Comments on: Why Hope Isn’t As Good As You Think It Is

By: Arsène Hodali

Arsène Hodali — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 00:18:57 +0000

In reply to Dan. Wow. Thank you for this insight, sincerely. I'll keep your words with me.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 14 May 2025 13:13:03 +0000

On the subject of Optimism vs. Pessimism, my guy William James had much to say. In his 1895 lecture “Is Life Worth Living?” he offers a third alternative. Not necessarily the optimist’s “Yes,” nor the pessimist’s “No,” but “Maybe.” Some have criticized this as wishy-washy but James says “maybe” is life’s default mode. All projects, all science, all creative works depend on suspending disbelief, rejecting blithe optimism, and living for the possibility. So is life worth living? It depends on your attitude. “Refuse to believe, and you shall indeed be right, for you shall irretrievably perish. But believe, and again you shall be right, for you shall save yourself.” Optimism and pessimism are false choices. The only viable option lies between. “You make one or the other of two possible universes true by your trust or mistrust — both universes having been only maybes.”

By: Brittany Scott

Brittany Scott — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 04:05:25 +0000

If you want to drive yourself to anxiety, depression, and even insanity, then have hope and expect favorable outcomes out of the world.

By: Brittany Scott

Brittany Scott — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 11:39:19 +0000

Hope and high expectations are the ruler of heartache and disappointments

By: Piyush

Piyush — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 05:27:41 +0000

Hi Arsène,
Thank you for your detailed explanation on why you think hope is evil. I’ve even read a version of “The Creation of Pandora” where the only evil thing left trapped inside was ‘Hope’. So this might strengthen your argument but there still seems to be a failing flaw in your reasoning, you’ve stressed on acceptance driving off hopelessness.
I’ll try illustrate the flaw using your example of ‘planning a flight’,
*A hopeless person would never plan anything. Planning is forthright sign of hopefulness .
*A hopeful person can also be accepting person, these two aren’t Mutually inclusive things. A person having plan B is not only being hopeful of reaching his destination but also accepting the fact flights gets canceled.
Hope isn’t attachment to future that’s already perfect, but its the belief there’s a possibility of things to go in favourable way. Hope is good when its limited and mixed with action and realism; its evil when its just a false hope. And as President Snow rightly said and i quote “A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous.”

By: afnjd

afnjd — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 18:01:04 +0000

Omg. Best article ever . I was watching the movie Fight Club where I came across this “Losing all hopes is freedom”. It got me to thinking. I was in love with this guy since my childhood. wanted to get married to him. but due to caste issues His parents separated us both. That guy moved on pretty quickly, enjoying life , started with 12 lakhs job package…while I was leading the opposite life. I would still cry everyday…love him everyday.. miss him everyday. ..after watching that movie I realize hope was the culprit all along. I always always hoped that somehow ..just somehow some miracle will happen and we would be back together. Hope is the worst of all evils. it prolongs your suffering. it doesn’t let you accept reality… see things the way they are. this article is just great explanation. thanks from India

By: Burt

Burt — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 22:14:54 +0000

I completely agree with what you say about hope but unfortunately our society runs on it. There are too many people that have become reliant upon many different forms of hope and can’t accept real situations. Hope is a huge reason people hold on to ridiculous ideas and even ignore the problems that are right in front of them. The world definitely needs a reality check and the best way to do that is to accept the actual state of our world.

Thank you for this article, more people need to see this as a problem.

By: arsène hodali

arsène hodali — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 16:36:29 +0000

In reply to david hamman. No. But for some rock bottom is the only stable foundation they have to build something on.

By: david hamman

david hamman — Sun, 19 Jul 2015 09:12:04 +0000

Do we have to hit rock bottom to be able to pick ourselves up?

By: Kitten

Kitten — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 16:38:14 +0000

Thank you Arsene Hodali, beautifully composed.
I am going through a period in my life when having hopes build up and having them badly crushed was repeating itself several times… and indeed the word “hope” was blinking red colored in my mind as the cause of my suffering. Just as a feeling. Searching the net to find similar souls to help me explain/discover I found you! You are right: acceptance is the opposite of this kind of hope. God bless you