A. E. Housman Quotes

Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.

There are a lot of ups and downs. But there are always people who have it worse.

I do not believe that true optimism can come about except through tragedy.

Great hope has no real footing unless one is willing to face into the doom that may also be on the way. p.207

That's one of the remarkable things about life. It's never so bad that it can't get worse.

Hard times make you bitter or make you more compassionate.

I wish thy lot, now bad, still worse, my friend, for when at worst, they say, things always mend.

In this world you've just got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends.

Sometimes things feel hopeless. Not always within my own life - but looking outward, it seems like rough times lie ahead of us. The world seems to be kind of caving in on itself in a lot of ways. But I try to look on the bright side.

If matters go badly now, they will not always be so.

Better times perhaps await us who are now wretched.

Crap has always happened, crap is happening, and crap will continue to happen.

Bad things happen, and you can only be so prepared.

Nothing is ever as bad as it seems. Nor does it ever last as long as you think.

'Hard Times' does not romanticize the Depression, but at least a few of Mr. Terkel's subjects managed to find silver linings.

I'm someone who's always looking for hope - if there's a ray of hope, a shrapnel, shred, a flake of hope - because I take the misfortune or hard times of others very seriously.

Hard times may have held you down, but they will not last forever. When all is said and done, you will be increased.

The thoughts of others Were light and fleeting, Of lovers' meeting Or luck or fame. Mine were of trouble, And mine were steady; So I was ready When trouble came.

Keep a light, hopeful heart. But ­expect the worst.

Because the road is rough and long, Should we despise the skylark's song?

Hope doesn't require a massive chain where heavy links of logic hold it together. A thin wire will do...just strong enough to get us through the night until the winds die down.

Just when you think it can't get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can't get any better, it can.

The trick is to find happiness in the brief gaps between disasters.

Because we don't know that much about what has happened before, it's useful. But either we will recover and progress, or the alternative is that it's all downhill from here. So I would just as soon believe, in my optimistic Midwestern American way, that we will recover and maybe even make lemonade out of the lemons that we are faced with.

I've had, what, two years? Probably five good years. Before that I had twenty years of uncertainty and suffering and ego destruction and poverty. All those things. That'll always outweigh the good times.