Yet it is necessary to hope, though hope should always be deluded, for hope itself is happiness, and its frustrations, however frequent, are yet less dreadful than its extinction.
Interpretation
Hope is essential for happiness, even if it is often disappointing.
Samuel Johnson emphasizes the importance of hope in our lives. He argues that while hope may sometimes lead to disappointment, it is far better to have hope than to lack it entirely, as hope brings happiness and serves as a motivator in difficult times.
In practice
You might quote this during a motivational speech about overcoming challenges.
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.
I have found that the only thing that does bring you happiness is doing something good for somebody who is incapable of doing it for themselves.
Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character.
You will never find a truly happy self-centered person. They simply don't exist.
If we are not happy and joyous at this season, for what other season shall we wait and for what other time shall we look?
At 11 years old, I made a very definitive decision, and my decision was that I wanted to be happy. Above and beyond anything I ever did in my life, I wanted to be happy.
A good life with contentment is itself a great wealth. For we brought nothing with us into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. So if we have enough of what we need, let us be content with that.
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