The kind of hope I often think about (especially in situations that are particularly hopeless, such as prison), I understand above all as a state of mind, not a state of the world.
…it is a dimension of the soul; it’s not essentially dependent on some particular observations of the world or estimate of the situation. Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart;
It transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons.
Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but, rather, an ability to work for something
Because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more unpropitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is.
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
In this profound sense, a grateful heart is also a hopeful heart.
Only a person or a nation that is self confident in the best sense of the word is capable of listening to others, accepting them as equals, forgiving its enemies and regretting its own guilt. Let us try to introduce this kind of self confidence into the life of our community and into our behavior on the international stage. Only thus can we restore our self respect and our respect for one another as well as gain the respect of other nations. – Vaclav Havel