Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them free. Civil liberty follows as a consequence of this; no usurped power can stand against the artillery of opinion.
William GodwinRead
Hope is in some respects a thing more brilliant, more vivifying, than fruition. What we have looked forward to with eager and earnest aspiration is never in all respects equal to the picture we had formed of it. The very uncertainty enhances the enjoyment.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Hope can often bring more joy than the actual achievement of our desires.
In this quote, William Godwin suggests that the anticipation and excitement of what we hope for can be more illuminating and life-giving than the realization of that hope. The uncertainty surrounding our aspirations heightens our enjoyment, indicating that the journey and the dreams we create in our minds can provide a more vivid experience than the fulfillment itself.
Themes
HopeAspirationEnjoymentDreamsAnticipation
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming challenges.
More from William Godwin
All quotes →It is one of the oldest maxims of moral prudence: Do not, by aspiring to what is impracticable, lose the opportunity of doing the good you can effect!
William GodwinRead
When the calamity we feared is already arrived, or when the expectation of it is so certain as to shut out hope, there seems to be a principle within us by which we look with misanthropic composure on the state to which we are reduced, and the heart sullenly contracts and accommodates itself to what it most abhorred.
William GodwinRead
He has no right to his life when his duty calls him to resign it. Other men are bound... to deprive him of life or liberty, if that should appear in any case to be indispensably necessary to prevent a greater evil.
William GodwinRead
What are gold and jewels and precious utensils? Mere dross and dirt. The human face and the human heart, reciprocations of kindness and love, and all the nameless sympathies of our nature - these are the only objects worth being attached to.
William GodwinRead
Extraordinary circumstances often bring along with them extraordinary strength. No man knows, till the experiment, what he is capable of effecting.
William GodwinRead
Similar quotes
I have hope for you, if only because you're the only one left to hope for.
Orson Scott CardRead
While there's life, there is hope.
Stephen HawkingRead
The cross means there is no shipwreck without hope; there is no dark without dawn; nor storm without haven.
Pope John Paul IiRead
I'm not pessimistic about Africa. The cities just seem big and hopeless. But there's still a great green heart where there's possibility. There's hope in the wilderness.
Paul TherouxRead
No sign, so far, of anything sinister—but I live in hope.
Agatha ChristieRead
Maybe we’ll live to see sharks recover. Right now, that seems as improbable as seeing all these falcons. Hope is the ability to see how things could be better. The world of human affairs has long been a shadowy place, but always backlit by the light of hope. Each person can add hope to the world. A resigned person subtracts hope. The more people strive, the more change becomes likely.
Carl SafinaRead