Q 01. Hope in dark times: Inspiring quotations 1

Beginning April 14, 2020, I have been publishing on this site one inspiring story every day. I have tried to introduce variety in the offerings: meaningful tales, inspiring stories of ordinary persons achieving extraordinary things for larger purposes, stories of women, men and children, and so on. Yesterday, I published the 25th story. Today, I am posting something different: A set of quotations to inspire and empower you in these truly dark times. What is more, each of the authors went through very dark times themselves. These are quotes that have inspired me. I hope that one or more of these quotes touch your heart too! The stories will resume tomorrow.

Vaclav Havel

The kind of hope I often think about (especially in situations that are particularly hopeless, such as prison) I understand above all as a state of mind, not a state of the world. Either we have hope within us or we don’t; it is a dimension of the soul; it’s not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation. Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons.

Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but, rather, an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more unpropitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is. Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. In short, I think that the deepest and most important form of hope, the only one that can keep us above water and urge us to good works, and the only true source of the breathtaking dimension of the human spirit and its efforts, is something we get, as it were, from “elsewhere.” It is also this hope, above all, which gives us the strength to live and continually to try new things, even in conditions that seem as hopeless as ours do, here and now.

Vaclav Havel (1936-2011) was the first President of the new Czech Republic (after the fall of the Soviet Union) from 1993 to 2003. A  famous playwright and an active dissident, Havel dedicated his life to the Czechoslovak intellectual opposition during the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. For standing by his convictions, he was imprisoned several times by the communist regime.

Rachel Carson

Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth, are never alone or weary of life.

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.

We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was the author of Silent Spring, a book on the harmful effect of pesticides that helped launch the environmental movement. She was persecuted for her views and died of cancer just two years after the book was published. Read her story on this website.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.

Carve a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.

If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.

Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.

As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) was the leader of the American civil rights movement, which fought for equal rights for African-Americans. Hounded by the government for his activism, he was then assassinated by a white supremacist.

Nelson Mandela

May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.

I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.

The greatest glory in living is not in falling, but in rising every time we fall.

We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference.

Hope is a powerful weapon, and (one) no one power on earth can deprive you of.

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) was the South African anti-apartheid political leader, who was in prison for 27 years. After the fall of apartheid, Mandela served as the President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

Viktor Frankl

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) was an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, who spent nearly three years in Nazi concentration camps. After the War, he wrote the famous book Man’s Search for Meaning and developed a system of psychotherapy called Logotherapy,

The Dalai Lama

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.

There is a saying in Tibetan, “Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength”. No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.

To remain indifferent to the challenges we face is indefensible. If the goal is noble, whether or not it is realized within our lifetime is largely irrelevant. What we must do therefore is to strive and persevere and never give up.

The Dalai Lama (1935-) is the spiritual leader of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism. China annexed Tibet in 1951 and began persecuting the Buddhists there. The Dalai Lama and his followers sought refuge in India, where he has led a government in exile. He has been witness to much suffering and cannot entertain hopes of returning to his homeland. Yet, he is always smiling and hopeful.

Anne Frank

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.

I simply can’t build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death… I think… peace and tranquility will return again.

Anne Frank (1929-1945) and her family were in hiding in Amsterdam during the Nazi Occupation and during that period she kept a diary of the events and her feelings. Later she died in a concentration camp. Anne Frank became famous after her diary was published posthumously as A Diary of a Young Girl.