Read these hope quotes to get through a tough time—or just for a little inspiration
30 Hope Quotes That Will Instantly Lift You Up
Updated on Oct. 22, 2024
Hope quotes
1. “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” —Desmond Tutu
2. “The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.” —National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman
3. “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” —Albert Einstein
4. “Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me … Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” —Shel Silverstein
5. “Fear never builds the future, but hope does.” —Joe Biden
6. “There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” —J.R.R. Tolkien
7. “It’s always something, to know you’ve done the most you could. But, don’t leave off hoping, or it’s of no use doing anything. Hope, hope to the last!” —Charles Dickens
8. “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” —Paulo Coelho
9. “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.” —John Lennon
10. “Hope is the last thing ever lost.” —Italian proverb
Quotes about hope
11. “But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
12. “It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” —Anne Frank
13. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” —William Faulkner
14. “Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.” —Barack Obama
15. “In a time of destruction, create something.” —Maxine Hong Kingston
16. “The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.” —Barbara Kingsolver
17. “Strange as it may seem, I still hope for the best, even though the best, like an interesting piece of mail, so rarely arrives, and even when it does it can be lost so easily.” —Lemony Snicket
18. “The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.” —Kalu Ndukwe Kalu
19. “It’s amazing how a little tomorrow can make up for a whole lot of yesterday.” —John Guare
20. “Remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” —Stephen King
Hopeful quotations
21. “The world needs less heat and more light. It needs less of the heat of anger, revenge, retaliation, and more of the light of ideas, faith, courage, aspiration, joy, love and hope.” —Wilferd Peterson
22. “We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming—well, that’s like saying you can never change your fate.” —Amy Tan
23.”In fact, hope is best gained after defeat and failure, because then inner strength and toughness is produced.” —Fritz Knapp
24. “Hope is a waking dream.” —Aristotle
25. “A positive statement propels hope toward a better future, it builds up your faith and that of others, and it promotes change.” —Jan Dargatz
26. “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” —Leonard Cohen
27. “We need never be hopeless because we can never be irreparably broken.” —John Green
28. “When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.” —Theodore Roosevelt
29. “Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent.” —Mignon McLaughlin
30. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.” —Helen Keller
Ready for more? These uplifting quotes will stay with you.
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite quotes for over 100 years. The sayings and quips that appear in the magazine’s “Quotable Quotes” (formerly “Remarkable Remarks”) are curated from interviews and essays originally published in the magazine, reprints from trusted titles and other verified sources. For this piece on hope quotes, Morgan Cutolo tapped her experience as a lifestyle editor for Reader’s Digest to ensure that all information is accurate. We’ve gone the extra step and had Stephanie L. Abramson, who has served as a research editor at the New York Times, Real Simple, Women’s Health, Time and more, verify that all quotes are attributed correctly and have credible sourcing. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
