--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The only thing that can truly destroy a…" description: "\"The only thing that can truly destroy a person is mislaid hope.\" — Harriet Morgan" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/harriet-morgan-9185_destruction_the-only-thing-that-can-truly-destroy-a_1261283.jpg" --- # The only thing that can truly destroy a person is mislaid… ![“The only thing that can truly destroy a person is mislaid hope.” quote by Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/harriet-morgan-9185_destruction_the-only-thing-that-can-truly-destroy-a_1261283.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/harriet-morgan-9185_destruction_the-only-thing-that-can-truly-destroy-a_1261283.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/harriet-morgan-9185_destruction_the-only-thing-that-can-truly-destroy-a_1261283.jpg) > “The only thing that can truly destroy a person is mislaid hope.” [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Hope is essential; without it, a person can feel irreparably broken. **In simple terms:** Losing hope can destroy a person. Key Takeaway Nurture hope to stay resilient. Themes hope resilience psychology Mood somber reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal crisis - mental health counseling - recovering from loss Key Concepts existential risk emotional health Questions to Reflect On - How do you rebuild hope after loss? - What supports keep hope alive? A Different Perspective Hope may be fragile and hard to sustain in adversity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Destruction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destruction/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life lesson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-lesson/) ## Related quotes > [Who can destroy iron but its own rust, and who can destroy a person but his own mind?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/senora-roy/who-can-destroy-iron-but-its-own-rust-and-who-can-destroy-a-person/) [Senora Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/senora-roy/) > [Christening stars I remember the way. We were needle and spoon mislaid in the burning hay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cradle-of-filth/christening-stars-i-remember-the-way-we-were-needle-and-spoon-mislaid/) [Cradle Of Filth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cradle-of-filth/) > [“Don’t you think you should retire again? The first retiral seems to have got mislaid.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-dunnett/don-t-you-think-you-should-retire-again-the-first-retiral-seems-to/) [Dorothy Dunnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-dunnett/) > [Wall Street had been doing business with pieces of paper; and now someone asked for a dollar, and it was discovered that the dollar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/upton-sinclair/wall-street-had-been-doing-business-with-pieces-of-paper-and-now/) [Upton Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/upton-sinclair/) > [“There is no one more likely to destroy us than the person we marry.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/there-is-no-one-more-likely-to-destroy-us-than-the-person-we-marry/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [Humans live best when each has his place, when each knows where he belongs in the scheme of things. Destroy the place and destroy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/humans-live-best-when-each-has-his-place-when-each-knows-where-he/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [“When others demand that we become the people they want us to be, they force us to destroy the person we really are. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-morrison/when-others-demand-that-we-become-the-people-they-want-us-to-be-they/) [Jim Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-morrison/) > [You don't just decide to destroy a person by making up stuff, and no one at 'SNL' is writing to go after someone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tina-fey/you-don-t-just-decide-to-destroy-a-person-by-making-up-stuff-and-no/) [Tina Fey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tina-fey/) > [“Fifteen seconds. That's all it takes to completely change everything about a person. Fifteen seconds that we'll never get back. Five minutes. That's all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colleen-hoover/fifteen-seconds-that-s-all-it-takes-to-completely-change-everything/) [Colleen Hoover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colleen-hoover/) > [“If he was displeased, he might scream and get hopping mad and use expletives, but he wouldn’t do it in a way that would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-isaacson/if-he-was-displeased-he-might-scream-and-get-hopping-mad-and-use/) [Walter Isaacson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-isaacson/) > [“Those who try and destroy another person's character with lies...end up destroying themselves in the process.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-pina/those-who-try-and-destroy-another-person-s-character-with-lies-end-up/) [Timothy Pina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-pina/) > [One of the most horrible, yet most important, discoveries of our age has been that, if you really wish to destroy a person and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/one-of-the-most-horrible-yet-most-important-discoveries-of-our-age/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [No One can Destroy IRON but its own RUST can. Likewise, No one can Destroy a Person but his Own Mind can! Our Thoughts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/no-one-can-destroy-iron-but-its-own-rust-can-likewise-no-one-can/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [“the common force cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, the liberty, or the property of individuals or of classes. For”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/the-common-force-cannot-lawfully-be-used-to-destroy-the-person-the/) [Frédéric Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [It is terrible to destroy a person's picture of himself in the interests of truth or some other abstraction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/it-is-terrible-to-destroy-a-person-s-picture-of-himself-in-the/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) ## More by Harriet Morgan > [You're so fake that you should have two facebook accounts; one for each face!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/you-re-so-fake-that-you-should-have-two-facebook-accounts-one-for/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [Love is something nice, love is something sweet, love is a skill that's learned not pick up on the streets, the one who teaches…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/love-is-something-nice-love-is-something-sweet-love-is-a-skill-that-s/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [The feelings I use to have for you, are no longer there & for the first time in a while I really don't care.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/the-feelings-i-use-to-have-for-you-are-no-longer-there-for-the-first/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [A woman woke in the middle of the night to find her husband missing from their bed. She got out of bed and checked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/a-woman-woke-in-the-middle-of-the-night-to-find-her-husband-missing/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [A strong women is someone who is able to smile this morning like she wasn't crying last night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/a-strong-women-is-someone-who-is-able-to-smile-this-morning-like-she/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [Society: Every girl is beautiful. Fat girls: Really? Skinny girls: Really? Curvy girls: Really? Scene girls: Really? Preppy girls: Really? White girls: Really? Black…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/society-every-girl-is-beautiful-fat-girls-really-skinny-girls-really/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [I can be selfish, I can be impatient, I'm insecure, I can get low, like theres no way up. I can also be kind,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/i-can-be-selfish-i-can-be-impatient-i-m-insecure-i-can-get-low-like/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [Every path has its puddles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/every-path-has-its-puddles/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [Stop thinking of what could go wrong and start thinking of what could go right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/stop-thinking-of-what-could-go-wrong-and-start-thinking-of-what-could/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [The police are on the way to arrest you for stealing my heart, hijacking my feelings, and driving me crazy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/the-police-are-on-the-way-to-arrest-you-for-stealing-my-heart/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [Judge me & I'll prove you wrong. Tell me what to do & I'll tell you off. Say I'm not worth it & watch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/judge-me-i-ll-prove-you-wrong-tell-me-what-to-do-i-ll-tell-you-off-2/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [Boys are like food. (Food) as the saying goes you eat with your eyes first then you taste it, if it doesn't taste nice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/boys-are-like-food-food-as-the-saying-goes-you-eat-with-your-eyes/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [If you cant find the key to success, pick the lock.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/if-you-cant-find-the-key-to-success-pick-the-lock/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [Friends are angels who help us to our feet when our wings have forgotten how to fly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/friends-are-angels-who-help-us-to-our-feet-when-our-wings-have/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) > [If people are trying to bring you down,it only means you are above them..!!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/if-people-are-trying-to-bring-you-down-it-only-means-you-are-above/) [Harriet Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) [Explore all 74 Harriet Morgan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/) ## More Destruction quotes > [For not only every democracy, but certainly every republic, bears within itself the seeds of its own destruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-not-only-every-democracy-but-certainly-every-republic-bears/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/there-are-no-white-lies-there-is-only-the-blackest-of-destruction-and/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [It goes to show you how we in the press so often miss the big stories that are right under our noses. There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ebert/it-goes-to-show-you-how-we-in-the-press-so-often-miss-the-big-stories/) [Roger Ebert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ebert/) > [A time will come when the science of destruction shall bend before the arts of peace; when the genius which multiplies our powers, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-arago/a-time-will-come-when-the-science-of-destruction-shall-bend-before/) [Francois Arago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-arago/) > [Perhaps the greatest and least visible form of impoverishment caused by the Corporate State is the destruction of community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-reich/perhaps-the-greatest-and-least-visible-form-of-impoverishment-caused/) [Charles A. Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-reich/) > [Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/somewhere-somebody-must-have-some-sense-men-must-see-that-force/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [Death is but an aspect of life, and the destruction of one material form is but a prelude to building up of another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/death-is-but-an-aspect-of-life-and-the-destruction-of-one-material/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Hundreds of millions of human beings on our planet increasingly suffer from unemployment, poverty, hunger, and the destruction of their families.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-kung/hundreds-of-millions-of-human-beings-on-our-planet-increasingly/) [Hans Kung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-kung/) > [Away with you, water, destruction of wine!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catullus/away-with-you-water-destruction-of-wine/) [Catullus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catullus/) > [Some voluntary castaways there will always be, whom no fostering kindness and no parental care can preserve from self-destruction; but if any are lost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-southey/some-voluntary-castaways-there-will-always-be-whom-no-fostering/) [Robert Southey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-southey/) > [“You are a lawmaker in your own right.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/you-are-a-lawmaker-in-your-own-right/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [ No visiting angel, or explorer from another planet, could have guessed that this bland orb \[Earth\] teemed with vermin, with world-mastering, self-torturing, incipiently angelic… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olaf-stapledon/no-visiting-angel-or-explorer-from-another-planet-could-have-guessed/) [Olaf Stapledon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olaf-stapledon/) > [As far as I know, the question of whether and how it could be strategically or morally justified was never the subject of open…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-far-as-i-know-the-question-of-whether-and-how-it-could-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Is there some lesson on how to be friends? I think what it means is that central to living a life that is good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-rakoff/is-there-some-lesson-on-how-to-be-friends-i-think-what-it-means-is/) [David Rakoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-rakoff/) > [“We're on the eve of destruction. Men have lost all sense of honor. Power has become their faith instead of faith being their power.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atiq-rahimi/we-re-on-the-eve-of-destruction-men-have-lost-all-sense-of-honor/) Atiq Rahimi [Browse all 3,161 Destruction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destruction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The only thing that can truly destroy a person is mislaid hope.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Harriet Morgan" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/the-only-thing-that-can-truly-destroy-a-person-is-mislaid-hope/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Destruction" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/the-only-thing-that-can-truly-destroy-a-person-is-mislaid-hope/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/harriet-morgan-9185_destruction_the-only-thing-that-can-truly-destroy-a_1261283.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/harriet-morgan-9185_destruction_the-only-thing-that-can-truly-destroy-a_1261283.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/harriet-morgan-9185_destruction_the-only-thing-that-can-truly-destroy-a_1261283.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The only thing that can truly destroy a person is mislaid hope.” — Harriet Morgan", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Harriet Morgan", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-morgan/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The only thing that can truly...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/the-only-thing-that-can-truly-destroy-a-person-is-mislaid-hope/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-morgan/the-only-thing-that-can-truly-destroy-a-person-is-mislaid-hope/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```