2006) http://english.people.com.cn/200606/14/eng20060614_273839.html
John Newton (1725–1807) Anglican clergyman and hymn-writer
As quoted in The Christian Pioneer (1856) edited by Joseph Foulkes Winks, p. 84. Also in The Christian Spectator, vol. 3 (1821), p. 186 http://books.google.com/books?id=mv4oAAAAYAAJ&dq=ah%2C%20how%20imperfect%20and%20deficient!%20I%20am%20not%20what%20I%20wish%20to%20be&pg=PA186#v=onepage&q=ah,%20how%20imperfect%20and%20deficient!%20I%20am%20not%20what%20I%20wish%20to%20be&f=false <br class="br">Often paraphrased as I am not the man I ought to be, I am not the man I wish to be, and I am not the man I hope to be, but by the grace of God, I am not the man I used to be."'
Francis S. Collins (1950) Geneticist; Director of the National Institutes of Health
Source: Belief: Readings on the Reason for Faith
“Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.”
Padre Pio (1887–1968) Italian saint, priest, stigmatist and mystic
“Nothing should be out of the reach of hope. Life is a hope.”
Oscar Wilde A Woman of No Importance
Source: A Woman of No Importance
“My favorite book is my next one. I’m always hoping to make my next book my best one.”
Mo Willems (1968) American children's illustrator and writer
“Rules for happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for.”
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher
“I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.”
Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer
Source: Tropic of Cancer (1934), Chapter One
“In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.”
Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher
“You don't forget the face of the person who was your last hope.”
Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games
Katniss Everdeen, p. 85
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, The Hunger Games (2008)
Michael Parenti (1933) American academic
1 POLITICS AND ISSUES, Making The World Safe For Hypocrisy, p. 64
Dirty truths (1996), first edition
“We can never enter upon the path to virtue unless we have hope as our guide and companion.”
Pelagius (360–420) British monk
Letter to Demetrias
Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian pedagogue, philosopher and physician
Part I : The Child's Part in World Reconstruction, p. 4
The Absorbent Mind (1949)
Adolfo Bioy Casares (1914–1999) Argentine novelist
"El mismo lobo tiene momentos de debilidad, en que se pone del lado del cordero y piensa: Ojalá que huya."
Guirnaldas con amores, 1959.
Claude Monet (1840–1926) French impressionist painter
Quote in a letter from Giverny to Gustave Geffroy, 23 November 1894; as cited in: P. Michael Doran (2001), Art Conversations with Cézanne, p. 3
1890 - 1900
Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) French sculptor
Attributed to Rodin in H. Read (1964), as cited in: Karl H. Pfenninger, Valerie R. Shubik, Bruce Adolphe (2001). The Origins of Creativity. p. 50
1950s-1990s
Gianluigi Buffon (1978) Italian association football player
Gianluigi Buffon, as quoted in Football Italia (07/07/29)
Anton LaVey book The Satanic Bible
The Satanic Bible (1969)
Dolly Parton (1946) American singer-songwriter and actress
I Will Always Love You from the album Jolene
Song lyrics
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)
1960s, A Time for Choosing (1964)
Context: You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness. We will keep in mind and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us. He has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny.
“I love to live in the past, with a little hope for the future… ”
Alexander Rybak (1986) Norwegian singer, actor, violinist, composer, pianist
Ravi Zacharias (1946) Indian philosopher
Source: Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
“It's better to die in pursuit of your dreams than to live a life without hope.”
Terry Brooks (1944) American writer
Source: Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace
“True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet
Ally Carter I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
Source: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope… I have loved none but you.”
Jane Austen book Persuasion
Variant: You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.
Source: Persuasion
Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976) German theoretical physicist
Physics and Philosophy (1958)
Source: Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science
Context: Whenever we proceed from the known into the unknown we may hope to understand, but we may have to learn at the same time a new meaning of the word "understanding."
Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) American economist of the Austrian School, libertarian political theorist, and historian
“As long as there's life, there's hope.”
Tamora Pierce (1954) American writer of fantasy novels for children
Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order
Widely known as The Prayer of St. Francis, it is not found in Esser's authoritative collection of Francis's writings. <br class="br">[Fr. Kajetan, Esser, OFM, ed., Opuscula Sancti Patris Francisci Assisiensis, Rome, Grottaferrata, 1978]. Additionally there is no record of this prayer before the twentieth century. <br class="br">[Fr. Regis J., Armstrong, OFM, Francis and Clare: The Complete Works, New York, Paulist Press, 1982, 10, 0-8091-2446-7]. Dr. Christian Renoux of the University of Orleans in France traces the origin of the prayer to an anonymous 1912 contributor to La Clochette, a publication of the Holy Mass League in Paris. It was not until 1927 that it was attributed to St. Francis. <br class="br"> The Origin of the Peace Prayer of St. Francis, 2013-06-28, Renoux, Christian http://www.franciscan-archive.org/franciscana/peace.html,. <br class="br">[Christian, Renoux, La prière pour la paix attribuée à saint François: une énigme à résoudre, Paris, Editions franciscaines, 2001, 2-85020-096-4]. <br class="br">Misattributed