Hope Is Not A Delicate Thing

Posted February 20, 2025 by Prairie Wife - 2 comments

Hope is not a delicate thing…

“People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers and spider’s webs. It’s not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth as she rises for another go.” Matthew @CrowsFault

February is a notoriously brutal month in Wyoming.

Frigid below-zero temperatures for days on end.

Cloudier skies than usual.

Short days and long nights.

This year, in particular, seems to be hitting many people harder than in previous years.

I have so many friends and loved ones who are struggling right now, and while I offer them as much time, energy, and prayers as I can…my heart still hurts for them.

So, I thought I would share some quotes about hope that have encouraged me as I have fought through my own times of “the dark night of the soul.”

“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
Shel Silverstein

“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
G.K. Chesterton

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
Emily Dickinson

“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”
Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone

“We are all the pieces of what we remember. We hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there is love and memory, there is no true loss.”
Cassandra Clare, City of Heavenly Fire

“Hope is a difficult thing to kill, just a spark of it can start a fire.”
Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do.”
C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair