Quotes about expectation page 5
“Expectations are like hidden rocks in your path—all they do is trip you up.”
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (1956) novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist
Source: The Palace of Illusions
Elizabeth Gilbert book Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
Source: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
Alfred Lansing book Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Source: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon
Source: Think Big (1996), p. 154
William Saroyan book The Human Comedy
Source: The Human Comedy (1943)
Context: Death is not an easy thing for anyone to understand, least of all a child, but every life shall one day end. But as long as we are alive, as long as we are together, as long as two of us are left, and remember him, nothing in the world can take him from us. His body can be taken, but not him. You shall know your father better as you grow and know yourself better. He is not dead, because you are alive. Time and accident, illness and weariness took his body, but already you have given it back to him, younger and more eager than ever. I don't expect you to understand anything I'm telling you. But I know you will remember this — that nothing good ever ends. If it did, there would be no people in the world — no life at all, anywhere. And the world is full of people and full of wonderful life.
Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility
Variant: To wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect
Source: Sense and Sensibility
“She was becoming sad. There is no joy involved in following others' expectations of yourself.”
Miriam Toews (1964) Canadian writer known for novels set in the Mennonite community
“Maybe my expectations for honesty are too high.”
Kelley Armstrong (1968) Canadian writer
Source: The Calling
“I expect that Woman will be the last thing civilized by Man.”
George Meredith book The Ordeal of Richard Feverel
Source: The Ordeal of Richard Feverel http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4412/4412.txt (1859), Ch. 1.
“You must choose to live by enouragement rather than by expectations.”
Stephen Kendrick book The Love Dare
Source: The Love Dare
“There are two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations.”
Jodi Picoult book Nineteen Minutes
Variant: There were two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations
Source: Nineteen Minutes
“Beauty exists where you least expect to find it.”
Gail Tsukiyama The Samurai's Garden
Source: The Samurai's Garden
Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) English crime writer, playwright, essayist and Christian writer
Source: The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers. Vol. 1, 1899-1936: The Making of a Detective Novelist
“SABLE- A common knitting acronym that stands for Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy.”
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (1968) Canadian writer
Source: At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much
“Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman
Caroline Myss (1952) author from the United States
Source: Why People Don't Heal and How They Can: A Practical Programme for Healing Body, Mind and Spirit
Richard Carlson (1961–2006) Author, psychotherapist and motivational speaker
Source: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff ... and it's all small stuff: Simple Ways to Keep the Little Things from Taking Over Your Life
Frederick Buechner (1926) Poet, novelist, short story writer, theologian
Source: The Magnificent Defeat (1966)
“For all those who believe, expect a miracle.”
Linda Goodman (1925–1995) American astrologer
Source: Linda Goodman's Star Signs
Neil deGrasse Tyson book The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist
Source: The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist
“I expect most psychiatrists have a patient or two they'd like to refer to me.”
Thomas Harris The Silence of the Lambs
Source: The Silence of the Lambs
“What makes earth feel like Hell is our expectation that it should feel like Heaven.”
Chuck Palahniuk book Damned
Variant: No, it's not fair, but what makes earth feel like Hell is our expectation that it should feel like Heaven.
Source: Damned (2011)
“By fighting you never get enough, but by yielding you get more than you expected.”
Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People
“Evil was predictable, always painfully expected.”
Ted Dekker book BoneMan's Daughters
Source: BoneMan's Daughters
“The safest way of not being very miserable is not to expect to be very happy.”
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher
“Those who expect to be both ignorant and free, expect what never was and never will be.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
Variant: If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
“Plant an expectation; reap a disappointment.”
Elizabeth Gilbert book Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
Variant: Plant an expectation; reap a disappointment." (Quoting an old adage)
Source: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer
Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
“Not quite what one expected, but once it happened one realized it couldn't be any other way.”
Donna Tartt book The Secret History
Source: The Secret History
Source: Messages from the Masters: Tapping into the Power of Love
“Act with kindness but do not expect gratitude.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Kate DiCamillo book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Source: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author
Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential
“.. that sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself”
Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility
Source: Sense and Sensibility
“As expected: she, the daughter of the Fall, recipient of its heaviest radiation, loved atomically.”
Junot Díaz book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Source: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
“We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
Letter to Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette (2 April 1790)
1790s
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: Magic Bleeds
“Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect.”
Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949) American author and journalist
Jennifer Ashley (1974) American author
Source: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
“Love didn't necessarily look the way you expected it to.”
Ann Brashares book 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows
Source: 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows
“I do not expect the white media to create positive black male images.”
Huey P. Newton (1942–1989) Co-founder of the Black Panther Party