Pessimism Quotes - Page 8

• There is a misconception of tragedy with which I have been struck in review after review, and in many conversations with writers and readers alike. It is the idea that tragedy is of necessity allied to pessimism.

  Arthur Miller

  Ideas, Tragedy, Reviews

  Arthur Miller (2016). “The Collected Essays of Arthur Miller”, p.10, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is. A pessimistic attitude can never create the calm and serene smile which blossoms on the lips of Bodhisattvas and all those who obtain the way.

  Nhat Hanh

  Attitude, Reality, Thinking

  "The Miracle of Mindfulness". Book by Thich Nhat Hanh, 1999.

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• Pessimists fear becoming the dupes of Hope. Optimists enjoy Hope's company, and consider being duped no great matter.

  Mason Cooley

  Hope, Fear, Optimism

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• You get into the habit of being angry and hurt by life, and then when something good happens you can't accept it because it doesn't fit the pattern.

  Alison Lurie

  Hurt, Patterns, Fit

  Alison Lurie (2012). “The War Between the Tates: A Novel”, p.484, Open Road Media

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• the most common type of pessimism is neither philosophical nor religious: it is the pessimism of thwarted desire. ... It is the cynical sneer of the man who, seeking roses, finds only ashes.

  Georgia Harkness

  Religious, Philosophical, Men

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• The older books were quite light-hearted. But I think most of my novels do end on a deep note of pessimism. Shadows seem to be closing in. The final conclusion isn't that life is wonderful and everything is bright and cheery and in the garden.

  Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

  Book, Garden, Thinking

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• Zionism and pessimism are not compatible.

  Golda Meir

  Funny, Humorous, Israel

  Golda Meir, Israel Shenker, Mary Shenker (1970). “As good as Golda: the warmth and wisdom of Israel's Prime Minister”

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• Pessimism is rife in Israel.

  Elliott Abrams

  Israel

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• To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.

  Walter Cronkite

  Yield, People, Democracy

  "Final Words: Cronkite's Vietnam Commentary". "All Things Considered" with Guy Raz, www.npr.org. July 18, 2009.

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• There's nothing particularly wrong with being more pessimistic than optimistic. Optimism is broad-based, non-detail-oriented thinking; pessimism is detail-oriented thinking.

  David Rakoff

  Optimistic, Thinking, Optimism

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• It's fashionable in some circles to be pessimistic about America, about conservative solutions, about the Republican Party. I utterly reject that pessimism.

  Mitt Romney

  Party, Circles, America

  "CN Newsroom", www.cnn.com. March 15, 2013.

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• Seeing the glass as half empty is more positive than seeing it as half full. Through such a lens the only choice is to pour more. That is righteous pessimism

  Criss Jami

  Inspirational, Optimistic, Positivity

  Criss Jami (2015). “Killosophy”, p.91, Criss Jami

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• Churches can become places of cynicism, resistance, and pessimism.

  John Ortberg

  Church, Resistance, Cynicism

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• Though there are many differences between Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter, they are strikingly similar in their poor economic records and even more so in their shared pessimism and bearishness on America.

  David Limbaugh

  Differences, America, Records

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• All our anxieties relate to time. The major problems of psychiatry revolve around an analysis of the despair, pessimism, melancholy, and complexes that are the inheritances of what has been or with the fears, anxieties, worries, that are the imaginings of what will be.

  Fulton J. Sheen

  Worry, Anxiety, Despair

  "Lift Up Your Heart". Book by Fulton J. Sheen. Chapter: "Sanctifying the Moment", 1950.

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• Let pessimism once take hold of the mind, and life is all topsy-turvy, all vanity and vexation of spirit. There is no cure for individual or social disorder, except in forgetfulness and annihilation.

  Helen Keller

  Vanity, Mind, Vexation

  Helen Keller (2010). “The World I Live In and Optimism: A Collection of Essays”, p.102, Courier Corporation

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• an optimist is the man who looks after your eyes, and the pessimist the person who looks after your feet.

  Ada Leverson

  Eye, Men, Feet

  Ada Leverson (1951). “The limit”

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• The prophets of doom, in my experience, are generally ignored and usually right.

  Fay Weldon

  Ignored, Prophet, Doom

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• As the nation at last confronts global warming, it is no time for denial, greed, cynicism or pessimism.

  Bernie Sanders

  Greed, Denial, Lasts

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• Pessimism is the affectation of youth, the reality of age.

  Ellen Glasgow

  Reality, Age, Youth

  Ellen Glasgow (1900). “The Descendant”

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• First, I was an idealist (that was early - fools are born, not made, you know); next I was a realist; now I am a pessimist, and, by Jove! if things get much worse I'll become a humorist.

  Ellen Glasgow

  Next, Fool, Firsts

  Ellen Glasgow (1900). “The Descendant”

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• The pessimism of the creative person is not decadence but a mighty passion for the redemption of man.

  Isaac Bashevis Singer

  Passion, Men, Creative

  Nobel Lecture, www.nobelprize.org. December 8, 1978.

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• I believe in optimism of the will, pessimism of the intellect. But my hope is the people, the society, which is ahead of the government.

  Elif Safak

  Believe, Government, Optimism

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• The low-hanging fruit is cynicism and pessimism, and it's there if you want it. You can reach out and you can grab it, you don't even have to make any effort.

  Emilio Estevez

  Effort, Want, Fruit

  "Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez". The Tavis Smiley Show, www.pbs.org. October 19, 2011.

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• Pessimism is the product of a hostile social state. Its answer is the substitution of a friendly social state. If this can be done it will disappear.

  Lester Frank Ward

  Friendly, Done, Answers

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