hope springs eternal

Ellipsis of hope springs eternal in the human breast, a quotation from An Essay on Man (1734) by Alexander Pope.

hope springs eternal

1. The feeling of hopefulness endlessly renews itself.

   Synonym: while there's life, there's hope

   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle I, London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 7, lines 91–92:

     Hope ſprings eternal in the human breaſt; / Man never is, but always to be bleſt.

   • 1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “Scouts Out”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC, book the third (A Long Lane), page 95:

     Night after night his disappointment is acute, but hope springs eternal in the scholastic breast, and he follows me again to-morrow.

   • 1915, Elinor Glyn, “The Gospel of Common Sense”, in Three Things:

     But, as hope springs eternal in the human breast, he still goes from doctor to doctor for fresh advice.

   • 2003 April 23, Leon Jaroff, “Hold that Tiger”, in Time‎, archived from the original on 2 May 2013:

     But hope springs eternal in diehard Tiger fans, and Peter is convinced that someday, somehow, he and his son will see Detroit clinch a championship.

• never say die
• tomorrow is another day

• nil desperandum