A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.
Stendhal
MEANING OF THIS QUOTE
There are ample reasons in life to lose hope and give up on our dreams. We have all been in situations where nothing makes sense, from the goodness of our hearts to benevolence in general. Even the tiniest of injustices can take root in our minds and germinate into something much more powerful than it is supposed to be. On the other hand, clinging on to the thinnest thread of hope takes courage. It takes a valiant mind to soldier on in the dark in the hope of finding light at the end of the tunnel. And it is only in the fertile soil of this hope that the seeds of sublime emotions such as love and compassion sprout.
ISN’T IT FOOLHARDY TO HARBOR HOPE WHEN THERE IS NONE?
No, quite the contrary. As mentioned above, it takes a courageous mind to be optimistic when there is every reason to give up. From Napoleon to Helen Keller, all great men and women defied whatever challenges life threw at them and bounced back stronger than before. None of that would have been possible without their undying optimism.
CONCLUSION
Being upbeat when the times are good is one thing and remaining buoyant even in the face of utter despair is another. It goes without saying that the latter is easier said than done. In fact, most people crumble at the first sight of trouble; very few people have the drive to carry on even when there is apparently no reason for them to. These are the people that go on to transform their lives as well as those of others; these are the people that reignite and reinforce our belief in the goodness of humanity.
Marie-Henri Beyle, better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a nineteenth-century French author. One of the earliest proponents of realism, Stendhal once wrote: “A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.”