“My father used to say, “There is no believer who does not have two lights in his heart: the light of fear and the light of hope. Were one of these to be measured it would not exceed the other, and were the other one to be measured, it would not exceed this one.” (Imam Jafer Sadeq (AS) al-Kafi, ed. ‘Ali Akbar, II, 67, hadith 1.)

Imam Khomeini clarifies the difference between hope and delusion, in his book Forty Hadith:

“However, my dear, you should be careful of distinguishing between hope and delusion, for it may be that you be a deluded man, but imagine yourself to be a man of hope. Yet it is easy to distinguish between them on the basis of their grounds. You should reflect over the state of yours that makes you regard it as hope, to see whether that state of yours has come into being as a result of your belittling of Divine commands or as a result of conviction in the all-embracing character of Divine mercy and the greatness of the Holy Essence.”

You have guided us to Your religion which You have chosen, Your creed with which Your are pleased,
and Your path which You have made smooth, and You have shown us proximity to You and arrival at Your generosity! (Imam Sajjad (AS) dua, #45)

And he who does not prepare himself to face the worldly afflictions with sabr, ends up helpless. (Imam Abu Ja’far Muhammad b. Ali, peace be upon both, Al Amali, ch. 4, #9)

Abu Abdillah Ja’far b. Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: “The best people among you are those who are generous, and the worst among you are the misers.” (Al Amali, ch. 34, # 9)

“O Nawf, blessed are those who are detached from this world, inclined to the next one. They have adopted the earth of Allah as a carpet, the dust He created as a cushion, His Book as the under cover, and supplications to Him as the outer cover, and His water as the delicate scent. They relinquish and renounce this world, the way Jesus, peace upon him, did.” (Imam Ali (AS) Al-Amali ch. 16, #1)

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “A momin can taste the sweetness of Allah’s love if he abstains from the world. He will thus succeed. Then he will attain Allah’s love. He will be considered to be insane by those who love the world, but in fact the sweetness of Allah’s love has made him attend to nothing but Allah.” (Mishkat, h.# 605)