Daily Inspiration Quote by J. Martin Kohe

A psychologist’s optimism can sound like a Hallmark slogan until you notice the verb doing the heavy lifting: choose. Kohe isn’t pleading for naive positivity; he’s issuing a behavioral instruction. Belief here isn’t a passive hunch, it’s an act of will - the kind therapists try to coax out of people who’ve learned, through repetition, to expect the worst. The line frames hope not as a mood but as a decision you can rehearse, which is precisely how modern psychology treats change: less lightning bolt, more practice.

The subtext is quietly adversarial. “Let us” makes it collective, almost civic, as if pessimism is contagious and needs a counter-public-health intervention. It also smuggles in permission. People who are depressed, anxious, or traumatized often feel that hoping is irresponsible - that it sets you up for disappointment, that it jinxes you, that it signals you’re not being “realistic.” Kohe’s phrasing pushes back against that moralizing of despair. Choosing to believe something good can happen is not the same as denying risk; it’s refusing to let risk monopolize the future.

Context matters: Kohe’s lifetime (1908-1994) spans economic collapse, world war, the Cold War, and the rise of clinical psychology as a mainstream tool for managing modern life. Against that backdrop, the sentence reads like an antidote to learned helplessness: a small, portable script that restores agency when circumstances don’t. It works because it lowers the bar. Not “everything will be fine,” just “something good can happen” - a minimal claim with maximal psychological leverage.