keep the faith

keep the faith

To remain optimistic about a person or situation, especially when faced with challenges. Often said imperatively as a phrase of encouragement or reassurance. She's worried that we won't get approved for the mortgage, but I just keep telling her to keep the faith. I'm sorry, but I have a hard time keeping the faith when I know how bad his temper can be.
See also: faith, keep
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

Keep the faith (baby)!

exclam. a statement of general encouragement or solidarity. You said it! Keep the faith, baby!
See also: faith, keep
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

keep the faith

Carry on, continue the good work. This phrase, often put as keep the faith, baby, became common among activists in the American civil rights struggles of the 1960s. Originally it probably alluded to maintaining one’s religious beliefs, but this sense was superseded by the nonsectarian efforts to obtain equal rights for all American citizens. Subsequently, it lost both meanings and became a more neutral expression used when two friends or colleagues part. Stanley Ellin used it in The Man from Nowhere (1975), “I’ll leave it to you, Jake.—Keep the faith, baby.”
See also: faith, keep
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • Keep the faith baby!
  • this too shall pass (away)
  • give it time
  • break a leg
  • Break a leg!
  • a penny for them
  • go get 'em
  • beck and call
  • keep (one's) paws off (something or someone)
References in periodicals archive
Keep the Faith believes there is a big market for what it does and Chris is coy on plans for further shops.
Barber hopes to cut it at new location
He must keep the faith in a climate where the once great Sunday Arts and Leisure section (which he at one time edited) has been culturally down-marketed to a kind of gee-whiz triviality--notably on its dance half-page.
Attitudes
"Keep the faith." In the North you need a lot of faith.
Rick Evans
"As a teacher, we have all kinds of challenges in our classroom and the reason we're able to do our job well with the students is that we keep the faith in them and we work hard with them to overcome the challenges that come their way and that come our way," Morgan says.
Pressing on in the face of tragedy: she was Christa McAuliffe's backup. Now elementary teacher Barbara Morgan is bound for outer space
Share-holders are calling on corporations to keep the faith and smokers are stubbing their cigs--as Japan's tobacco giants seek riches elsewhere in Asia.
From the editor
My question for Voice of the Faithful is simple: Could it be possible, just possible, that if you change the structures, you do, in fact, not keep the faith, but change it as well?
Keep faith and church.
"As for no cut, I'm unsure, but it may also help people keep the faith. But if they cut it again it means they think the economy needs more money in it."
Economist loves the rate cut
We must keep the faith and continue to battle for Naval Aviation.
WINGS OF CHANGE
* Persevere: Thou shalt push toward the mark, keep the faith, and not give up.
The 10 `Ps' of prosperity
The reasons for this indifference deserve to be explained if we are truly to keep the faith.
We should practice what we teach
"Americans of all faiths rely on you to keep the faith."
'Crossfire' co-host Bill Press, satirist Al Franken, religious liberty awards featured at 50th anniversary dinner
But for those of us who have lived through these years of despair, empty promises and shattered dreams, it has often been difficult to keep the faith in the struggle against seemingly overwhelming odds.
Preface
Ted Gonzales, SJ, paid homage to women who, like the veep, keep the faith and keep up the good fight.
Keep the faith
Keep the Faith opened three years ago, and it was about Christmas that the team started to look for somewhere bigger.
Keep the Faith... and play pool while you wait for your haircut
In a "learning curve" of a campaign not likely to bear significant fruit until Christmas, he has appealed to Spartans supporters to "keep the faith" along the way.
Blyth must keep it going