Pessimism Quotes - Page 5

• Optimism and pessimism are mere matters of optics, of how you look at things, and that can change from day to day, or with a new prescription for your glasses - or with a new set of ideological filters.

  George Weigel

  Glasses, Optimism, Filters

  George Weigel (2015). “Letters to a Young Catholic”, p.100, Basic Books

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• Pessimism only describes an attitude, and not facts, and hence is entirely subjective.

  Francis Parker Yockey

  Attitude, Subjectivity, Facts

  Francis Parker Yockey (2013). “Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics”, p.72, The Palingenesis Project (Wermod and Wermod Publishing Group)

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• Optimism is a seed sown in the soil of faith; pessimism is a seed hoarded in the vault of doubt.

  William Arthur Ward

  Optimism, Doubt, Soil

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• Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Prayer, Cancer

  Mahatma Gandhi (2007). “Gandhi on Non-Violence”, p.87, New Directions Publishing

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• I like it when pessimism goes unrewarded.

  Stephenie Meyer

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• Many young Muslims see no opportunities for themselves and do not feel they have control over their lives or a stake in their nation's future. Such pessimism leads to disengagement. We risk losing a generation of young Muslims to apathy and extremism.

  Najib Razak

  Opportunity, Risk, Apathy

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• In fact, I am a pessimist. But when I'm making a film, I don't want to transfer my pessimism onto children. I keep it at bay. I don't believe that adults should impose their vision of the world on children, children are very much capable of forming their own visions. There's no need to force our own visions onto them.

  Hayao Miyazaki

  Children, Believe, Vision

  Source: www.midnighteye.com

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• I particularly scorn my fondness for paradox. I despise pessimism, narcissism, solipsism, truculence, word-play, and pusillanimity, my chiefer inclinations; loathe self-loathers ergo me; have no pity for self-pity and so am free of that sweet baseness. I doubt I am. Being me’s no joke.

  John Barth

  Sweet, Self, Play

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• Because people have no thoughts to deal in, they deal cards, and try and win one another's money. Idiots!

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Money, Philosophical, Winning

  Arthur Schopenhauer (2016). “The Wisdom of Life”, p.19, Cosimo Classics

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• Pessimism has never done anything but tear down and destroy what optimism has built up.

  Orison Swett Marden

  Optimism, Tears, Done

  Orison Swett Marden (1910). “Getting on”

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

  Ouida

  Men, Optimism, Looks

  Ouida (1870). “Puck: His Vicissitudes, Adventures, Observations, Conclusions, Friendships, and Philosophies”, p.131

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• Are you responsibly optimistic? Pessimism and leadership do not mix. Leaders are positively visionary.

  J. Oswald Sanders

  Optimistic, Leader, Visionaries

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• Optimism means better than reality; pessimism means worse than reality. I'm a realist.

  Margaret Atwood

  Optimistic, Mean, Reality

  FaceBook post by Margaret Atwood from Jul 21, 2016

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• Pessimism is not only unwarranted, it is also a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think the cause is lost, it will be. No one works hard for a cause they think will lose.

  Lawrence Reed

  Hard Work, Thinking, Self

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• I think I am in my last days, but it doesn't really matter because I have had such a beautiful life.  I have lived through many wars and have lost everything many times - including my husband, my mother and my beloved son.  Yet, life is beautiful, and I have so much to learn and enjoy.  I have no space nor time for pessimism and hate.  Life is beautiful, love is beautiful, nature and music are beautiful.  Everything we experience is a gift, a present we should cherish and pass on to those we love.

  Alice Herz-Sommer

  Beautiful, Mother, Husband

  "Alice Herz-Sommer: 'Everything we experience is a gift we should pass on'" by Maev Kennedy, www.theguardian.com. February 24, 2014.

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• Whatever pretended pessimists in search of notoriety may say, most people are naturally kind, at heart.

  James Branch Cabell

  Heart, People, May

  James Branch Cabell (2001). “The Cream of the Jest”, p.78, Wildside Press LLC

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• Pessimism and optimism are slammed up against each other in my records, the tension between them is where it's all at, it's what lights the fire.

  Bruce Springsteen

  Fire, Light, Optimism

  "Bruce Springsteen: 'What was done to my country was un-American'". Interview with Fiachra Gibbons, www.theguardian.com. February 17, 2012.

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• Every state of welfare, every feeling of satisfaction, is negative in its character; that is to say, it consists in freedom from pain, which is the positive element of existence.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Pain, Character, Feelings

  Arthur Schopenhauer (2015). “The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer - Studies in Pessimism (illustrated)”, p.7, Full Moon Publications

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• A depression is a situation of self-fulfilling pessimism.

  Joan Robinson

  Self, Economics, Situation

  Joan Robinson (1973). “Economic heresies: some old-fashioned questions in economic theory”

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• You can find negative people everywhere you go. The last thing in the world you want to do is talk to them, because all they're gonna do is cement pessimism in you!

  Rush Limbaugh

  People, World, Negative

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• Confidence isn't optimism or pessimism, and it's not a character attribute. It's the expectation of a positive outcome.

  Rosabeth Moss Kanter

  Character, Expectations, Optimism

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• Lose the pessimism, Ms. Lane. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

  Karen Marie Moning

  Self, Lanes, Prophecy

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• I'm getting a little fed up with some of the pessimism that I'm hearing. I know some people who will not be convinced we've really won anything until the media changes. And that isn't gonna happen. They look at the media not liking Trump and they think it's failure. They look at the media ripping Trump and destroying him and they think it's gonna work and it means failure. And I get so fed up. I said, "Do you people not understand we're on the cusp here of one of the most exciting next four years?" The growth potential, the potential of putting America back together.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Mean, Thinking, People

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• The third element of success is your state: You must replace a default state of pessimism or anger with one of determination, of will, of generosity, of curiosity, of gratitude. The more we can put ourselves in such beautiful states rather than suffering states, the more they become habits of being and we end up making better decisions.

  Tony Robbins

  Beautiful, Gratitude, Determination

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

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• Let us never give in to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day. Do not give in to pessimism and discouragement. We have the firm certainty that the Holy Spirit gives the Church with His mighty breath, the courage to persevere and also to seek new methods of evangelization, to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

  Pope Francis

  Christian, Religious, Courage

  "Vatican denies claim that Pope Francis failed to protect Argentina priests" By Laura Smith-Spark, Hada Messia, www.cnn.com. March 15, 2013.

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