Q0277

Hannah Arendt

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination.
Thinker Hannah Arendt
School Political Philosophy
Source Men in Dark Times
Theme Hope
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Men in Dark Times, within the tradition of Political Philosophy. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of hope, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Hannah Arendt's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Hannah Arendt. (n.d.). Even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0277

MLA: Hannah Arendt. “Even in the darkest of times we have….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0277.

Chicago: Hannah Arendt. “Even in the darkest of times we have….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0277.

Same thinker

More from Hannah Arendt

  1. Men, not Man, live on the earth and inhabit the world.
  2. Thinking is the habit of examining whatever happens to come to pass or to attract attention.
  3. The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.
  4. Forgiveness is the only reaction which does not merely re-act but acts anew and unexpectedly.
  5. the banality of evil

All quotations by Hannah Arendt

Same theme

More on hope

  1. There are more things to admire in men than to despise.
  2. Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.
  3. Hope consists in asserting that there is at the heart of being… a mysterious principle which is in connivance with me.
  4. In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
  5. Abandon all hope, you who enter here.

Browse the hope theme