How disappointing when people succumb to what is expected of them.

—Lauren Groff in Arcadia

disappointment people expectations

About Lauren Groff

Portrait of Lauren Groff

Lauren Groff (born July 23, 1978) is an American novelist and short story writer. She has written five novels and three short story collections, including Delicate Edible Birds (2009), Fates and Furies (2015), Matrix (2021), The Vaster Wilds (2023), and Brawler (2026). Lauren and her husband Clay Kallman founded The...

More quotations tagged with “expectations”

I used to think that any man of mine had to live up to a list of my expectations. I was wrong. Love has no list.

—Rachel Gibson in Any Man of Mine

love wrong expectations

The thing about surviving something truly tragic is that it changes your expectations forever. You make do with very little. You're grateful for crumbs. You make the best of small mercies. You endure large trials. You understand that life owes you nothing. You expect nothing, and when something wonderful happens, you don't trust it.

—Katy Regnery

gratitude expectations survival trust tragedy mercy

There is a time in life when you expect the world to be always full of new things. And then comes a day when you realize that is not how it will be at all. You see that life will become a thing made of holes. Absences. Losses. Things that were there and are no longer. And you realize, too, that you have to grow around and between the gaps, though you can put your hand out to where things were and feel that tense, shining dullness of the space where the memories are.

—Helen Macdonald in H is for Hawk

life expectations loss absence memories

I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine.

expectations the world

I'm the kind of person who would rather get my hopes up really high and watch them get dashed to pieces than wisely keep my expectations at bay and hope they are exceeded. This quality has made me a needy and theatrical friend, but has given me a spectacularly dramatic emotional life.

—Mindy Kaling in Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

hope expectations emotion

History

23 Jun 2019 Added