E.B. White

White captures something rarely admitted: hope isn't passive sentiment but *active maintenance*, requiring the same deliberate attention we give to winding a clock. Most people think optimism means believing things will naturally improve, but he's suggesting we must tend to it like a mechanical device, wound each day or it stops working. When you're facing layoffs or a failed relationship, this distinction matters—you're not waiting for hope to arrive; you're performing a small, unglamorous ritual to keep it functional.