When hope is so strong that it altogether drives out fear, its nature changes and it becomes complacency or confidence. And when we are certain that what we desire will come to pass, even though we go on wanting it to come to pass, we nonetheless cease to be agitated by the passion of desire which caused us to look forward to the outcome with … [ Read more ]
Author: Rene Descartes | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Concepts, Fear, Hope, Psychology | Behavior
The mere fact of thinking that a good may be acquired or an evil avoided is sufficient to produce the desire for this to come to pass. But when, over and above this, we consider whether our desire is likely to be satisfied or not, the idea that it is likely arouses hope in us, and the idea that it is unlikely arouses fear, of … [ Read more ]
Author: Rene Descartes | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Concepts, Fear, Hope, Psychology | Behavior
Hope — a faculty decidedly different from and far more muscular than optimism — remains our most potent antidote to the passivity and resignation of cynicism. The great humanistic philosopher and psychologist Erich Fromm admonished against the common laziness of optimism and pessimism, but he extolled the counterpoint to both — active hope that empowers us “to think the unthinkable, yet to act within the … [ Read more ]
Authors: Erich Fromm, Maria Popova | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Concepts, Hope, Psychology | Behavior
We exist — and go on existing — because there is more hope than despair in us.
Author: Maria Popova | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Hope, Psychology | Behavior
The price that man pays for consciousness is insecurity. He can stand his insecurity by being aware and accepting the human condition, and by the hope that he will not fail even though he has no guarantee for success.
Author: Erich Fromm | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Concepts, Hope, Insight, Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior
Hope — and the wise, effective action that can spring from it — is the counterweight to the heavy sense of our own fragility. It is a continual negotiation between optimism and despair, a continual negation of cynicism and naïveté. We hope precisely because we are aware that terrible outcomes are always possible and often probable, but that the choices we make can impact the … [ Read more ]
Author: Maria Popova | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Concepts, Hope, Insight, Life & Society
Optimism is a prediction that everything’s going to end well. Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up.
Author: Fred Krupp | Subjects: Concepts, Hope, Insight, Personal Improvement
Feeling hopeful does not mean to be optimistically naïve and ignore the tragedy humanity is facing. Hope is the virtue of a heart that doesn’t lock itself into darkness, that doesn’t dwell on the past, does not simply get by in the present, but is able to see a tomorrow. Hope is the door that opens onto the future. Hope is a humble, hidden seed … [ Read more ]
Author: Pope Francis | Subjects: Hope, Personal Improvement
I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.
Author: Henry David Thoreau | Subjects: Hope, Personal Improvement