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.

Don't lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best read more

Don't lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality.

Since yesterday I have been in Alcala.
Erelong the time will come, sweet Preciosa,
When that dull read more

Since yesterday I have been in Alcala.
Erelong the time will come, sweet Preciosa,
When that dull distance shall no more divide us;
And I no more shall scale thy wall by night
To steal a kiss from thee, as I do now.

Ambition is the last refuge of failure.

Ambition is the last refuge of failure.

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.

If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.

If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.

"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.

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the read more

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn.