evidence: This is a quote often attributed to William Shakespeare. But while it has the ring of the Bard, he didn’t say it. What Shakespeare really said, in the play "All’s Well That Ends Well," is this: "Oft expectation fails, and most oft there where most it promises." [...] Like nearly all of Shakespeare’s works, expectations—those things, duties, performances or behaviors that are expected of us, and that we expect of ourselves—are difficult to categorize. In other words, it’s tough to know whether having expectations is good for us or not. Shakespeare is good for us. All of life’s brilliance, bawdiness, heartbreak and humor, there in every single bite. I promise. But having expectations about life and people, well, that’s a whole other story.