Disappointment is an inevitable part of life. Perhaps we didn’t get that work promotion we were hoping for, or someone we thought we could trust let us down, or an expensive purchase turned out to be less impressive than we hoped. Whatever the situation, dashed hopes can feel anything from annoying to devastating.
Which is not to say that wallowing in disappointment is the only way to deal with its heavy weight. Rather, another important part of life is learning how to better deal with these blows and bounce back — whether this looks like learning a lesson, adjusting expectations, or deciding not to place too much emphasis on something in the first place.
One helpful way to cope with a letdown is to lean on the wisdom of others who have been there before and persevered. Time and perspective can help us to see a situation in a different, softer light, and remember that, “When one door closes, another one opens.” The other, lesser-known portion of that quote, by Alexander Graham Bell, is just as important to keep in mind: “But we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”
These 12 quotes are reminders of all the doors that are available to us in any given situation; we just have to remember to look around.
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.Martin Luther King Jr.
Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.Marilyn Monroe
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.Les Brown
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.Thomas Edison
Disenchantment, whether it is a minor disappointment or a major shock, is the signal that things are moving into transition in our lives.William Throsby Bridges
Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.Eliza Tabor
The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire, the size of your dream, and how you handle disappointment along the way.Robert Kiyosaki
We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.Jim Rohn
A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.Franklin D. Roosevelt
Disappointment, when it involves neither shame nor loss, is as good as success; for it supplies as many images to the mind, and as many topics to the tongue.Samuel Johnson
Disappointment is really just a term for our refusal to look on the bright side.Richelle E. Goodrich
Disappointment is the nurse of wisdom.Sir Boyle Roche
Featured image credit: Ivan Las Heras/ iStock
