Food for Thought

Hope is a waking dream.

—Aristotle

No vision and you perish;
No ideal, and you’re lost;
Your heart must ever cherish
Some faith at any cost.
Some hope, some dream to cling to,
Some rainbow in the sky,
Some melody to sing to,
Some service that is high.

—Harriet Du Autermont

One of the things I learned the hard way was
that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged.
Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life
can restore your faith in yourself.

—Lucille Ball

An optimist is the human personification of spring.

—Susan J. Bissonette

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit
of what is elusive, but attainable—
a perpetual series of occasions for hope.

—John Buchan

Hope and patience are two sovereign remedies for all,
the surest reposals, the softest cushions to lean on in adversity.

—Robert Burton

Optimism is the foundation of courage.

—Nicholas Murray Butler

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds;
and the pessimist fears this is true.

—James Branch Cabell

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

—Albert Camus

When one door is shut, another opens.

—Cervantes

A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place,
but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.

—John Ciardi

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the souls,
and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.

—Emily Dickinson

In the dew of little things, the heart finds its morning.

—Kahlil Gibran

The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust, and blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams.

—Elizabeth Gilbert

There is a bright side to every story,
but often, we’re so busy looking for what we think we want that we miss it entirely . . .
if we look long or deep enough, we can find a positive reason for any situation . . .
the journey to health begins with discomfort, new love is born through a traumatic break-up.
The bright side is always there. . . .

—Kajama(Tuesday, October 29, 2002)

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope or confidence.

—Helen Keller

Hope is the feeling you have when you have the feeling that the feeling you have isn’t permanent.

—Jean Kerr

If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power,
but for the passionate sense of potential;
for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible.
What wine is so sparkling, so fragrant, so intoxicating, as possibility!

—Søren Kierkegaard

If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving,
you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

The important thing is not that we can live on hope alone, but that life is not worth living without it.

—Harvey Milk

Nothing that is worth anything can be achieved in a lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.

—Reinhold Niebuhr

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

—Old Testament: Psalms, xxx, 5

Hope! What a wonderful word it is! Write it indelibly on your mind. H-O-P-E.
It is a bright word, shining and scintillating and dynamic, forward looking,
full of courage and optimism. With this word, let us begin tomorrow.

—Norman Vincent Peale

Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are,
raise your sights and see possibilities—always see them—for they’re always there.

—Norman Vincent Peale

Hope springs eternal in the human breast.

—Alexander Pope

As long as we have hope, we have direction, the energy to move, and the map to move by.
We have a hundred alternatives, a thousand paths and an infinity of dreams.
Hopeful, we are halfway to where we want to go. Hopeless, we are lost forever.

—Pravs World

The world is round, and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.

—Ivy Baker Priest

For every star that falls
A wish is made that’s true
And for every sky that’s gray
Another will turn blue.

—Lasca Nuala Reed

After a storm fair weather; after sorrow joy.

—Russian proverb

When old words die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from the heart.

—Rabindranath Tagore

Hope for a miracle, but don’t depend on one.

—The Talmud

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

—William Arthur Ward

Our way is not soft grass.
It’s a mountain path with lots of rocks; but it goes upward, forward, towards the sun.

—Dr. Ruth Westheimer

Are you a naysayer?
When you think positively, anything is possible and the outcome is more probable.
Recognize the power of your mind. Avoid negative thoughts and claim your life today.

—Marianne Williamson