Optimist Quotes

So if you hear something in this book that sounds like advocacy of a particular political point of view, please reject the notion. My interest in issues is merely to point out how badly we're doing, not to suggest a way we might do better.
Don't confuse me with those who cling to hope. I enjoy describing how things are, I have no interest in how they ought to be. And I certainly have no interest in fixing them. I sincerely believe that if you think there's a solution, you're part of the problem.
My motto: Fuck Hope.
P.S. In case you're wondering, personally I'm a joyful individual, I had a long happy marriage and a close and loving family, my career has turned out better than I ever dreamed, and it continues to expand. I'm a personal optimist, but a skeptic about all else. What may sound to some like anger, is really nothing more than sympathetic contempt. I view my species with a combination of wonder and pity, and I root for its destruction. And please don't confuse my point of view with cynicism–the real cynics are the ones who tell you everything's gonna be all right.
And P.P.S., by the way, if by some chance you folks do manage to straighten things out and make everything better, I still don't wish to be included. ~ George Carlin

Conservatism is pessimistic, with a negative tendency - which we mostly resist - towards despair. Liberals are optimists, with a negative tendency, rarely resisted, towards utopianism. ~ John Derbyshire

I'm a realist all the way. I'm too cynical to be an optimist. But I've lived too much of a charmed life so far to ever be a pessimist. ~ Anthony Jeselnik

Optimism is the last resort of those in deep despair. There can't be any optimists in heaven. ~ Alice Thomas Ellis

I'm a genetic optimist. ~ Jeff Bezos

Communists are the last optimists. ~ Nadine Gordimer

George used to say that Granny wasn't a time-optimist, she was a time-atheist, and the only religion she believed in was Do-It-Later-Buddhism. ~ Fredrik Backman

The heart is the anarchist of the mind. The naughty child that never grows up. The hopeless romantic. The dreamer. The optimist. The risk taker. The sail that always wants to move. The wings that never want to land." CeCe ~ Katie Ray

I am neither an optimist nor pessimist, but a possibilist. ~ Max Lerner

An optimist is somebody who thinks our various political and social systems, schools and churches, support groups and Boy Scout troops, jury trials and congressional committees, are on the up-and-up. That they are intended for the benefit of the members. The reality is that they are designed to keep everyone in line. ~ Jack McDevitt

Hypocrisy is a quality found in others. I am an optimist. I believe that saying the right thing will eventually cause people to do the right thing for me. ~ Bauvard

Optimist: Person who travels on nothing from nowhere to happiness. ~ Mark Twain

I'm not an optimist. I'm hopeful. ~ Studs Terkel

I am fundamentally an optimist. ~ Nelson Mandela

In the Soviet Union we have a saying, a pessimist is someone who believes things can't get any worse. An optimist thinks maybe they can. ~ Abel Aganbegyan

Some people are optimists. Some people are pessimists. I'm just a realist who believes that some things are worth fighting for. ~ C. JoyBell C.

I say looking on the bright side of life never killed anybody. ~ Jenny Han

Optimists envision the best that could happen.
Pessimists envision the worst that could happen.
Pragmatists envision the likely to happen.
The pessimist finds many reasons to quit.
The optimist finds many reasons to keep going. ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

You can add up your blessings or add up your troubles. Either way, you'll find you have an abundance. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich

In social affairs, I'm an optimist. I really do believe that our military- industrial civilization will soon collapse. ~ Edward Abbey

I am an optimist by nature and believe strongly that technology can be brought to bear to create alternatives, even in crisis situations. ~ Vinton Cerf

A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping-stone to the optimist. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Some of us cannot be optimists, but all of us can be bigamists ~ Mark Twain

Om began to feel the acute depression that steals over every realist in the presence of an optimist. ~ Terry Pratchett

I'm an optimist, but an optimist who carries a raincoat. ~ Harold Wilson

Perv - I've gotten upgraded from stalker.' Wasn't he the eternal optimist? ~ Laura Thalassa

I am, if nothing else, an optimist. ~ Mike Barnicle

It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right ~ Mark Twain

Fighters have to be optimists. ~ Greg Jackson

I am and always will be the optimist, the hoper of far-flung hopes and the dreamer of improblable dreams. ~ Matt Smith

The world belongs to optimists; the pessimists are only spectators. ~ Francois Guizot

Many an optimist has become rich by buying out a pessimist. ~ Robert G. Allen

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. ~ James Branch Cabell

Some people think the world will end in 2012. I think we've got until 2014. I'm an optimist. ~ Garry Shandling

Count the roses, not the thorns. ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

Job is an optimist. He shakes the pillars of the world and strikes insanely at the heavens; he lashes the stars, but it is not to silence them; it is to make them speak. ~ G.K. Chesterton

And to stand together against homophobic, sexist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic and racist agendas. I'm an optimist. And I can't help but feel hopeful about the future of film, especially looking at all these beautiful people in this room. Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.' And I would like to encourage everyone in this room to please speak up. ~ Jessica Chastain

I guess I'm a hopeful optimist, because to be a pessimist is to be suicidal. ~ Peter Benchley

Being an optimist after you've got everything you want doesn't count. ~ Kin Hubbard

Don't ever become a pessimist ... a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events. ~ Robert A. Heinlein

The belief in miracles that all men cherish is born of immoderate indulgence in hope. There are people who go on hope sprees periodically and we all know the chronic hope drunkard that is held up before us as an exemplary optimist. Tip-takers are all they really are ~ Anonymous

Negative thinking is something we all do. The difference between the
person who is primarily optimistic and the person who is primarily
pessimistic is that the optimist learns to become a good debater. Once
you become thoroughly aware of the effectiveness of optimism in your
life, you can learn to debate your pessimistic thoughts. ~ Steve Chandler

Leave no room for fear and excuses. Be strong in spirit and possess unwavering convictions. Choose to be an optimist and commit to succeed. ~ Archibald Marwizi

Shivers heaved out a sigh. "Just trying to make tomorrow that bit better than today is all. I'm one of those ... you've got a word for it, don't you?"
"Idiots?"
He looked sideways at her. "It was a different one I had in mind."
"Optimists."
"That's the one. I'm an optimist."
"How's it working out for you?"
"Not great, but I keep hoping."
"That's optimists. You bastards never learn. ~ Joe Abercrombie

The devil is an optimist if he thinks he can make people worse than they are. ~ Karl Kraus

He was an optimist. Every month, every week, he chose to open his eyes, to live another day in the world. He did it when he was feeling so awful that sometimes the pain seemed to transport him to another state, one in which everything, even the past that he worked so hard to forget, seemed to fade into a gray watercolor wash. ~ Hanya Yanagihara

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. ~ Winston S. Churchill

It was a lot to hope for, but Holden was an unapologetic optimist. Give people the information they need. Trust them to do the right thing. He didn't know any other way to play it. Or ~ James S.A. Corey

I'm an optimist by nature. ~ Jon Kyl

With optimism, you look upon the sunny side of things. People say, 'Studs, you're an optimist.' I never said I was an optimist. I have hope because what's the alternative to hope? Despair? If you have despair, you might as well put your head in the oven. ~ Studs Terkel

The optimist says, "The glass is half full."
The pessimist says, "The glass is half empty."
The rationalist says, "This glass is twice as big as it needs to be."
That makes it clear as glass. ~ Thomas Cathcart

I'm an optimist.
I've always believed the future is going to be better than the past.
And I also believe I have a role in that.
The great thing about human beings, myself in particular, is that I can change.
I can do better.
If you can get up every day, stay optimistic, and believe the future is better than the past, those few things get you through a lot of tough times. ~ Jeffrey R. Immelt

If it didn't go all that well today, tomorrow is the opportunity that I have to do what I did today without doing it the way that I did it today. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

I heard about this man who fell into a pit, and while he was down there several people came by and offered their opinions. The Pharisee said, "You deserve to be in the pit." The Catholic said, "You need to suffer while you're in the pit." The Baptist said, "If you'd been saved, you wouldn't have fallen into the pit." The charismatic said, "Just confess I'm not in the pit." The mathematician said, "Let me calculate how you fell into the pit." The IRS agent said, "Have you paid taxes on that pit?" The optimist said, "Things could be worse." The pessimist said, "Things will get worse. ~ Joel Osteen

Men are always optimists when they look inwards, and pessimists when they look round them. ~ Ouida

I'm supposed to figure out if the glass is half full or half empty," I told her.
Without a moment's hesitation, in a split second, my grandmother shrugged and said: "It depends on if you're drinking or pouring. ~ Bill Cosby

An optimist is a man who looks after your eyes, and a pessimist is a man who looks after your feet. ~ G.K. Chesterton

Progress is more of a challenge for the cynic but also more important and urgent, since for the optimist things aren't that bad and are bound to get better anyway. ~ Julian Baggini

Vision involves optimism and hope. The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. ~ J. Oswald Sanders

There's an old line that goes like this: An optimist is usually happy. And a pessimist is usually right. Maybe so. But which would you rather be, anyway? ~ Joe Posnanski

An optimist is merely an ex-pessimist with his pockets full of money, his digestion in good condition, and his wife in the country. ~ Helen Rowland

With so many generous friends and family members from so many places for so many years, how could I not still be an optimist? Thomas ~ Thomas L. Friedman

I grew up in a small town in northeastern Indiana. I had an all-American childhood. And I grew up as an optimist. ~ Mary Meeker

It is largely because the free-thinkers, as a school, have hardly made up their minds whether they want to be more optimist or more pessimist than Christianity that their small but sincere movement has failed. ~ G.K. Chesterton

I'm an optimist. I'm hopeful. ~ Alice Waters

No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit. ~ Helen Keller

Being in touch with reality but focusing on the more positive angles is being a realistic optimist. Realistic optimists merely filter out unnecessary negative information. They learn to tune out negative words and occurrences and develop a habit of interpreting ambiguous situations in a more positive manner. ~ Iben Dissing Sandahl

The best thing to learn from any government is that it does not get affacted by what other people talk or think about it. ~ Amit Kalantri

I am an optimist about the UK. We have been involved in trade with our European partners, which we will always be doing whatever this relationship is. We are a member of the EU. That gives us benefits. But we have to figure out where that is going. In the world, we are a global trader already. ~ Iain Duncan Smith

I'm an optimist about humanity in general, I suppose. ~ Tim Berners-Lee

The pessimist sees only the tunnel; the optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel; the realist sees the tunnel and the light - and the next tunnel. ~ Sydney J. Harris

Life belongs to optimists. Pessimists are just viewers. Making it real, starts with our attitude. ~ Cathy Burnham Martin

Obviously, you can't control everything, but you are obliged to take care of the few things you can. I'm an optimist, basically, who acts like a pessimist. On principle. Just in case. ~ Russell Banks

By nature, I am not an optimist, though I try to act as if I am. ~ Howard Gardner

An optimist sees the miracles and beauty of life and a pessimist sees the sufferings and wonders, where is the life? ~ Debasish Mridha

I am a cynical optimist. Big opening weekends are like cotton candy. The films you will remember over time are the films that stick in the consciousness of the audience in a good way. ~ Robert Redford

How happy is the Optimist / To whom life shows its sunny side / His horse may lose, his ship may list, / But he always sees the funny side. ~ Phyllis McGinley

To be pessimist is to amputate one's own legs and arms! Only an optimist man has the ability to move! ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

In choosing a partner, always pick the optimist. ~ Tony Lema

The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose. ~ Kahlil Gibran

The person who is really in revolt is the optimist, who generally lives and dies in a desperate and suicidal effort to persuade other people how good they are. ~ G.K. Chesterton

Sometimes it's not the optimist you need, but another pessimist to walk beside you and know, absolutely know, that the sound in the dark is a monster, and it really is as bad as you think.
Did that sound hopeless? It didn't feel hopeless. It felt reassuring. It felt - real. ~ Laurell K. Hamilton

In my last year of school, I was voted Class Optimist and Class Pessimist. Looking back, I realize I was only half right. ~ Jack Nicholson

He was like an extrovert who wanted to be an introvert, a very social guy who wanted to be a loner, a lucky person who would have preferred to be unlucky. An optimist posing as a pessimist, hoping people will take heed. It wasn't until the Iraq War and the end of his life that he became sincerely gloomy. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

The optimist in me wants to believe sexuality will eventually become like handwriting: there's no right way and wrong way to do it. We're all just wired differently. It's also worth noting that when you meet someone, you never bother to ask if he's right or left-handed. After all: does it really matter to anyone other than the person holding the pen? ~ Jodi Picoult

Dogwoods are great optimists. Daffodils wait and see, crouching firmly underground just in case spring doesn't come this year, but dogwoods have faith. ~ Barbara Holland

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties. ~ Harry Truman

Not anticipating I'd be on trial for my life, my mother hadn't bothered to pack a suit for me. She was, by nature, an optimist. ~ David Liss

If a woman cannot make her mistakes charming, she is only a female. ~ Oscar Wilde

I've never been an optimist. ~ Joan Baez

I sometimes say I am a 'happiness optimist' but a 'revenue pessimist.' ~ Tyler Cowen

Everyone tries to be an optimist. But being an optimist is a bit boring and not honest. Losers are more interesting than winners. ~ Xiaolu Guo

When it comes to developing a worldview, we tend to face this false division: Either you are a realist who says the world is terrible, or a naïve optimist who says the world is wonderful and turns a blind eye. [Jack] Gilbert takes this middle way, and I think it's a far better way: he says the world is terrible and wonderful, and your obligation is to joy. . . . A real, mature, sincere joy - not a cheaply earned, ignorant joy. He's not talking about building a fortress of pleasure against the assault of the world. He's talking about the miraculousness of moments of wonder and how it seems to be worth it, after all. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist, except an old optimist. ~ Mark Twain

An optimist sees a failure as an opportunity to excel, but a pessimist sees a failure as an opportunity to quit. ~ Debasish Mridha

An optimist is someone who figures that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's the bluebird of happiness. ~ Robert Breault

So what am I? I guess I would call myself a sober optimist ... If you are not sober about the scale of the challenge, then you are not paying attention. But if you are not an optimist, you have no chance of generating the kind of mass movement needed to achieve the needed scale. ~ Thomas L. Friedman

In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning ~ Carl Sandburg

I've always been an optimist and I believe laughter is a wonderful thing ~ Alice Herz-Sommer

I am not a pessimist, but I am not an optimist about the future of American democracy. ~ David Souter