Hope humbles more than despair.
Meaning: Anticipating better futures makes us more vulnerable to disappointment than accepting current misfortune.
Origin: Recorded in A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, an undated collection published in London by Whittaker & Co. around 1880 and credited to Thomas Preston. Its earlier history hasn't been traced.
More proverbs about Wisdom
- Hunger costs little; daintiness much. — Simple needs are cheaply met; refined tastes demand expensive indulgence.
- Jest not at another's infirmities. — Mocking someone's weaknesses or afflictions breeds cruelty and diminishes your own humani…
- There's no joy without alloy. — Pure pleasure is impossible; every good thing contains some mixture of difficulty or sorr…
- Joy surfeited turns to sorrow. — Excessive pleasure breeds complacency and inevitable disappointment when abundance inevit…
- As easy kiss my hand. — Dismissing something as trivially simple often blinds us to hidden difficulty or complexi…
- The ladle cools the pot. — A subordinate's efforts can moderate or restrain a superior's excessive force or passion.
From our compliments & insults
- Dickkopf — A pig-headed, unyielding person — their skull is so thick no new idea can penetrate it.
- 空気が読めない (kūki ga yomenai) — Completely oblivious to the unspoken social mood — the person who kills the atmosphere wi…
- 눈치가 없다 (nunchi ga eopda) — Hopelessly socially oblivious — can't pick up on emotional cues, awkward silences, or uns…