111 Inspiring Trust Quotes

In a world where relationships are built on the fragile foundation of trust, finding words that perfectly capture the essence of this vital virtue can be both inspiring and enlightening. Trust is not just the glue that holds our personal connections together but also the key ingredient in successful collaborations and thriving communities. As we navigate the complexities of modern life, a thoughtful quote about trust can offer clarity, motivation, and a reminder of its profound importance. In this collection of 111 inspiring trust quotes, you will find wisdom from various thinkers, leaders, and storytellers who have reflected on the power and significance of trust in our daily lives. Let these insights guide you, challenge you, and encourage you to nurture trust in every facet of your journey.

1. “Love all, trust a few,Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemyRather in power than use; and keep thy friendUnder thy own life's key: be check'd for silence,But never tax'd for speech.” - William Shakespeare

2. “Ginny!" said Mr. Weasley, flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain?” - J.K. Rowling

3. “Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties.” - Aesop

4. “I know women are taught by other women that they must never admit the full truth to a man. But the highest form of affection is based on full sincerity on both sides. Not being men, these women don't know that in looking back on those he has had tender relations with, a man's heart returns closest to her who was the soul of truth in her conduct. The better class of man, even if caught by airy affectations of dodging and parrying, is not retained by them. A Nemesis attends the woman who plays the game of elusiveness too often, in the utter contempt for her that, sooner or later, her old admirers feel; under which they allow her to go unlamented to her grave.” - Thomas Hardy

5. “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” - Ralph Waldo Emmerson

6. “If you are untrustworthy, people will not trust you.” - Lao Tzu

7. “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. (Psalm 28:7 NIV)” - Anonymous

8. “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” - Corrie Ten Boom

9. “When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.” - Stephen R. Covey

10. “That was when it was all made painfully clear to me. When you are a child, there is joy. There is laughter. And most of all, there is trust. Trust in your fellows. When you are an adult...then comes suspicion, hatred, and fear. If children ran the world, it would be a place of eternal bliss and cheer. Adults run the world; and there is war, and enmity, and destruction unending. Adults who take charge of things muck them up, and then produce a new generation of children and say, "The children are the hope of the future." And they are right. Children are the hope of the future. But adults are the damnation of the present, and children become adults as surely as adults become worm food. Adults are the death of hope.” - Peter David

11. “The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them” - Thomas Merton

12. “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” - Ernest Hemingway

13. “Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.” - Patrick Lencioni

14. “Trust, like the lubricant in an engine, is noticed only when it is gone and the motor has seized up.” - David Hurst

15. “Sometimes you have to trust grownups, perhaps more so when they are not there to actually supervise you.” - Scarlett Thomas

16. “Wait on the Lord" is a constant refrain in the Psalms, and it is a necessary word, for God often keeps us waiting. He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it is not his way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide us more than one step at a time. When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait on God. When action is needed, light will come.” - J.I. Packer

17. “Never trust a mirror,' his mother had told him. 'They never tell the truth unless you make them.” - Isobelle Carmody

18. “Never trust someone that claims they care nothing of what society thinks of them. Instead of conquering obstacles, they simply pretend they don't exist.” - Tiffany Madison

19. “There is a huge trust. I see it all the time when people come up to me and say, 'I don't want you to let me down again.' - Boston, Mass., Oct. 3, 2000” - George W. Bush

20. “Trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it's broken, but you can still see the crack in that mother fucker's reflection.” - Lady Gaga

21. “There are a hundred ways in which a boy can injure—if not indeed kill—himself. The more adventurous he is and the greater his initiative, the more ways he will find. If you protect him from each of the first hundred, he is sure to find the hundred and first. Though most men can look back on their boyhood and tremble at the narrowness of some of their escapes, most boys do in fact survive more or less intact, and the wise father is the trusting father.” - Christopher Milne

22. “The truly scary thing about undiscovered lies is that they have a greater capacity to diminish us than exposed ones.” - Cheryl Hughes

23. “Relationships are mysterious. We doubt the positive qualities in others, seldom the negative. You will say to your partner: do you really love me? Are you sure you love me? You will ask this a dozen times and drive the person nuts. But you never ask: are you really mad at me? Are you sure you’re angry? When someone is angry, you don’t doubt it for a moment. Yet the reverse should be true. We should doubt the negative in life, and have faith in the positive.” - Christopher Pike

24. “Laugh, even when you feel too sick or too worn out or tired. Smile, even when you're trying not to cry and the tears are blurring your vision. Sing, even when people stare at you and tell you your voice is crappy. Trust, even when your heart begs you not to. Twirl, even when your mind makes no sense of what you see. Frolick, even when you are made fun of. Kiss, even when others are watching. Sleep, even when you're afraid of what the dreams might bring. Run, even when it feels like you can't run any more.And, always, remember, even when the memories pinch your heart. Because the pain of all your experience is what makes you the person you are now. And without your experience---you are an empty page, a blank notebook, a missing lyric. What makes you brave is your willingness to live through your terrible life and hold your head up high the next day. So don't live life in fear. Because you are stronger now, after all the crap has happened, than you ever were back before it started.” - Alysha Speer

25. “A kid of your age—any kid—could get hold of matches if she wanted to, burn up the house or whatever. But not many do. Why would they want to?” - Stephen King

26. “there comes a timewhen you have to let goall the wordsall the teachingand trust the infinite” - Billy Doyle

27. “Curiosity can bring guts out of hiding at times, maybe even get them going. But curiosity usually evaporates. Gust have to go for the long haul. Curiosity's like a fun friend you can't really trust. It turns you on and then it leaves you to make it on your own - with whatever guts you can muster” - Haruki Murakami

28. “He hath never failed thee yet.Never will His love forget.O fret not thyself nor letThy heart be troubled,Neither let it be afraid.” - Amy Carmichael

29. “Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence.” - Democritus

30. “What kind of woman is still able to trust people after everything she's been through? If she'd been Vin, she would have stabbed him in the back at the first opportunity, and that would have probably been the right thing to do. Yet, this girl just continued to trust. It was like finding a beautiful plant growing alone in a field of burnt ash.” - Brandon Sanderson

31. “I'm small, I'm young - and I'm so different. You've always respected that difference, and you've always trusted it. Trust me now. There's a reason I am the way I am, and there's a reason I was born to you. There's always a reason. We belong together.” - Dean Koontz

32. “Falling in love was as much about receiving as it was giving, was it? It seemed selfish. It was not, though. It was the opposite. Keeping oneself from being loved was to refuse the ultimate gift. He had thought himself done with romantic love. He had thought himself an incurable cynic. He was not, though.He was only someone whose heart and mind, and very soul, had been battered and bruised. It was still - and always - safe to give since there was a certain deal of control to be exerted over giving. Taking, or allowing oneself to receive, was an altogether more risky business. For receiving meant opening up the heart again.Perhaps to rejection.Or disillusionment.Or pain.Or even heart break.It was all terribly risky.And all terribly necessary.And of course, there was the whole issue of trust...” - Mary Balogh

33. “...Sometimes they open it up like a package in the presence of a person they can talk to,' she said. 'Someone they can trust.' She held out her hands. 'Any person who is carrying a lot of sadness,' she said, 'needs to be able to rest sometimes, and to put it down.” - Julia Schumacher

34. “Love is not a thing you can pick up and throw into the gutter and pick up again as the fancy takes you. I am a person, very unfortunately for you, with a quite peculiar dread of thrusting myself or my affections on any one, of in any way outstaying my welcome. The man I would love would be the man I could trust to love me for ever. I do not trust you. I did outstay my welcome once. I did get thrown into the gutter, and came near drowning in that sordid place.” - Elizabeth von Arnim

35. “Mirrors,' she said, 'are never to be trusted.” - Neil Gaiman

36. “Faith don't come in a bushel basket, Missy. It come one step at a time. Decide to trust Him for one little thing today, and before you know it, you find out He's so trustworthy you be putting your whole life in His hands.” - Lynn Austin

37. “Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;But do not dull thy palm with entertainmentOf each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade.” - William Shakespeare

38. “Sidonie, I know you don't remember it, but you once promised to trust me beyond all reason. And I swear to you that all that I am, all that I possess, including this gem-stone, is yours. I need you. I can't do this alone. Forget your memories. Look into your heart. And if you can find somewhere there, some lingering spark of trust that owes naught to reason, I beg you to speak the word written here.” - Jacqueline Carey

39. “Self distrust is good, but only if it leads to trust in God. Otherwise it ends as spiritual paralysis, inability and unwillingness to undertake any course of action.” - Alan Cole

40. “For trust not him that hath once broken faith” - William Shakespeare

41. “Does trust have to be earned. Or is it simply a matter of faith?” - Nicholas Sparks

42. “Sometimes in life we take a leap of faith. Remember, the leap is not about getting from one side to the other. It's simply about taking the leap....and trusting the air, the universal breath, will support your wings so that you may soar.” - Kristi Bowman

43. “Don't be afraid to be who you are because you are the only person who knows you best.” - Saredo Ali

44. “Old friend,' said Cadvan, filling another glass for himself and sniffing its rich smell. 'If we do not trust one another, we are already defeated.” - Alison Croggon

45. “Love cannot live where there is no trust.” - Edith Hamilton

46. “Sharing secrets is the way in which women tie themselves together, for it reveals complicity and trust. Holding secrets shows trustworthiness and a sort of quite defiance. It is a natural thing for a female to hold secrets within her breast until the time is ripe to release them. Does it not follow the way in which her body is formed? A woman is made with that dark and mysterious recess that can grow a child safely until the child is ready to come out onto the birthing bed. And like birthing, secrets present themselves in many ways. some slip easily into the world, others must be torn out, if the body is unwilling.” - Kathleen Kent

47. “If the true God is not allowed to lead our lives society will continue to immerse itself into bad decision, poor planning and selfishness on all levels. This will lead to a world-wide revolution that will fuel more meaningless wars, injustice, horrific crimes, lost of life and what really matters the most, hope for the future. A love that could warms hearts. A trust that would never betray a brother or a friend. A peace that the world has never seen.” - Delaine Robins

48. “[Koudelka] looked back, "You?! I know you! You trust beyond reason!"[Cordelia] met his eyes steadily, "Yes, it's how I get results beyond hope, as you may recall.” - Lois McMaster Bujold

49. “His mom always said that trust was something you earned. And it wasn't something you gave easy. Too often, it was a tool your enemies used to hurt you with. 'Give them nothing, baby. Not until you have no choice. The world is harsh and it is cold. People can be good and decent, but most of them are only out for themselves and they'll hurt anyone they can'.” - Sherrilyn Kenyon

50. “Afterall, trust is greater than love, and to truly trust another humanbeing is rare. Love can exist without trust, but trust cannot exist without love. Antonio; Hidden Mountain” - Sammy Sutton

51. “In the beginning there was faith - which is childish; trust - which is vain; and illusion - which is dangerous.” - Elie Wiesel

52. “We believed in God, trusted in man, and lived with the illusion that every one of us has been entrusted with a sacred spark.” - Elie Wiesel

53. “Public truth telling is a form of recovery, especially when combined with social action. Sharing traumatic experiences with others enables victims to reconstruct repressed memory, mourn loss, and master helplessness, which is trauma's essential insult. And, by facilitating reconnection to ordinary life, the public testimony helps survivors restore basic trust in a just world and overcome feelings of isolation. But the talking cure is predicated on the existence of a community willing to bear witness. 'Recovery can take place only within the context of relationships,' write Judith Herman. 'It cannot occur in isolation.” - Lawrence N. Powell

54. “Until you guys own your own souls you don't own mine. Until you guys can be trusted every time and always, in all times and conditions, to seek the truth out and find it and let the chips fall where they may—until that time comes, I have the right to listen to my conscience, and protect my client the best way I can. Until I'm sure you won't do him more harm than you'll do the truth good. Or until I'm hauled before somebody that can make me talk.” - Raymond Chandler

55. “For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.” - Suzanne Collins

56. “All we know is what we're told.” - Ashly Lorenzana

57. “Nowadays… deals are transactional rather than personal. Instead of placing your faith in a person, you get lawyers to write safeguards into the contract. This is an historic shift from a trust economy to a risk economy. But trust is not a dispensable luxury. It is the very basis of our social life. Many scholars believe that capitalism had religious roots because people could trust other people who, feeling that they were answerable to God, could be relied on to be honest in business. A world without trust is a lonely and dangerous place.” - Jonathan Sacks

58. “Give me your trust, said the Aes Sedai.On my shoulders I support the sky.Trust me to know and to do what is best,And I will take care of the rest.But trust is the color of a dark seed growing.Trust is the color of a heart's blood flowing.Trust is the color of a soul's last breath.Trust is the color of death.Give me your trust said the queen on her throne,for I must bear the burden alone.Trust me to lead and to judge and to rule, and no man will think you a fool.But trust is the sound of the grave-dog's bark.Trust is the sound of betrayal in the dark.Trust is the sound of a soul's last breath.Trust is the sound of death.” - Robert Jordan

59. “It takes years and maturity to make the discovery that the power of faith is nobler than the power of doubt; and that there is a celestial wisdom in the ingenuous propensity to trust, which belongs to honest and noble natures.” - Harriet Beecher Stowe

60. “All the good times evaporated like naphtha, the moment some air of misconceptions touched it.” - Faraaz Kazi

61. “Come, dear heart. Lean on me and let us walk this path together.” - Juliet Marillier

62. “I stole you, among others, from the streets of God’s birthplace. I forced you to work as a slave. Imprisoned, mistreated and starved you and your companion. To top it off, I am in the process of selling your life to the highest bidder. Why would you trust me?” - V.S. Carnes

63. “Now I see why you have no trouble getting laid," she said softly. Tru swallowed. "You didn't before?""No. You're kind of an asshole." "No more than anyone else," he said with a shrug. "Less than some." She frowned up at him. "But you should be better." "Why the hell would you think that?" "Because you're Tru.” - Ellen Conner

64. “Eden will stay with you." I glanced up at the blue-haired woman who watched us. "She promises to take good care of you. Right, Eden?"Eden nodded, curt and no-nonsense, a soldier to the bones.I glanced back at Angelina. "You trust her, don't you?"Angelina didn't turn her wide eyes away from me. I needed Angelina's answer. But then her eyes sparkled, ever so slightly, as she gave me her response, a barely perceptible nod.No one else could have possibly known how much meaning that single gesture held.Eden was honorable. Angelina had told me so.” - Kimberly Derting

65. “Daughter, we didn't need your note - or a prince's visit - to tell us you'd done nothing wrong. We know the daughter we raised. We fear for your future, but never for your character. You take our love and our trust wherever you wander. Father.” - Gail Carson Levine

66. “...But as for Gabriel Sullivan." Ren reach out his six-fingered hand toward me. I clasped it. Warmth flooded me. But something else. Certainty. Trust. Compassion. Courage. He pulled his hand back, smiled. "That is all I can tell you.” - Linnea Sinclair

67. “Compañera usted sabe que puede contar conmigo no hasta dos o hasta diez sino contar conmigosi alguna vez advierte que la miro a los ojos y una veta de amor reconoce en los míos no alerte sus fusiles ni piense qué delirio a pesar de la veta o tal vez porque existe usted puede contar conmigosi otras veces me encuentra huraño sin motivo no piense qué flojera igual puede contar conmigopero hagamos un trato yo quisiera contar con usted es tan lindo saber que usted existe uno se siente vivo y cuando digo esto quiero decir contar aunque sea hasta dos aunque sea hasta cinco no ya para que acuda presurosa en mi auxilio sino para saber a ciencia cierta que usted sabe que puede contar conmigo” - Mario Benedetti

68. “I wondered then if there could ever be trust in a relationship based from the outset upon deceiving other people.” - Catherine Sanderson

69. “God never calls His people to accomplish anything without promising to supply their every need.” - Charles R. Swindoll

70. “Never trust a man who dresses too well or stays too clean. It ain't natural and whatever he's up to probably ain't legal.” - Sue Merrell

71. “That's kind of what trust is, isn't it? A willful self-delusion.” - Brandon Sanderson

72. “Either we are adrift in chaos or we are individuals, created, loved, upheld and placed purposefully, exactly where we are. Can you believe that? Can you trust God for that?” - Elisabeth Elliot

73. “If you treat an animal right, they don't run away. They're not like us. They run away from people they don't trust; most times we run away from ourselves.” - Glenn Beck

74. “I'm an idiot like you said, so whatever you say about me doesn't matter, but you know... Don't you dare point a gun at your own brother!” - Kazue Kato

75. “Yesterday was a dark day in the history of humanity, a terrible affront to human dignity. After receiving the news, I followed with intense concern the developing situation, with heartfelt prayers to the Lord. How is it possible to commit acts of such savage cruelty? The human heart has depths from which schemes of unheard-of ferocity sometimes emerge, capable of destroying in a moment the normal daily life of a people. But faith comes to our aid at these times when words seem to fail. Christ’s word is the only one that can give a response to the questions which trouble our spirit. Even if the forces of darkness appear to prevail, those who believe in God know that evil and death do not have the final say. Christian hope is based on this truth; at this time our prayerful trust draws strength from it. ~General Audience, September 12, 2001.” - Pope John Paul II

76. “When we venture in that unfamiliar sea, we trust blindly in those who guide us, believing that they know more than we do.” - Paulo Coelho

77. “They sit here in the darkness, trusting. That the coffee will be hot and unpoisoned. That no raging madman will come in with a gun or bomb.It leaves him breathless at times, how much faith people put in one another. So fragile, the social contract: we will all stand by the rules, move with care and gentleness, invest in the infrastructure, agree with the penalties of failure. That this man driving his truck down the street won't, on a whim, angle into the plate glass and end things. That the president won't let his hand hover over the red button and, in moment of rage or weakness, explode the world. The invisible tissue of civilization: so thin, so easily rendable. It's a miracle that it exists at all.” - Lauren Groff

78. “Self-trust is the first secret of success.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

79. “Just remember: other people’s opinions are simply that—other people’s opinions. They are not fact, and they are certainly not “the truth.” It is your responsibility to question the authority you give others, to question opinions they want you to adopt as your own, and to question how it is they are observing the world themselves that has them seeing things as they do. Sometimes you need to take back the authority you are giving to the opinions of others and place a bit more trust in yourself.” - Margie Warrell

80. “To me, the most important rules in life are:1. Never trust people you love.2. Never trust people you don't love.3. Never trust people at all.” - Lisa Cander

81. “Phaedra looked across the water and her eyes met Lucian’s. Their needs came second. It came from the privilege of being trusted.But that doesn’t mean I love you less.” - Melina Marchetta

82. “Difficult times are pregnant with glory moments just waiting to be birthed in the lives of those willing to labor through the pain.” - Sharon Jaynes

83. “Leo,” Hazel gasped, “I can’t—my arms—”“Hazel,” he said. “Do you trust me?”“No!”“Me neither,” Leo admitted.” - Rick Riordan

84. “In the many months of his absence, she never wondered whether he was true to her or not; she knew he was. She knew, even though she was too young to know the reason, that indiscriminate desire and unselective indulgence were possible only to those who regarded sex and themselves as evil.” - Ayn Rand

85. “We are never alone God will always be with us.” - Edwin Medina

86. “Dear heart,” he murmured, “do not look on me with those dear, scared eyes of yours. If there is aught that puzzles you in what I said, try and trust me a little longer. Remember, I must save the Dauphin at all costs; mine honor is bound with his safety. What happens to me after that matters but little, yet I wish to live for your dear sake.” - Emmuska Orczy

87. “I feel like our whole friendship was a lie. She's probably the only person I've ever really opened up to, and the whole time she was hiding stuff from me. I just don't feel like I can trust somebody like that.” - Brendan Halpin

88. “I’m two hours late when I pull in to the driveway. It won’t matter that I’m always on time. People never see how good you are. Fuck up once, and it’s like you are wearing a neon sign.” - Corrine Jackson

89. “The only way that we can protect each other is if we are together. If we face things together. If we trust each other.” - Cassandra Clare

90. “Trust is such a devious term. When you trust someone, are you not merely assuming that they are what they say that they are? If you place so much in the trust that you have for that one person, then you should place the same amount of trust in assuming that they are not what they appear to be. If there is a wall in front of you that does not allow you to do that, then you must place all of your trust in the fact that your trust is misplaced.” - Lionel Suggs

91. “If I can't trust your word, I can't trust you.” - Osayi Osar-Emokpae

92. “I believed I would never trust another person for as long as I lived. Yet, I couldn't help but trust him; the decision was made before I even realized what was happening. He forced my soul back into innocent belief, not by empty words or false promises but by consistent action that never failed. He was safe.” - Rachel Higginson

93. “The best way to guard your heart was to trust a good man to take care of it for you.” - Kristen Ashley

94. “You want the truth? I’ve been fucked and betrayed often enough to not trust anybody. And that includes you.” Frank shrugged. “Don’t take it personal.”“Join the club. We meet Tuesdays. We never share the location with each other, and we show up armed.” - Aleksandr Voinov

95. “It's not how many friends you can count, it's how many of those you can count on.” - Anthony Liccione

96. “Know your magic, trust your magic, use your magic and know that you are a manifestation of life's magic.” - Rasheed Ogunlaru

97. “When you understand who God is, you can see beyond a shadow of a doubt why your weakness is nothing to be feared, because it just leaves more room for him and his strength.” - Hayley and Michael DiMarco

98. “She gave me money to buy condoms, and instead I bought a book of baby names. That’s life. That’s love. That’s fiscally irresponsible.
” - Dark Jar Tin Zoo

99. “If I'm not telling you something, it's for a reason. Just because you trust me, it doesn't mean I have to automatically trust you. Trust doesn't work like that.” - David Levithan

100. “Marriage is not easy, I thought to myself. It’s not supposed to be easy. It’s two different people, from two different backgrounds, trying to build a life together for better or worse. It’s something you have to work at every single day. There are going to be hard times and those are the times you are supposed to fight like hell.” - Courtney Giardina

101. “Mostly I think I've learned to trust God more. I mean, if I start getting worried or freaked, I just try to put it in God's hands. Sometimes I imagine God cradling the globe in his hands, and I tell myself that as long as I'm with God, the Creator of the universe, I can be comfortable and at home anyplace on the planet.” - Melody Carlson

102. “For others, as for ourselves, we must trust him. If we could thoroughly understand anything, that would be enough to prove it undivine; and that which is but one step beyond our understanding must be in some of its relations as mysterious as if it were a hundred.” - George MacDonald

103. “Do not get discouraged if you feel He is not answering your questions or speaking to your situation. He will. Trust Him in the wait. He is at work.” - Wendy Blight

104. “No construct on earth will stand, that does not stand for the least among them, as their advocate and humble servant.” - Bryant McGill

105. “Yet even in such moments she didn’t doubt that God existed. She just sometimes wondered if He remembered that she did.” - Tamera Alexander

106. “God has created all things for good; all things for their greatest good; everything for its own good. What is the good of one is not the good of another; what makes one man happy would make another unhappy. God has determined, unless I interfere with His plan, that I should reach that which will be my greatest happiness. He looks on me individually, He calls me by my name, He knows what I can do, what I can best be, what is my greatest happiness, and He means to give it me.” - John Henry Newman

107. “Let us put ourselves into His hands, and not be startled though He leads us by a strange way, a mirabilis via, as the Church speaks. Let us be sure He will lead us right, that He will bring us to that which is, not indeed what we think best, nor what is best for another, but what is best for us.” - John Henry Newman

108. “She waited for him with shallow breaths, head thrown back, eyes half closed, completely exposed in her trust of him, and it unravelled the last thread holding him together.” - Dianna Hardy

109. “Life is learning to take God's hand.....and hold on.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

110. “If we praise God when things are tough, we show our trust in Him.” - Shirley Corder

111. “I didn’t like trusting, I didn’t like setting greater than mild expectations” - Penny Reid