60 Expectations Quotes

Expectations are a fundamental part of the human experience, shaping our perceptions, behavior, and ultimately, our reality. They can inspire us to reach for the stars or lead us to crushing disappointment. To explore the profound impact of expectations on our lives, we've curated a collection of the top 60 Expectations Quotes. These insightful and thought-provoking quotes offer wisdom and perspectives from a diverse range of voices, providing both inspiration and a deeper understanding of how we set, manage, and sometimes, let go of our expectations. Dive in and discover the powerful words that can transform your outlook on life and its myriad possibilities.

1. “On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.” - Charles Babbage

2. “It was one of those pictures that children are supposed to like but don't. Full of endearing little animals doing endearing things, you know?” - Douglas Adams

3. “My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus."[The Science of Second-Guessing (New York Times Magazine Interview, December 12, 2004)]” - Stephen W. Hawking

4. “I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep my expectations.” - Bill Watterson

5. “Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.” - Samuel Johnson

6. “Mrs. Lynde says, 'Blessed are they who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed.” - L. M. Montgomery

7. “You can't eat straight A's.” - Maxine Hong Kingston

8. “You are most powerful when you are most silent. People never expect silence. They expect words, motion, defense, offense, back and forth. They expect to leap into the fray. They are ready, fists up, words hanging leaping from their mouths. Silence? No.” - Alison McGhee

9. “Damned Beaver/Jeremy is the War, he is every assertion the fucking War has ever made--that we are meant for work and government, for austerity: and these shall take priority over love, dreams, the spirit, the senses and the other second-class trivia that are found among the idle and mindless hours of the day....Damn them, they are wrong. They are insane.” - Thomas Pynchon

10. “If men could see us as we really are, they would be a little amazed; but the cleverest, the acutest men are often under an illusion about women: they do not read them in a true light: they misapprehend them, both for good and evil: their good woman is a queer thing, half doll, half angel; their bad woman almost always a fiend.” - Charlotte Brontë

11. “Quería eso, pero esperaba más. Sufre uno por aquello que espera, más que por lo que quiere. Aceptamos que los deseos puedan ser imposibles, pero jamás las expectativas, que son como las deudas del destino.” - Xavier Velasco

12. “She was becoming sad. There is no joy involved in following others' expectations of yourself.” - Miriam Toews

13. “A wonderful gift may not be wrapped as you expect.” - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

14. “I, a product of the New Frontier and Great Society, honestly believed that the world pretty much owed me a living--all I had to do was wait around in order to live better than my parents.” - Anthony Bourdain

15. “Few people ask from books what books can give us. Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds, asking of fiction that it shall be true, of poetry that it shall be false, of biography that it shall be flattering, of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If we could banish all such preconceptions when we read, that would be an admirable beginning.” - Virginia Woolf

16. “What I have since realized is that if people expect you to be brave, sometimes you pretend that you are, even when you are frightened down to your very bones. ” - Sharon Creech

17. “You can't expect everyone to have the same dedication as you.” - Jeff Kinney

18. “This was our last night. We only had one curtain call, Bree. And I thought they were going to give us a standing ovation, but no-o-o-. Do you know why half the audience stood up?""To get a head start on the traffic," Bree said."To get a head start on the traffic," Antonia agreed in indignation. "I mean, here we are, dancing and singing our little guts out, and all those folks want to do is get to bed early. I ask you, whatever happened to common courtesy? Whatever happened to decent manners? Doesn't anyone care about craft anymore? And on top of that, it's not even nice.” - Mary Stanton

19. “When someone sees the same people every day, as had happened with him at the seminary, they wind up becoming a part of that person's life. And then they want the person to change. If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” - Paulo Coelho

20. “Meanwhile she's coldly interrogating me with her eyes. She's definitely in charge of this house and this moment. This must be Chloe.She escorts me to a table full of people and presents me. She introduces them briefly. This one's from Morocco, that one from Italy, he's Persian--I'm not exactly sure what that means--this one's from "the UK." They're all in their twenties, poised and dismissive. They don't know or care who I'm supposed to be at home or where I went to school. They're measuring something else I can't see and don't understand.They nod and turn back to each other. They seem to be waiting for a cue from Chloe to release them from having to feign interest. She introduces herself at substantially more length. Her father is Chinese and her mother is Swiss; she grew up in Hong Kong and "in Europe."I grew up in Michigan and in Michigan. But she didn't ask.” - Kenneth Cain

21. “What's the first sign of a lurking, hidden expectation you didn't know you had? Pain! People don't do what we want, things don't happen quickly enough, the weather doesn't cooperate, our bodies don't cooperate. Why are these moments so painful? Because our minds are focused on a static, unchanging, me-centric picture while the dynamic unfolding of a broader life continues around us. There is nothing wrong with expectations per se, as it's appropriate to set goals and work, properly, towards their fruition. But the instant we feel pain over life not going "my way," our expectations have clearly taken an improper turn. Any moment you feel resistance or pain, look for -- and then let go of -- the hidden expectation. Practice giving yourself over to what "you" don't want. Let the line at the store be long. Let the other person interrupt you. Let the nervousness make you shake. Be where your body is, not where your mind is trying to take you.” - Guy Finley

22. “If you're going to say what you want to say, you're going to hear what you don't want to hear.” - Roberto Bolaño

23. “I'd proven to the world that maturity, experience, dedication, and ingenuity can make up for a little senescence. Muscle tightening is not the only thing that happens to our bodies over time. We gain knowledge, focus, and understanding, and those things can help us win.” - Dara Torres

24. “If you expect nothing, you can never be disappointed.Apart from a few starry-eyed poets or monks living on a mountaintop somewhere, however, we all have expectations. We not only have them, we need them. They fuel our dreams, our hopes, and our lives like some super-caffeinated energy drink.” - Tonya Hurley

25. “There were times . . . when it occurred to me that I was repeating my mother's life. Usually this thought struck me as funny. But if I happened to be tired, or if there were extra bills to pay and no money to pay them with, it seemed awful. I'd think 'This isn't the way our lives are supposed to be going.' Then I'd think 'Half the world has the same idea.” - Stephen King

26. “One recipe for happiness is to have to sense of entitlement.' To this she added a star and noted at the bottom of the page: 'This is not a lesson I have ever been in a position to learn.” - Alan Bennett

27. “Fortunately, I read (the books) without knowing what I was in for, and the best thing that can ever happen to a reader happened to me: I loved something that, by conviction (or by my nature) I should not have loved” - Milan Kundera

28. “Nowadays, I dont have expectations, and this way she beats them all.” - Jodi Picoult

29. “Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack.” - Brandon Sanderson

30. “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

31. “Expectations should not always be taken as reality; because you never know when you will be disappointed.” - Samuel P Huntington

32. “...“Oh, Marilla, looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them,” exclaimed Anne. “You mayn’t get the things themselves; but nothing can prevent you from having the fun of looking forward to them. Mrs. Lynde says, ‘Blessed are they who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed.’ But I think it would be worse to expect nothing than to be disappointed.”...” - L.M. Montgomery

33. “You don't ask nobody to give what they can't give, or be what they can't be. You've learnt that, you got a headstart on heartbreak.” - Jack Farris

34. “Look. I have a strategy. Why expect anything? If you don’t expect anything, you don’t get disappointed.” - Patricia McCormick

35. “[J]ust the sight of this book, even though it was of no authority, made me wonder how it happened that so many different men – and learned men among them – have been and are so inclined to express both in speaking and in their treatises and writings so many wicked insults about women and their behaviour. Not only one or two ... but, more generally, from the treatises of all philosophers and poets and from all the orators – it would take too long to mention their names – it seems that they all speak from one and the same mouth. Thinking deeply about these matters, I began to examine my character and conduct as a natural woman and, similarly, I considered other women whose company I frequently kept, princesses, great ladies, women of the middle and lower classes, who had graciously told me of their most private and intimate thoughts, hoping that I could judge impartially and in good conscience whether the testimony of so many notable men could be true. To the best of my knowledge, no matter how long I confronted or dissected the problem, I could not see or realise how their claims could be true when compared to the natural behaviour and character of women.” - Christine de Pizan

36. “Set the standard! Stop expecting others to show you love, acceptance, commitment, & respect when you don't even show that to yourself.” - Steve Maraboli

37. “I understand it was Derian who spoiled everything. He purposefully tainted your view of me and forced you to go along with him. I know none of what happened was your idea or your desire, Eena.”She didn’t get up, but spoke from her curled position. Her voice was weak, still heavy with despair. “Derian didn’t force me to do anything.”“But if he hadn’t influenced you, we would be enjoying a pleasant dinner again, telling stories and laughing. I’m sure that would be the case. You would be happy……and so would I.”Eena chuckled without amusement.“You have to admit we shared some very enjoyable evenings, didn’t we? There’s really no reason we can’t put this whole mess behind us and start from where we left off.” He sounded genuinely serious.“You forget,” she reminded him, “I heard your conversation with the Ghengats. This isn’t about Derian, it’s about you.”“Alright,” he admitted with an acquiescent sigh, “so I’m not everything you’d hoped for. But really, what man can ever live up to any woman’s terribly high expectations?”This got her attention. She almost stood up to face him, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. Leaning forward, she retorted, “Expecting a man to respect you, to be honest with you, and, oh yes, to not be a shameless murderer—I don’t think those are overly high expectations!”He shrugged, casually excusing his faults. “Nobody’s perfect.”“What do you want?” she finally asked, exasperated.He squatted to her level and stated his desire. “I want you.”Eena thought the expression on his face—the look in his weary blue eyes—appeared strangely sincere. But there was one thing she had learned from all this: never trust a master of deceit.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

38. “You see what you expect to see, Severus.” - J.K. Rowling

39. “What I mean is that those thoughts, they're human. And just because you turn out differently than everyone's imagined you would doesn't mean that you've failed in some way. A kid who gets teased in one school might move to a different one, and be the most popular girl there, just because no one has any other expectations of her. Or a person who goes to med school because his entire family is full of doctors might find out that what he really wants to be is an artist instead.” - Jodi Picoult

40. “Does your reality match your expectations? If not it's time to change either your expectations or your reality.” - Steven Redhead

41. “Water shrinks wool, urgency shrinks time.Shrinkage may be an advantage or the reverse, according to expectation.” - Idries Shah

42. “To wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect” - Jane Austen

43. “I hope you do not let anyone else's expectations direct the course of your life.” - Julianne Donaldson

44. “When you Love.. you Expect.. Once u start Expecting.. u have Hope.. Hopes in return makes you to put Trust.. and Trust makes u prone to Betrayal.. and whn u r Betrayed.. Hell falls over U...!!!” - Abhijeet Sawant

45. “...and to-morrow looked in my face more steadily than I could look at it” - Charles Dickens

46. “We need to have far less confidence in what man can do and far moreconfidence in what God can do for every believing soul. He longs to haveyou reach after Him by faith. He longs to have you expect great thingsfrom Him. He longs to give you understanding in temporal as well as inspiritual matters. He can sharpen the intellect. He can give tact andskill. Put your talents into the work, ask God for wisdom, and it will begiven you.” - Ellen G. White

47. “When our hopes for performance are not completely met, realistic optimism involves accepting what cannot now be changed, rather than condemning or second-guessing ourselves. Focusing on the successful aspects of performance (even when the success is modest) promotes positive affect, reduces self-doubt, and helps to maintain motivation (e.g., McFarland & Ross, 1982).... Nevertheless, realistic optimism does not include or imply expectations that things will improve on their own. Wishful thinking of this sort typically has no reliable supporting evidence. Instead, the opportunity-seeking component of realistic optimism motivates efforts to improve future performances on the basis of what has been learned from past performances.” - Sandra L. Schneider

48. “To expect to be kissed having bad breath is the secret of a fool.” - Dejan Stojanovic

49. “It's no use going the extra mile if people don't expect it. You will never get extra credit for it. Just invest it on something else.” - Sartika Kurniali

50. “Little girls grow up thinking that knights in shining armor actually exist.  But they don't.  And if those valiant heroes ever did bless this world with their chivalrous deeds, I imagine, just like Christ's apostles, they were destroyed by envy on the battlefront.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

51. “Don’t water your testimony with your righteous expectations of church members. Their imperfection will disappoint you every time and cause you to leave every church you try to join.” - Shannon L. Alder

52. “Yet how bored they both looked, and how wearily Ethel regarded Jim sometimes, as if she wondered why she had trained the vines of her affection on such a wind-shaken poplar.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

53. “Most people are not really free. They are confined by the niche in the world that they carve out for themselves. They limit themselves to fewer possibilities by the narrowness of their vision.” - V.S. Naipaul

54. “Farid, you are keeping a hawk; don't expect her to lay eggs like a chicken.” - Michael Gruber

55. “Maybe she should stop reading those damn romance novels. They were giving her crazy expectations.” - Lexi Blake

56. “I believe in knowing who you are but without limiting yourself to your own expectation of who you are.” - Charlotte Eriksson

57. “Tell yourself often: I am going to tackle my aspirations head on with the passion and dedication necessary to exceed even my expectations.” - Lorii Myers

58. “Expectations are made to be exceeded!” - Lorii Myers

59. “Explore, experience, evolve, and exceed your expectations! - No Excuses!” - Lorii Myers

60. “It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.” - Thucydides