Virtue index · Theological virtue
Hope
The theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, trusting in God’s promises and the help of his grace.
Definitions from the tradition
Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 17: The object of hope is a future good, difficult but possible to obtain; theological hope rests on the divine help. Its opposing vices are despair and presumption (q. 20-21).
Scripture, Hebrews 6:19 (KJV): “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast”
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version as given in the library’s text. Other definitions are summarized, not quoted.
Opposing vices
- Despair: Giving up on God’s mercy and the possibility of salvation.
- Presumption: Expecting salvation or success without repentance or effort.
Works that show hope (82)
Psalm 23Attributed to DavidVerse 6 looks ahead to goodness and mercy for all his days and a dwelling in the LORD's house for ever.c. 1000 BC (traditional); KJV 1611The Trojan Women and Other PlaysEuripidesHecuba tells Andromache that life always holds hope, even as she herself faces slavery under Odysseus.415–c. 414 BCThe Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)AnonymousThe Epistle promises the persecuted righteous that their names are written before the Most High and that they will be vindicated after death.c. 300–100 BCHeroidesOvidPenelope keeps waiting for Ulysses years after Troy has fallen and the other Greeks have come home.c. 25–16 BCCity of GodAugustine of HippoThe work points beyond the fall of Rome to the heavenly city.413–426 CEThe Consolation of PhilosophyBoethiusIn prison Boethius is led by Philosophy from despair toward the true good that fortune cannot take away. Opposing vice: Despair.c. 524 CEDe Monarchia (with R. W. Church's essay on Dante)Dante Alighieri; R. W. ChurchBook I looks to universal peace under a just monarch as the condition in which mankind can fulfil its work, the hope Dante placed in Henry VII.c. 1312-1318The Divine ComedyDante AlighieriThe pilgrim passes from the gate that bids hope be abandoned through Purgatory, where souls hope, to the vision of God. Opposing vice: Despair.c. 1308-1321The Faerie Queene, Book IEdmund SpenserUna snatches the knife from Redcrosse in the Cave of Despair and reminds him that he shares in heavenly mercy.1590Richard IIIWilliam ShakespeareRichmond marches on Bosworth trusting that true hope flies with swallow's wings and prays before the battle.c. 1592-93 (published 1597)The Comedy of ErrorsWilliam ShakespeareEgeon keeps searching for his wife and sons for years and travels to hostile Ephesus in the attempt.c. 1594 (First Folio 1623)Much Ado About NothingWilliam ShakespeareFriar Francis reads Hero's innocence in her face and devises a plan to restore her name rather than despair at the altar.c. 1598-99 (published 1600)Holy Sonnet X: "Death, be not proud"John DonneThe couplet rests the whole poem on waking eternally after one short sleep.written c. 1609-1610; published 1633Paradise LostJohn MiltonAdam leaves Eden comforted by the promise that good will come of evil through the Redeemer.1667; revised 1674The Pilgrim's ProgressJohn BunyanHopeful’s companionship pulls Christian out of despair. Opposing vice: Despair.1678The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary RowlandsonMary RowlandsonAfter despairing at Deuteronomy 28 she reads on to the promise of gathering in Deuteronomy 30 and takes heart.1682Elegy Written in a Country ChurchyardThomas GrayThe Epitaph places the youth's merits and frailties in trembling hope with his Father and his God.1751Critique of Practical ReasonImmanuel KantBook II grounds hope in God and immortality as conditions under which the highest good can be achieved.1788Perpetual PeaceImmanuel KantIn the First Supplement Kant argues that even human discord serves a design that moves mankind toward lawful peace.1795Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern AbbeyWilliam WordsworthThe speaker dares to hope that this moment will be life and food for future years, for himself and for his sister.1798Ode on a Grecian UrnJohn KeatsThe urn remains in midst of other woe as a friend to man, offering each generation something beyond its sorrows.written 1819; published 1820The Count of Monte CristoAlexandre DumasThe novel closes on the words wait and hope.1844–1846The RavenEdgar Allan PoeThe poem portrays hope's absence with such precision, as the speaker refuses forgetting, healing, and reunion, that it shows by contrast what hope would require. Opposing vice: Despair.1845The True Story of My LifeHans Christian AndersenLaughed at by the theatre and nearly penniless in Copenhagen, the fourteen-year-old keeps seeking help instead of going home.1846Speeches on the Compromise of 1850Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel WebsterClay closed by praying that he would never see the Union dissolved, staking his last strength on its preservation.1850A Wonder-Book for Girls and BoysNathaniel HawthorneHope flies out of Pandora's box last and promises to stay with mankind as long as they live in the world.1851Uncle Tom's CabinHarriet Beecher StoweTom passes through despair on Legree's plantation to a renewed hope of heaven in Chapter XXXVIII.1852 (serialized 1851-52)12 Years a SlaveSolomon NorthupNorthup never abandons hope of returning to his family. Opposing vice: Despair.1853Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many LandsMary SeacoleBankrupt at the war's end, she closes her book counting the friends she meets everywhere in London as her reward.1857Because I could not stop for DeathEmily DickinsonThe poem ends with the horses' heads turned toward eternity, so the grave is only a pause on the road.written c. 1862-1863; published 1890Legends of CharlemagneThomas BulfinchAlardo begs his brothers to spare Bayard a little longer in the starving castle, trusting that God may yet help them.1863The Princess and the GoblinGeorge MacDonaldLight and song outlast underground fear.1872God's GrandeurGerard Manley HopkinsThe sestet grounds confidence that morning will spring again not in human effort but in the Holy Ghost brooding over the bent world.written 1877; published 1918Illustrations of the Logic of ScienceCharles Sanders PeircePeirce names hope in the unlimited continuance of inquiry as one of the sentiments logic presupposes.1877-1878HeidiJohanna SpyriReturn to the Alps restores joy after wasting exile.1880 (Stork trans. 1919)A Child's Garden of VersesRobert Louis StevensonHappy Thought teaches glad expectation toward the given world of many things.1885The Blue Fairy BookAndrew LangTales often move through curse and sleep toward awakening and restored joy.1889Poems: First, Second and Third SeriesEmily DickinsonIn Hope the small bird keeps singing through gale and storm and never asks a crumb in return.1890–1896The Jungle BookRudyard KiplingKotick searches the oceans for five seasons for a beach where no men come, though every seal tells him it does not exist.1894Atlanta Exposition AddressBooker T. WashingtonHe closes by praying that God will bring the blotting out of racial animosities and a new heaven and a new earth to the South.1895The Story of a SoulTherese of LisieuxShe receives her first hemorrhage on Good Friday 1896 with joy as a sign that she will soon be with Christ.1898Uncle VanyaAnton ChekhovSonia, rejected by Astroff, answers Vanya's despair at the close of Act IV with her promise of rest and heaven.1898Up from SlaveryBooker T. WashingtonHe closes the book in Richmond, where he once slept under a sidewalk, delivering a message of hope to both races.1901 (serialized 1900-01)The Souls of Black FolkW. E. B. Du BoisThe final chapter hears in the Sorrow Songs a faith that men will someday be judged by their souls.1903The Railway ChildrenE. NesbitThe children keep sending their love to Father by the 9.15 until he comes home.1906Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of ThinkingWilliam JamesLecture VIII's meliorism holds that the world's salvation is genuinely possible and that each person's effort can make it more likely.1907Anne of Green GablesL. M. MontgomeryAnne finds delight in Octobers, new days and the bend in the road even after loss.1908OrthodoxyG. K. ChestertonChapter VII grounds perpetual reform in a fixed ideal, so that decay is never final and renewal is always possible.1908Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy)J. M. BarrieMrs. Darling keeps the nursery window open every night her children are gone, trusting they will return.1911 (as Peter and Wendy; play 1904)PollyannaEleanor H. PorterPollyanna looks for something to be glad about even in the bare attic room and, at last, in her paralysed legs.1913The Second ComingW. B. YeatsRead alongside Matthew 24, the poem's false second coming sharpens by contrast the Christian hope in a true return of Christ. Opposing vice: Despair.written 1919; published 1920The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before AchillesPadraic ColumIn the story told after Lemnos, Hope caught under the rim of Pandora's jar lets men and women see an end to their troubles.1921The Velveteen RabbitMargery WilliamsThe ending grants a living future beyond the rubbish heap and the infected-toys burning.1922The Waste LandT. S. EliotAmid the ruins the speaker shores up fragments and ends with the word for a peace beyond understanding.1922Saint JoanGeorge Bernard ShawHer final prayer looks for a day when the earth will be ready to receive God's saints.1923The Great GatsbyF. Scott FitzgeraldGatsby keeps faith for five years that he can win Daisy back, which Nick calls an extraordinary gift for hope even as it destroys him.1925Winnie-the-PoohA. A. MilneScrapes end in rescue and renewed play together.1926First Inaugural Address ("The only thing we have to fear")Franklin D. RooseveltHe insists that the nation will revive and prosper, since the distress comes from no failure of substance.1933Farewell to Baseball ("The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth")Lou GehrigHe closes by insisting that, despite a bad break, he has a great deal to live for.1939We Shall Fight on the BeachesWinston ChurchillHe looks beyond a possibly subjugated island to the Empire and the New World coming to the rescue under Providence.1940The Little HouseVirginia Lee BurtonEven surrounded by tall buildings, the shabby house keeps longing for the country, and her longing is answered when she is moved to a new hill.1942Letters and Papers from PrisonDietrich BonhoefferBonhoeffer’s letters keep hope in God under confinement.1943-1945 (published 1951)Stuart LittleE. B. WhiteIn the last chapter, with no news of Margalo, Stuart drives north believing he is headed in the right direction.1945Man's Search for MeaningViktor E. FranklOn the camp fasting day he tells his despairing fellow prisoners that the future may still hold meaning and that someone is looking down on each of them.1946 (German, as Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager); English trans. Ilse Lasch 1959; enlarged 1962The Door in the WallMarguerite de AngeliRobin learns from Brother Luke to look for a door in every wall instead of despairing over his legs.1949Prince CaspianC. S. LewisTrufflehunter keeps believing through the long Telmarine years that Aslan and the kings and queens of old will come back.1951The Origins of TotalitarianismHannah ArendtThe final chapter sets the human capacity to begin anew, grounded in each birth, against the logic of total domination.1951Mere ChristianityC. S. LewisThe chapter on hope argues that longing for heaven is not escapism, since those who thought most of the next world did most for this one.1952The Voyage of the Dawn TreaderC. S. LewisReepicheep sails the whole voyage in hope of Aslan's country, and at the end goes on gladly where the others cannot follow.1952Fahrenheit 451Ray BradburyGranger's book-people memorize their books and walk back toward the bombed city at dawn to begin rebuilding.1953Waiting for GodotSamuel BeckettVladimir returns to the tree for a second evening and still answers that they are waiting for Godot.1953The Lord of the RingsJ. R. R. TolkienAragorn and Gandalf lead the march to the Black Gate to buy Frodo time though they expect to die.1954-1955Where the Red Fern GrowsWilson RawlsThe family reads the red fern growing between the graves as a sign that the dogs' deaths were part of God's purpose.1961A Wrinkle in TimeMadeleine L'EngleMrs. Murry keeps faith that her husband will return through more than a year of silence and village gossip.1962I Have a DreamMartin Luther King Jr.He will not concede that the nation has nothing left to pay in justice, and he closes with a vision of reconciliation grounded in Isaiah's prophecy. Opposing vice: Despair.1963Frog and Toad Are FriendsArnold LobelFrog keeps calling Toad out of his winter sleep until the two of them go out together into spring.1970The Hiding PlaceCorrie ten BoomDying at Ravensbrück, Betsie describes the homes she and Corrie will open after the war, and Corrie lives to open them.1971The Gulag ArchipelagoAleksandr SolzhenitsynHe describes prisoners who kept their souls intact and his own moral and religious awakening behind barbed wire.1973Sarah, Plain and TallPatricia MacLachlanCaleb keeps asking whether Sarah will stay and keeps hoping, even on the day she drives to town alone.1985Address to the Nation on the Challenger DisasterRonald ReaganHe insists that nothing ends here and closes with the image of the crew touching the face of God.1986Tear Down This Wall (Brandenburg Gate Address)Ronald ReaganThe speech reads the graffiti on the wall as a promise and declares that across Europe this wall will fall.1987Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and RedemptionLaura HillenbrandOn the raft he keeps planning meals and future races with Phil, refusing to believe they will die.2010
Quotations
“I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”
“glad as my nature is, I am partly made of tears as well as smiles.”
Frequently cited
“Hope spiritualizes the earth; Hope makes it always new; and, even in the earth's best and brightest aspect, Hope shows it to be only the shadow of an infinite bliss hereafter.”
Frequently cited
“Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet”
“The joy of sincere work and worthy aspiration and congenial friendship were to be hers; nothing could rob her of her birthright of fancy or her ideal world of dreams. And there was always the bend in the road”
Frequently cited
“it was like coming into port after a rough sea”
Frequently cited
“Thou awakest us to delight in Thy praise; for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee”
“And I beseech Thee, good Jesus, that to whom Thou hast graciously granted sweetly to drink in the words of Thy knowledge, Thou wilt also vouchsafe in Thy loving-kindness that he may one day come to Thee, the Fountain of all wisdom, and appear for ever before Thy face.”
Frequently cited
“my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, _The same yesterday_, _to-day_, _and for ever_.”
Frequently cited
“Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed”
Frequently cited
“One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.”
“Be easy, dear little sister, and go to sleep quietly; God will not forsake us”
Frequently cited
“Reader, my story ends with freedom; not in the usual way, with marriage.”
“The dream of my life is not yet realized. I do not sit with my children in a home of my own.”
“I will not cast away the gift of God, while he affords me the means of defending it.”
Frequently cited
“When Israel, of the Lord beloved, Out of the land of bondage came, Her father’s God before her moved, An awful guide, in smoke and flame.”
“Now, blessed Lord, would I not longer live, if it might please thee, Lord.”
“Brother, let Bayard live a little longer; who knows what God may do for us?”
“Knowing that Nature never did betray The heart that loved her;”
“Come, lady, die to live: this wedding day Perhaps is but prolong’d: have patience and endure.”
Frequently cited
“The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”
Frequently cited
“Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all,”
Frequently cited
“the game was to just find something about everything to be glad about--no matter what 'twas”
“He said if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it--SOME.”
Frequently cited
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”
“True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings”
Frequently cited
“O God that madest this beautiful earth, when will it be ready to receive Thy saints? How long, O Lord, how long?”
Frequently cited
“I implore, as the best blessing which Heaven can bestow upon me, upon earth, that if the direful event of the dissolution of this Union is to happen, I shall not survive to behold the sad and heart-rending spectacle.”
“Everything else is a dream, save that.”
“For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin.”
Frequently cited
“Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.”
Frequently cited
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”
“And now because of Hope they could see an end to their troubles.”
“it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person”
“I believe my being here is in the Wisdom of Christ; I know not as to Life or Death.”
“I am the only white seal that has ever been born on the beaches, and I am the only seal, black or white, who ever thought of looking for new islands.”
“Tell them, that the Being we all worship, under different names, will be mindful of their charity; and that the time shall not be distant when we may assemble around His throne without distinction of sex, or rank, or color.”
“All things fail; but Thou, Lord of all, never failest!”
“You are your mother’s son as well as your father’s.”
Frequently cited
“I have learned to look beyond present and smaller troubles, and to be quieted under them.”
Frequently cited
“I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way--very short and very straight, a little way that is wholly new.”
Frequently cited
“This sudden plash into pure wildness—baptism in Nature’s warm heart—how utterly happy it made us!”
Frequently cited
“The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me.”
Frequently cited
“That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!”
“God is love, God is our Father, we are His children; therefore the darkest clouds will break and though right be worsted, wrong shall not triumph.”
“My heart is singing for joy this morning. A miracle has happened!”
“You silly little thing," said Fritz, my eldest son, sharply, "don't you know that we must not settle what God is to do for us? We must have patience and wait his time”
“With God's help, let us endeavor to live here contentedly, thankful that we were not cast upon some bare and inhospitable island”
“Death cannot be what Life is, Child; the cup Of Death is empty, and Life hath always hope.”
“There is a loving God, who directs all things for the best.”
“at first an immense deal of adversity to go through, and then they will be famous.”
Frequently cited
“It is a joy to live and to believe in God and man.”
Frequently cited
“But life is a great adventure, and the worst of all fears is the fear of living.”
Frequently cited
“Who,—who,—who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
Frequently cited
“We shall rest. We shall hear the angels. We shall see heaven shining like a jewel.”
“this was the day for which she had been so long praying, but fearing that she would never live to see.”
“Now, would all this have happened if I had returned to England a rich woman? Surely not.”
Discussion questions
- Why is hope a virtue and not just a feeling?
- How are despair and presumption both failures of hope?
- What anchors a character in your reading through suffering?
- How can hope be shown in ordinary work and study?
Other virtues: Prudence · Justice · Fortitude · Temperance · Faith · Charity · Piety · Honor · Industry · Humility · Magnanimity · Friendship