Hope sets the stamp of vanity on all
that men have deem'd substantial since the fall,
yet has the wondrous virtue to educe
from emptiness itself a real use;
and, while she takes, as at a father's hand,
what health and sober appetite demand,
from fading good derives, with chemic art,
that lasting happiness, a thankful heart.
From William Cowper, "Hope". Lines 153-160.
Go forth, my dissertation. I hope you're done.