Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.

Meaning: Prolonged unfulfilled expectations erode emotional resilience and breed despair rather than sustenance.

Origin: From 'A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases' (1870). Public domain.

More proverbs about Human Nature

• If it were not for hope, the heart would break. — Despair without possibility of improvement destroys the human spirit; hope sustains us th…
• One man may lead a horse to water, but fifty cannot make him drink. — Individual will cannot be forced by collective pressure; coercion fails where internal mo…
• A hungry horse makes a clean manger. — A desperate situation compels thorough action where comfort permits negligence.
• A hungry man, an angry man. — Physical deprivation erodes patience and civility, making irritability inevitable.
• In the husband wisdom, in the wife gentleness. — Complementary virtues in partnership: husbands provide rational guidance while wives offe…
• A young man idle, an old man needy. — Neglecting work in youth ensures poverty and hardship in old age.

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