Expectation refers to the anticipation or belief that something will happen or be a certain way in the future. It involves looking forward to a particular outcome or result, often based on previous experiences, assumptions, or hopes. Expectations can be realistic or idealistic, and they can be related to various aspects of life, such as personal goals, relationships, work, and events.
Expectations can influence our behavior, emotions, and perceptions. They can shape our attitudes, motivations, and reactions to different situations. For example, having high expectations may lead to feelings of excitement and motivation, while unmet expectations can result in disappointment or frustration.
It’s important to note that expectations can be subjective and may not always align with reality. They can be influenced by individual perspectives, biases, and external factors. Managing expectations can be crucial for maintaining a balanced and healthy mindset, as unmet expectations can sometimes lead to negative emotions or conflicts. Clear communication and setting realistic expectations can help avoid misunderstandings and disappointments in various situations.
Expectation Quotes
1. “The expectation always happens.”
— Benjamin Disraeli
2. “False expectations take away joy.”
— Sandra Bullock
3. “Peace begins when expectation ends.”
— Sri Chinmoy
4. “Expectation is the root of all heartache.”
— William Shakespeare
5. “Expectation is the mother of all frustration.”
— Antonio Banderas
6. “Fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention.”
— Amy Tan
7. “We live in a world where expectation exceeds inspiration.”
— Louise Philippe Dulay
8. “I never go into a situation with any type of expectations.”
— Kevin Gates
9. “We must rediscover the distinction between hope and expectation.”
— Ivan Illich
10. “If you align expectations with reality, you will never be disappointed.”
— Terrell Owens
11. “If you expect nothing from somebody you are never disappointed.”
— Sylvia Plath
12. “There were two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations.”
— Jodi Picoult
13. “Live your life, sing your song. Not full of expectations. Not for the ovations. But for the joy of it.”
— Rasheed Ogunlaru
14. “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”
— Alexander Pope
15. “A wonderful gift may not be wrapped as you expect.”
— Jonathan Lockwood Huie
16. “You can devise all the plans in the world, but if you don’t welcome spontaneity; you will just disappoint yourself.”
— Abigail Biddinger
17. “I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep my expectations.”
— Bill Watterson
18. “When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.”
— Donald Miller
19. “I’d rather be pleasantly surprised than fatally disappointed.”
— Julia Glass
20. “The quality of our expectations determines the quality of our action.”
— A. Godin
21. “Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack.”
— Brandon Sanderson
22. “I hope you do not let anyone else’s expectations direct the course of your life.”
— Julianne Donaldson
23. “Life was easier when you stopped caring, when you stopped expecting things to get better.”
— Cora Carmack
24. “Look. I have a strategy. Why expect anything? If you don’t expect anything, you don’t get disappointed.”
— Patricia McCormick
25. “Expectation wasn’t just about what people expected of you. It was about what you expected of yourself.”
— Brandon Sanderson
26. “Expectations are dangerous when they are both too high and unformed.”
— Lionel Shriver
27. “Expect everything so that nothing comes unexpected.”
— Norton Juster
28. “You can’t expect everyone to have the same dedication as you.”
— Jeff Kinney
29. “There is no joy involved in following others’ expectations of yourself.”
— Miriam Toews
30. “Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.”
— Samuel Johnson
31. “You are your own worst enemy. If you can learn to stop expecting impossible perfection, in yourself and others, you may find the happiness that has always eluded you.”
— Lisa Kleypas
32. “You are one of the rare people who can separate your observation from your perception. You see what is, where most people see what they expect.”
— Tsitsi Dangarembga
33. “It is easier to make our wishes conform to our means than to make our means conform to our wishes.”
— Robert E. Lee
34. “He was swimming in a sea of other people’s expectations. Men had drowned in seas like that.”
— Robert Jordan
35. “Expectations should not always be taken as reality; because you never know when you will be disappointed.”
— Samuel P. Huntington
36. “No expectations mean there is no risk of disappointment.”
— Jude Morgan
37. “That was the thing about the world: it wasn’t that things were harder than you thought they were going to be, it was that they were hard in ways that you didn’t expect.”
— Lev Grossman
38. “Unhappiness lies in that gap between our talents and our expectations.”
— Sebastian Horsley
39. “Expect more, get less, and feel sadness or expect less, get more, and feel happiness.”
— Vijay Dhameliya
40. “Be realistic with your expectations. I’d like to cuddle a unicorn, but it ain’t going to happen.”
— India Knight
41. “The key in letting go is practice. Each time we let go, we disentangle ourselves from our expectations and begin to experience things as they are.”
— Sharon Salzberg
42. “If you were easier on yourself, you wouldn’t be so tough on everyone else.”
— Kate McGahan
43. “Expectation is the mother of all frustration.”
— Antonio Banderas
44. “It’s the weight of expectation that’s the hardest to deal with, really, from my point of view.”
— Kevin Pietersen
45. “Life is so constructed, that the event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation.”
— Charlotte Bronte
46. “We must rediscover the distinction between hope and expectation.”
— Ivan Illich
47. “Our desires always disappoint us; for though we meet with something that gives us satisfaction, yet it never thoroughly answers our expectation.”
— Elbert Hubbard
48. “Peace begins when expectation ends.”
— Sri Chinmoy
49. “A life that is burdened with expectations is a heavy life. Its fruit is sorrow and disappointment.”
— Douglas Adams
50. “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”
— Bruce Lee
51. “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”
— Princess Diana
52. “We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again expecting.”
— Samuel Johnson
53. “Good is not good, when better is expected.”
— Thomas Fuller
54. “Anger always comes from frustrated expectations.”
— Elliott Larson
55. “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.”
— Ralph Marston
56. “If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.”
— Michael Jordan
57. “If you align expectations with reality, you will never be disappointed.”
— Terrell Owens
58. “When we put down ideas of what life should be like, we are free to wholeheartedly say yes to our life as it is.”
— Tara Brach
59. “It’s a funny thing about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.”
— W. Somerset Maugham
60. “A man who lives with expectations is bound to feel frustrated because existence has no obligation to you. But if you live without intentions, without expectations, then miraculously you will find that everything you ever dreamed of is being fulfilled.”
— Shree Rajneesh
61. “High expectations are really intimidating.”
— Mya
62. “High expectations are the key to everything.”
— Sam Walton
63. “High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.”
— Charles F. Kettering
64. “Our children can achieve great things when we set high expectations for them.”
— Jeb Bush
65. “You should have high expectations for yourself, and others should come second.”
— Florence Welch
66. “A simple lifestyle can make you happy, and high expectations can disappoint a lot.”
— Koena Mitra
67. “I don’t have high expectations anymore. Maybe they’ve just been beaten out of me.”
— Elisabeth Shue
68. “I wouldn’t say I’m a victim of high expectations. The expectations are going to be there.”
— Ezekiel Elliott
69. “I think, all my life, I’ve grown up and had high expectations, but that becomes so stressful.”
— Anne-Marie
70. “I’ve always had high expectations of myself. I’ve never felt that there was anything I couldn’t do in this world.”
— Dak Prescott
71. “Low income does not mean low expectations.”
— Johnnie Dent Jr.
72. “Low expectations are the key to happiness in life.”
— Christopher Miller
73. “One can fall into the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations’.”
— Gerald Chertavian
74. “I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep everyone’s expectations.”
— Bill Watterson
75. “Lower your expectations of the earth. This isn’t heaven, so don’t expect it to be.”
— Max Lucado
76. “It’s great to be a blonde. With low expectations, it’s very easy to surprise people.”
— Pamela Anderson
77. “It’s important that we challenge the culture of low expectations. You need to believe every child can do well.”
— Munira Mirza
78. “People like to set the bar high. I like to put the bar on the ground and barely step over it. I like to keep the expectations really low.”
— Kevin Smith
79. “Don’t let Labour’s stereotypes and low expectations hold you back, and never let them treat you like a black sheep who will always follow them.”
— Kemi Badenoch
80. “There are so many instances where kids who have talent and intellect have to navigate the world of low expectations and resources. We have to nurture those gifts more.”
— Rick Famuyiwa
81. “No expectation, no disappointment.”
— Unknown
82. “It’s a good place when all you have is hope and not expectations.”
— Danny Boyle
83. “When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.”
— Donald Miller
84. “When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.”
— Stephen Hawking
85. “I’ve learned not to have expectations. If you don’t expect things from anyone, you can’t get let down.”
— Mickie James
86. “To live your life without expectation-without the need for specific results- that is freedom, that is Godliness.”
— Neale Donald Walsch
87. “Living without expectations doesn’t mean that you’re denying your desires. It just means that you’re open to all outcomes.”
— Unknown
88. “I have no expectations. Not in a bad way, but I’ve learned that you can’t plan ahead. I live day by day and see what happens.”
— Behati Prinsloo
89. “True generosity is an offering; given freely and out of pure love. No strings attached. No expectations. Time and love are the most valuable possession you can share.”
— Suze Orman
90. “There’s something to be said for failing. It’s not the failure you feel; it’s the failure that people project when something disappoints. You’re back to ground zero, where there’s no expectations, and that’s where I like to be.”
— Kevin Smith
91. “Society imposes low expectations of those who have disabilities.”
— Erik Weihenmayer
92. “Societal expectations matter little; personal expectations matter tremendously.”
— Zimbardo
93. “It takes a near act of rebellion for even a four-year-old to break away from society’s expectations.”
— Sheryl Sandberg
94. “Belief transcends ritual, structure, and societal expectation. It is an enlivening, intensely personal core to our being. Our way of being.”
— Mary Anne Radmacher
95. “Often too many expectations are put on by society as to what we’re supposed to look like, and it’s fed to people at an age that’s too young.”
— Dustin Clare
96. “Our era is one in which individualism has been submerged by the herd-like mentality of a society where conformity, mediocrity, and lowered expectations are the norms.”
— Brian J. D’Souza
97. “I’ve never lived my life by the expectations society puts on you. When something doesn’t feel right or isn’t going the way it should, I listen to my instincts and change it.”
— Fatima Robinson
98. “I was not born to live up to society’s expectations of who I should be, but rather I define my own individuality and my uniqueness for I chose to follow the path of being extraordinary instead of just being ordinary.”
— Elizabeth E. Castillo
99. “Are you doing what your heart desires, or living up to society’s expectations, what friends and family think? Because the moment you start doing what you love, what you truly feel in your heart, all your cells start working for you.”
— Ralph Smart
100. “You can either follow your dreams or adjust with your society’s expectations … Either way, consequences are uncertain … the path to glory or the boulevard of mediocrity, both lead to the grave … Choose what’s worthwhile, for the end is the same.”
— K. Hari Kumar