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About this quote

What does it mean?
Hope survives only because it has a shaky foundation.
In plain terms
If hope checked its facts it would fail, but prosperity kills it anyway.
What can you take from it?
Uncertainty allows hope to persist.

Where it applies

  • dealing with failure
  • waiting for change
  • personal struggle

Putting it to work

  • managing expectations
  • coping with stress

Questions to consider

  • What keeps your hope alive?
  • Does having enough kill your drive?

Another view

It suggests hope is based on fiction.

More from Emily Dickinson

  1. Tell all the Truth but tell it slant - Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased…

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  2. Not with a Club, the Heart is broken Nor with a Stone - A Whip so small you could not see it I've known To lash the Magic Creature Till it fell, Yet that Whip'…

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  3. A Vastness, as a Neighbor, came, A Wisdom, without Face, or Name, A Peace, as Hemispheres at Home And so the Night became.

    Permalink to quote #23

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