Hope itself is a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords; but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain.
Interpretation
Hope can bring happiness, but if it's overindulged, it can lead to suffering.
In this quote, Samuel Johnson reflects on the nature of hope and its relationship to happiness. He suggests that hope is a significant source of happiness in the world, yet warns that when hope is pursued to an excessive degree, it can lead to disappointment and pain; thus, the enjoyment of hope should be balanced to avoid negative consequences.
In practice
In a motivational speech about resilience and managing expectations.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
Those born to wealth, and who have the means of gratifying every wish, know not what is the real happiness of life, just as those who have been tossed on the stormy waters of the ocean on a few frail planks can alone realize the blessings of fair weather.
I have the chance to do for a living what I like the most in life, and that's playing football. I can make people happy and enjoy myself at the same time.
I have never gone on a real trip, never taken a holiday. The best holiday for me is spent in my workshops when nearly everybody else is on vacation.
Today, let us swim wildly, joyously in gratitude.
A swift carriage, of a dark night, rattling with four horses over roads that one can’t see--that’s my idea of happiness.
I'm from New Orleans, which is all about direct engagement out in the street with all the parades and Mardi Gras Indians and jazz funerals. I'm trying to take that and put it into my generation, a group that doesn't have enough joy and celebration in their lives.
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