Abraham Maslow
Psychologist
"If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life."
Expectations quotes
Expectations
1.7K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Henri Nouwen
Theologian, Author
"Our life is full of brokenness - broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God's faithful presence in our lives."
Charles Dickens
Novelist
"I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape."
Martin Heidegger
Philosopher
"We should never allow our fears or the expectations of others to set the frontiers of our destiny."
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Musician
"The days that I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days."
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Expectations quotes (page 1 of 84)
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"You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation."
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"Life is made of ever so many partings welded together."
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"If you expect nothing from anybody, you’re never disappointed."
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"To work without attachment is to work without the expectation of reward."
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"I am open to the guidance of synchronicity, and do not let expectations hinder my path."
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"A strong mind always hopes, and has always cause to hope."
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"I am giddy, expectation whirls me round. The imaginary relish is so sweet That it enchants my sense."
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"I come here with no expectations, only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is and always will be yours."
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"Many people suffer all their lives from this oppressive feeling of guilt, the sense of not having lived up to their parents' expectations. This feeling is stronger than any intellectual insight they might have, that it is not a child's task or duty to satisfy his parents needs. No argument can overcome these guilt feelings, for they have their beginnings in life's earliest periods, and from that they derive their intensity and obduracy."
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"I base my calculation on the expectation that luck will be against me."
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"Not everything will go as you expect in your life. This is why you need to drop expectations, and go with the flow of life."
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"I have great expectations for the future, because the past was highly overrated."
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"Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance."
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"it is a principle of his that no man who was not a true gentleman at heart, ever was, since the world began, a true gentleman in manner. He says, no varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself."
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"Waiting time is not wasting time. Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life."
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"Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule."
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"The secret to happiness is having low expectations."
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"Put your expectations on God, not on people."
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"Gorgeous, amazing things come into our lives when we are paying attention: mangoes, grandnieces, Bach, ponds. This happens more often when we have as little expectation as possible. If you say, "Well, that's pretty much what I thought I'd see," you are in trouble. At that point you have to ask yourself why you are even here. [...] Astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time. Let it be. Unto us, so much is given. We just have to be open for business."
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"Peace begins When expectation ends."
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