Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
People often regret or suffer more from outcomes they hoped for that did not turn out well than from things they never expected.
In plain terms
Disappointment hurts more when you expected a good result.
What can you take from it?
Manage expectations to avoid deeper disappointment.

Where it applies

  • personal loss
  • goal setting
  • religious context

Putting it to work

  • lower expectations
  • accept uncertainty
  • focus on effort

Questions to consider

  • Why do we hope so hard?
  • How do we handle letdowns?

Another view

Unanswered prayers can also cause deep suffering.

More from Truman Capote

  1. About Jack Kerouac: 'That's not writing; That's typing.'

    Permalink to quote #8
  2. 'The problem with living outside the law is that you no longer have its protection'

    Permalink to quote #10
  3. 'Good taste is the death of art.'

    Permalink to quote #7

Related quotes

  1. At sixty I look back on a life of deep disappointments, of withered hopes, of unlooked for suffering, of severe discipline.

    Sarah GrimkeSarah Grimke quote #1
  2. It is seldom that we find either men or places such as we expect them. ... Yet it is necessary to hope, though hope should always be deluded, for hope itself i…

    Samuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson quote #76
  3. Picture a place that they exist, together/There has to be a place better than this, in heaven/So right before I sleep, dear God, what I'm askin/Remember this f…

    Tupac ShakurTupac Shakur quote #228