Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises; and oft it hits
Where hope read more

Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises; and oft it hits
Where hope is coldest and despair most fits.

I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world read more

I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine.

Serene I told my hands and wait,
Nor care for wind or tide nor sea;
I rave read more

Serene I told my hands and wait,
Nor care for wind or tide nor sea;
I rave no more 'gainst time or fate,
For lo! my own shall come to me.

The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations.

The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations.

Ambition is the last refuge of failure.

Ambition is the last refuge of failure.

He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age, doing in the
figure of a lamb the feats read more

He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age, doing in the
figure of a lamb the feats of a lion. He hath indeed bettered
expectation than you must expect of me to tell you how.

High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.

High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.

"Yet doth he live!" exclaims th' impatient heir,
And sighs for sables which he must not wear.

"Yet doth he live!" exclaims th' impatient heir,
And sighs for sables which he must not wear.

I have known him [Micawber] come home to supper with a flood of
tears, and a declaration that nothing read more

I have known him [Micawber] come home to supper with a flood of
tears, and a declaration that nothing was now left but a jail;
and go to bed making a calculation of the expense of putting
bow-windows to the house, "in case anything turned up," which was
his favorite expression.