“It was the promise of maybe, maybe one day.”

Source: The Lucky One

Travis McGee series, A Deadly Shade of Gold (1965)
Context: I think there is some kind of divine order in the universe. Every leaf on every tree in the world is unique. As far as we can see, there are other galaxies, all slowly spinning, numerous as the leaves in the forest. In an infinite number of planets, there has to be an infinite number with life forms on them. Maybe this planet is one of the discarded mistakes. Maybe it's one of the victories. We'll never know.

Runner-up speech to Alexander Zverev after his 2017 Montreal Masters 1000 defeat; Federer had won the Canadian Open in Toronto but never in Montreal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO7NHKsl4qk

Source: The Secret Life of Prince Charming

Source: Shanghai Girls

Letter to his brother Jeff from Guadalcanal (28 January 1943); p. 28
To Reach Eternity (1989)
Context: I'm going to ask you something. If I do get killed, and I honestly don't see how I can help it, I want you to write that book we were thinking about when I enlisted. If I get it, it's a cinch I won't be able to do it, and it would make me feel a whole lot better to know that if not my name and hand, at least, the thot of me would be passed on and not forgotten entirely. You know, sort of put into the book the promise that I had and the things I might have written so at least the knowledge of talent wasted won't be lost... If I get it, no one will ever know to what heights I might have gone as a writer. Maybe if you wrote about the promise that was there, all wouldn't be lost.

Source: The Kiss of Deception

Variant: Maybe these are my glory days, and I'm not ever realizing it because they involve a ball.
Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower