Early in January I talked about a number of quotes about hope that I’d been writing down.  It’s a practice I’ve continued throughout January and intend to keep up all year with various themes that seem applicable and relevant to my life.  Next month will be courage.

This isn’t really a proper post so much as a list, but I thought I’d put all 31 of my quotes for the month here in case anyone needed some inspiration.  For completeness sake I will also include the quotes from my last post.  I won’t explain my thoughts on them all this time: this is just for reference in case you need a quick little soundbite of hope.

All of these quotes represent, to me, an important aspect of hope.  Hope warms, it empowers, it pushes you on.  It is really hard to do.  It can spark revolutions or just make a hard day a little easier.  It is something we have the power to share.

1. “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.” – Neil Gaiman
2. “Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, “it will be better.”” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
3. ““Hope” is the thing with feathers –
   That perches in the soul –
   And sings the tune without the words –
   And never stops – at all –

   And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
   And sore must be the storm –
   That could abash the little Bird
   That kept so many warm –

   I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
   And on the strangest Sea –
   Yet – never – in Extremity,
   It asked a crumb – of me.”
   – Emily Dickinson

4. “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”  – Desmond Tutu

5. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”  – Martin Luther King Jr.

6. “There never was a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.”  – Bernard Williams
7. “Though hope is frail, it’s hard to kill.”  – When You Believe, The Prince of Egypt
8. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.  Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”  – Helen Keller
9. “Fairytales are more than true – not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell tell us dragons can be defeated.”  – Neil Gaiman, misquoting C K Chesterton
10. “I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge.  That myth is more potent than history.   That dreams are more powerful than facts.  That hope always triumphs over experience.  That laughter is the only cure for grief.  And I believe that love is stronger than death.” – Robert Fulghum
11. “While there is life, there is hope.”  – Marcus Tullius Cicero
12. “I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”  – Anne Frank
13. “Everything that is done in this world is done by hope.” – Martin Luther
14. “We must free ourselves of the hope that the seas will ever rest.  We must learn to sail in high winds.” – Aristotle Onassis
15. “There is nothing like a dream to create the future.” – Victor Hugo
16. “Carve a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.”  – Martin Luther King Jr.
17. “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all…As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.”  – C K Chesterton
18. “Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.  I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow them.” – Louisa May Alcott
19. “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” – Nelson Mandela
20. “I dwell in possibility.” – Emily Dickinson
21. “When I’m stuck with a day that’s grey and lonely, I just stick out my chin and grin and say: the sun’ll come out tomorrow, so you’ve got to hang on til tomorrow, come what may!  Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow, you’re always a day away.”  – Annie
22. “Hope is passion for what is possible.” – Soren Kierkegaard
23. “If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose the courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.  And so today, I still have a dream.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
24. “This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
25. “A leader is a dealer in hope.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
26. “Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.” – Samuel Smiles
27. “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.  The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein
28. “You are not here merely to make a living.  You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement.  You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” – Woodrow Wilson
29. “Where there’s tea there’s hope.” – Arthur Wing Pinero
30. “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other form a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” – Robert Kennedy
31. “You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all the world’s problems at once, but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have, because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.” – Michelle Obama