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It seems wisest to assume the worst from the beginning...and let anything better come as a surprise.
Jules Verne
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Expecting the worst prepares you for challenges while allowing positive outcomes to be a pleasant surprise.

This quote by Jules Verne suggests a prudent approach to life where one anticipates difficulties or failures rather than setting oneself up for disappointment. By assuming the worst from the outset, individuals can navigate challenges with resilience while appreciating any positive surprises that come their way.

Themes

WisdomExpectationsSurprisesPreparednessResilience

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about dealing with anxiety and uncertainties.

More from Jules Verne

Travel enables us to enrich our lives with new experiences, to enjoy and to be educated, to learn respect for foreign cultures, to establish friendships, and above all to contribute to international cooperation and peace throughout the world.
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It is always a vulgar and often an unhealthy pastime, and it is a vice which does not go alone; the man who gambles will find himself capable of any evil.
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Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word 'impossible' is not a French one. People have evidently been deceived by the dictionary. In America, all is easy, all is simple; and as for mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise.
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However strong, however imposing a ship may appear, it is not 'disgraced' because it flies before the tempest. A commander ought always to remember that a man's life is worth more than the mere satisfaction of his own pride. In any case, to be obstinate is blameable, and to be wilful is dangerous.
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The Yankees, the first mechanicians in the world, are engineers - just as the Italians are musicians and the Germans metaphysicians - by right of birth. Nothing is more natural, therefore, than to perceive them applying their audacious ingenuity to the science of gunnery.
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Nothing is more dreadful than private duels in America. The two adversaries attack each other like wild beasts. Then it is that they might well covet those wonderful properties of the Indians of the prairies - their quick intelligence, their ingenious cunning, their scent of the enemy.
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