"Hope never abandons you, you abandon it"
About this Quote
The subtext is less inspirational than corrective. "Never abandons you" is a dare to notice the quiet ways people pre-empt disappointment: cynicism dressed up as realism, numbing as self-care, lowering expectations until nothing can be lost. Weinberg implies those moves aren't neutral; they're choices that protect the ego at the price of possibility. If hope is something you can abandon, it's also something you can retrieve, but not without admitting you dropped it.
Context matters because Weinberg, a psychologist and a key figure in challenging pathologizing views of homosexuality, spent a career watching how institutions teach people to give up on themselves. Internalized stigma is, in part, learned hopelessness: when the world keeps messaging that you don't belong, abandoning hope can feel like compliance, even wisdom. His line pushes back against that training. It's blunt on purpose, meant to puncture the romance of resignation.
Rhetorically, the inversion lands because it's accusatory in a productive way: not "cheer up", but "own your exit". It offers a hard kind of comfort - the only hope worth having is the hope you can still choose.
Quote Details
| Topic | Hope |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Weinberg, George. (2026, January 15). Hope never abandons you, you abandon it. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/hope-never-abandons-you-you-abandon-it-70688/
Chicago Style
Weinberg, George. "Hope never abandons you, you abandon it." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/hope-never-abandons-you-you-abandon-it-70688/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Hope never abandons you, you abandon it." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/hope-never-abandons-you-you-abandon-it-70688/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.










