Quotes & Sayings About Expect The Worst

I've learned to expect the worst from people who hold power. — Dan Brown

You're the sort of person who, on principle, no longer expects anything of anything. There are plenty, younger than you or less young, who live in the expectation of extraordinary experiences: from books, from people, from journeys, from events, from what tomorrow has in store. But not you. You know that the best you can expect is to avoid the worst. — Italo Calvino

Expect the worst and hope for the best. — M.A. Cassata

If you constantly expect the worst from someone, that's probably what you're going to get. — Courtney Cole

Look, the point is there's no way to be a hundred percent sure about anyone or anything. So you're left with a choice. Either hope for the best or just expect the worst. — Sarah Dessen

He had forgotten the most important thing about living in the wilderness, the one thing he'd thought he would never forget-expect the unexpected. What you didn't think would get you, would get you. Plan on the worst and be happy when it didn't come. — Gary Paulsen

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and expect the impossible. — Lara Whatley

I expect the worst, and I am sure I won't be disappointed. — Walter Bedell Smith

Expect the best, not the worst, and you will attain your heart's desire. — Norman Vincent Peale

They say 'expect the worst.' I say 'Expect the best and even better will happen.' — Rima Fakih

We should expect the best and the worst of mankind, as from the weather. — Luc De Clapiers

I did this one movie with a great director named Wayne Kramer. It was 'Crossing Over,' and Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta were in it. I was one of the leads, and I thought this was it. It got shelved for two years, and then it was in theaters maybe a week. After that, I adopted a philosophy of, 'Hope for the best, expect the worst.' — Justin Chon

A man in his early sixties told me, I used to think the best way to go through life was to expect the worst. That way, if it happened, you were prepared, and if it didn't happen, you were pleasantly surprised. Then I was in a car accident and my wife was killed. Needless to say, expecting the worst didn't prepare me at all. And worse, I still grieve for all of those wonderful moments we shared and that I didn't fully enjoy. My commitment to her is to fully enjoy every moment now. I just wish she was here, now that I know how to do that. — Brene Brown

Hope for the Best. Expect the worst. Life is a play. We're unrehearsed. — Mel Brooks

Naturally all of us don't think we deserve very much. We don't believe that things will go well for us in the future, generally because they may not have in the past. Our natural bent is to expect the worst. Our natural tendency is to be negative and doubtful. It is actually very hard to be positive. It takes faith to be positive and believe that good things are in our future. — Lisa Bedrick

The worst thing we could do is impose time limits and then expect people to sink or swim once they move off welfare. — William Julius Wilson

I'm not a prince, my life has not been charming. I know to expect the worst out of everything and everyone. — Victoria Aveyard

Expect the best, plan for the worst and prepare to be surprised. — Dennis Waitley

I did not buy a book called Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson, which has the temerity to compare itself, on the front cover, to 'Tolkien at his best.' The back cover attributes the quote to the Washington Post, a newspaper whose quotations will always damn a book for me from now on. How dare they? And how dare the publishers? It isn't a comparison anyone could make, except to say 'Compared to Tolkien at his best, this is dross.' I mean you could say that even about really brilliant books like A Wizard of Earthsea. I expect Lord Foul's Bane (horrible title, sounds like a Conan book) is more like Tolkien at his worst, which would be the beginning of The Simarillion.
The thing about Tolkien, about The Lord of the Rings, is that it's perfect. — Jo Walton

When we surrender to apathy and expect the world to deliver everything to us, we deliver ourselves to a slow death and we sacrifice the best of our potential to the worst of our decisions. — Craig D. Lounsbrough

Expect the worst and you can't be disappointed. Optimism is the luxury of the young, the foolish and the dullard. — Luke Scull

If you expect the worst from people, that's exactly what you'll get. — Michelle Hodkin

'Expect the best, but prepare for the worst.' I'm good at the first part, crap at the second. — Justine Larbalestier

I promise, when you always expect the worst, you will not be disappointed. — Charles F. Glassman

With total strangers, it had always been my policy to expect the worst. Usually they-and those that you knew best, for that matter-did not disappoint. — Sarah Dessen

No,' I said, shooting him a look. 'But you don't have to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.'
You don't have to assume the worst about everyone, either. THe world isn't always out to get you.'
In your opinion,' I added.
Look,' he said, 'the point is there's no way to be a hundred percent sure about anyone or anything. so you're left with a choice. Eitherhope for the best, or just expect the worst.'
If you expect the worst you're never disappointed,' I pointed out.

~Ruby and Nate, pg 259 — Sarah Dessen

The food in the hostel mess is worst of a kind. The grief in my words reach easily to those who have "been there and done that" Chapatti in the meal is either so uncooked or overly cooked and you can only expect dal in the ocean of water when you are ready to swim. — Parul Wadhwa

This would be the worst birthday of his life. Vladimir's best friend Baobab was down in Florida covering his rent, doing unspeakable things with unmentionable people. Mother, roused by the meager achievements of Vladimir's first quarter-century, was officially on the warpath. And, in possibly the worst development yet, 1993 was the Year of the Girlfriend. A downcast, heavyset American girlfriend whose bright orange hair was strewn across his Alphabet City hovel as if cadre of Angora rabbits had visited. A girlfriend whose sickly-sweet incense and musky perfume coated Vladimir's unwashed skin, perhaps to remind him of what he could expect on this, the night of his birthday: Sex. Every week, once a week, they had to have sex, as both he and this large pale woman, this Challah, perceived that without weekly sex their relationship would fold up according to some unspecified law of relationships. — Gary Shteyngart

I have a colleague who often tells people, "Look, allowing yourself to be dependent on another person is the worst possible thing you can do to yourself. You would be better off being dependent on heroin. As long as you have a supply of it, heroin will never let you down; if it's there, it will always make you happy. But if you expect another person to make you happy, you'll be endlessly disappointed." As a matter of fact, it is no accident that the most common disturbance that passive dependent people manifest beyond their relationships to others is dependency on drugs and alcohol. Theirs is the "addictive personality." They are addicted to people, sucking on them and gobbling them up, and when people are not available to be sucked and gobbled, they often turn to the bottle or the needle or the pill as a people-substitute. In summary, dependency may appear to be love because it is a force that causes people to fiercely attach themselves to one another. — M. Scott Peck

The essence of any plan for financing old age is saving-to put aside some part of today's earnings for the future. Anything that saps the value of savings-and inflation is the worst single threat-is the enemy of the aged and of those who expect to grow old. — Bernard Baruch

I think sometimes when we grew up with a parent who is deeply flawed ... we learn, subconsciously at least, to expect the worst from everyone else as well ... Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way forever. We can learn to see with new eyes if we try. — Mindy Starns Clark

When you always expect the worst you can never experience the best. — Jayce O'Neal

the worst happens when you least expect it — Dean Koontz

In the deepest pits of 'Ell, Where the worst defaulters dwell (Charcoal devils used as fuel as you require 'em), There's some lovely coloured rays, Pyrotechnical displays, But you can't expect the burning to admire 'em! — Edgar Wallace

The source of their confident certainty was simply God alone. God Himself. As long as they were in fellowship with Him, they could forever expect His blessings to just roll downhill and right into their lives. He was their righteousness, He was their innocence, He was their sense of identity, He was their dignity and honor. He was their peace. And He was their prosperity. He was the reason they felt no fear. So even though we're confined today to a much different time zone than the one Adam and Eve set their clocks to - back before the Fall struck thirteen and threw everything out of whack - the winning response to fear and anxiety remains completely one-dimensional. It's Him - not the favorable resolution of our problems. It's Him - not the removal of every worst-case scenario. It's Him - not an easy, breezy, adversity-free lifestyle. It's Him. It has always been and will always be Him. — Matt Chandler

You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best - the sun to warm and the rain to nourish - to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. 48 "In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you." THE WORLD IS NOT A STAGE — Eugene H. Peterson

Maybe it was being orphaned and alone all my life, but I always steeled for the worst outcome I could envision. That way I could shrug and be almost happy with anything that fell short of the worst. It was a peculiar life skill and one I had gotten damn good at. — James Anderson

Bah! you wish to hear a man tell of his worst actions, and you expect the story to come out goody-goody! One's worst actions always are mean. We — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

When things are fantastic, it's hard not to expect that the worst is waiting to pounce on you from a dark corner. — Penny Reid

When you expect something from your self and your own self disappoints you ... this is what i call a real disappointment . The worst disappointments comes from in-within. — Sameh Elsayed

Can anyone imagine that the masterfulness, the overbearing disposition, the greed of gain, and the ruthlessness in methods, which are the faults of the master of industry at his worst, would cease when he was a functionary of the State, which had relieved him of risk and endowed him with authority? Can anyone imagine that politicians would no longer be corruptly fond of money, intriguing, and crafty when they were charged, not only with patronage and government contracts, but also with factories, stores, ships, and railroads? Could we expect anything except that, when the politician and the master of industry were joined in one, we should have the vices of both unchecked by the restraints of either? — William Graham Sumner

Expect nothing in life and prepare for the worst so all the good things in life are blessings — Myself

Theano: Always expecting the worst, you are.

Danae: If you expect terrible things, then they don't surprise you, and all good things are like wonderful gifts. — Adele Geras

Hope for the best, expect the worst. — Angela Carter

Two things you should know about me; The first is that I am deeply suspicious of people in general. It is my nature to expect the worst of them. And the second is that I am unexpectedly good with computers. — Veronica Roth

For, even the preachers have begun to tell us that God is radium, or ether or some scientific compound, and that the worst we wicked ones may expect is a chemical reaction. — O. Henry

The Victorians did not have some secret formula, since lost, about how to expect the best of marriage and still put up with the worst. Rather, they were much more accepting than we are today of a huge gap between rhetoric and reality, expectation and actual experience. In large part, this was because they had no other choice. — Stephanie Coontz

This is the best and worst part about having a friend who's so close to you. You know what to expect from them, and they know what to do to get a reaction out of you. — K. Bromberg

If you expect the worst from a person you can never be disappointed. — Anthony Burgess

Plan for the worst, expect the best. — David Gemmell

I am my own worst enemy
I only feel beautiful when I am holding my son
Always expect the worst, that way you're never let down — Bill Norris

Hope for the best. Expect the worst. Plan for both. — Joanna Bourne

If you expect the worst, you can only be suprised — Peter Edwards

While it was understandable to be afraid, and no one would expect you not to be, the worst thing you could do was to run from the trouble you had caused. No matter how accidental it was, you didn't try to deny it. You didn't run. You did what you must to right it. — Terry Goodkind

You'd expect academics, people who are by training comfortable with complexity, to be the most resistant to the idea that we're shaped by any single factor. In fact, they are often the worst offenders. Immersed in their own research, shaped by their own work, many logically see everything else as a natural extension of it. — Nicholas Day

Expect the worst
And that's what
You'll get
Only it will be
Much worse. — J.P. Donleavy

Other countries spend, on average, only about one-half of what the U.S. spends per capita on health care. Isn't it reasonable, therefore, for us to expect our system to rank above theirs? Unfortunately, among these twelve countries, the U.S. system is consistently among the worst performers. — T. Colin Campbell

I never said I was sad, I'm just pessimistic," said Alecto. "Expect the worst, that way you'll never be disappointed, Mandy Valems. — Rebecca McNutt

Learn what not to expect. Irish catholic they get sh**** little rings. Irish women get crappy rings. Baptist get the worst because they get the rings under water. When it comes up, it's garbage. Jewish, big rings. Episcopalian big rings. Italians-the best, because they get them off of dead people, and second wives get the biggest rings of all. — Joan Rivers

It is right to hope for the best about everybody, and not to expect the worst. This sounds like a truism, but it has comforted me before now, and some day you'll find it useful. One has always to try to think more of others than of oneself, and it is best not to prejudge people on the bad side. — Elizabeth Gaskell

Don't expect to achieve your best
while you expect the worst.
Change your attitude and be
a little more positive.
Great things are coming your way.
Be patient. — Leon Brown

It was his job to expect the worst of humanity, including myself. — James S.A. Corey

Well, we're going to need to expect something." Hunter stated.
"I suggest we expect the worst." Gwen announced. — Meghan Blistinsky

The worst burden in life is what others know about us. But maybe there is one burden even worse than this. It happens when they don't know about us, it is what they think about us when, in silence, they force us to be what they expect us to be. Even worse is how we become it and I, chonorroeja, have become it. — Colum McCann

Look," he said, "the point is there's no way to be a hundred percent sure about anyone or anything. So you're left with a choice. Either hope for the best, or just expect the worst."
If you expect the worst, you're never disappointed," I pointed out.
Yeah, but who lives like that? — Sarah Dessen

I am quite a cheerful, dark person. On the outside, I'm optimistic but I expect the worst to happen. — Meg Rosoff

We want words to do more than they can. We try to do with them what comes to very much like trying to mend a watch with a pickaxe or to paint a miniature with a mop; we expect them to help us to grip and dissect that which in ultimate essence is as ungrippable as shadow. Nevertheless there they are; we have got to live with them, and the wise course is to treat them as we do our neighbours, and make the best and not the worst of them. — Samuel Butler

But I guess you learn to stop hoping, after a while. Life teaches you to expect the worst, eh? — Joe Abercrombie

If you give up every time you don't achieve the immediate gain you want, you're just guaranteeing that the worst is going to happen ... You can't expect an easy victory after one protest march. — Noam Chomsky

Let me guess. You think we're going to live happily ever after, like some stupid fairy tale?"
"Why not?" His stare dared me to laugh or, worse, to argue.
"Because the whole thing is ridiculous," I said. I despised the bitterness in my own voice. I sounded so damaged. Good. If he thought I was his soul mate for some mysterious reason he wouldn't let on, let him see the worst of me.
"It's not ridiculous to me. Perhaps that's the difference between predators and prey, love. I'll never stop hunting. But I expect that one day, you'll stop running."
"Because I want to die?"
"Because you want to live. — Delilah S. Dawson

Your mind creates your reality. If you expect nothing, you open up the universe to give you options. If you expect the worst, you usually get it. — James Patterson

I've always done the safest thing, which is to assume that it's going to feel like that, to assume that you're going to feel like a freshman in a group of seniors - if you expect the worst, then it's never going to be that bad. — Janina Gavankar

Expect the best, prepare for the worst. — Muhammad Ali Jinnah

If you expect the worst, you'll never be disappointed. — Sarah Dessen

I believe passionately in preemptive pessimism, especially before a book comes out. I expect the worst both from reviewers and sales, and then, with any luck, I may be proved wrong. — Antony Beevor

When you've been struck by lightning as many times as I have, you start to expect the worst pretty much all the time. — Jennifer Bosworth

Optimism research teaches us that we should expect the best and have a contingency plan for the worst. — Paul Dolan

Many of us are slaves to our minds. Our own mind is our worst enemy. We try to focus, and our mind wanders off. We try to keep stress at bay, but anxiety keeps us awake at night. We try to be good to the people we love, but then we forget them and put ourselves first. And when we want to change our life, we dive into spiritual practice and expect quick results, only to lose focus after the honeymoon has worn off. We return to our state of bewilderment. We're left feeling helpless and discouraged. It seems we all agree that training the body through exercise, diet, and relaxation is a good idea, but why don't we think about training our minds? — Sakyong Mipham

It is high time that I learn to be more careful about hope, a reckless emotion for travelers. The sensible approach would be to the expect the worst, the very worst, that way you avoid grievous disappointment and who knows with a tiny bit of luck, you might even have a moderately pleasant surprise, like the difference between hell and purgatory. — Martha Gellhorn

Since I have an aversion to movies in which people say grace at the dinner table (not to the practice but to how movies use it to establish the moral strength of a household), the opening night montage of Sunday-night supper in one home after another in Waxahachie, Texas in 1935 a whole community saying grace made me expect the worst. — Pauline Kael

I have been able to hope for the best, expect the worst, and take what comes along. If there has been one fundamental reason for my success, this is it. — Gene Sarazen

Trusting others is all good and well, but distrusting them is better. People are rotten so always expect the worst in them. This way, when people don't turn out as bad as you thought they'd be, you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's a lot better than being disappointed. Also, — R Shaw

This is the precept by which I have lived: Prepare for the worst; expect the best; and take what comes. — Hannah Arendt

Mason is able to inspect the long Map, fragrant, elegantly cartouch'd with Indians and Instruments, at last. Ev'ry place they ran it, ev'ry House pass'd by, Road cross'd, the Ridge-lines and Creeks, Forests and Glades, Water ev'ry-where, and the Dragon nearly visible. "So, - so. This is the Line as all shall see it after its Copper-Plate 'Morphosis, - and all History remember? This is what ye expect me to sign off on?" "Not the worst I've handed in. And had they wish'd to pay for Coloring? Why, tha'd scarcely knaah the Place . . . ?" "This is beauteous Work. Emerson was right, Jeremiah. You were flying, all the time." Dixon, his face darken'd by the Years of Weather, may be allowing himself to blush in safety. "Could have us'd a spot of Orpiment, all the same. Some Lapis . . . ? — Thomas Pynchon

Broken Wings Don't break a bird's wings and then tell it to fly. Don't break a heart and then tell it to love. Don't break a soul and then tell it to be happy. Don't see the worst in a person and expect them to see the best in you. Don't judge people and expect them to stand by your side. Don't play with fire and expect to stay perfectly safe. Life is about giving and taking. You cannot expect to give bad and receive good. You cannot expect to give good and receive bad. Does it happen? Yes, but don't make that an excuse for you to keep doing what you know is wrong. Don't blame life for what you do. That is so selfish and ignorant on your behalf. — Najwa Zebian

At least with my father, the danger was out in the open. I knew what to expect. But Auntie Cath is a different kind of dark altogether.
The worst kind.
The kind made from love. — Dawn Kurtagich

I always expect the worst from this evil and wicked world and am often pleasantly surprised when the worst does not come to pass, but never or rarely surprised or upset when it does. — Semir Zeki

it's well to take a look at what new rascals you are going to get before you jump at any chance to turn your present rascals out. Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is about eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried. Democracy's worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents - a depressingly low level, but what else can you expect? — Robert A. Heinlein

You come to the United States not knowing what to expect. Then all your worst prejudices are confirmed. — John Fowles

Pray for the best, prepare for the worst, and expect the unexpected. — Gary Busey

Ash sighed. "Don't say anything, Goodfellow."
"What? Me?" I grinned at him. "Say something? I'm not the type who would point out that, for once, this absurd situation isn't my fault. Of Course, I know better than to make deals with crazy Exile Queens with goddess complexes. And if I did, I would expect them to call in the favor at the worst possible time. But I'm certainly not one to rub it in. That would just be wrong."
Ash pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm beginning to regret inviting you."
"You wound me deeply Prince."
Puck — Julie Kagawa

I was Pac-Man. It was the worst costume ever. You would expect a big round suit, but it was just a mask and a smock with a maze on it. — Ray Toro

Stories start in all sorts of places. Where they begin often tells the reader of what to expect as they progress. Castles often lead to dragons, country estates to deeds of deepest love (or of hate), and ambiguously presented settings usually lead to equally as ambiguous characters and plot, leaving a reader with an ambiguous feeling of disappointment. That's one of the worst kinds. — Rebecca McKinsey

Some fears can be conquered...Others have a way of coming back around. Sometimes at the moment you least expect. Often with the very worst possible timing. Fear makes it hard to think. And when you can't think, it's hard to figure out your choices. When you can't see all your options, all you can do is react.

- Uncle Autry — Ingrid Law