Optimists And Pessimists Quotes

• Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Funny, Motivational, Humorous

  365 Copy quote

• The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true.

  J. Robert Oppenheimer

  Inspirational, Funny, Life

  99 Copy quote

• A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

  Winston Churchill

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  Winston S. Churchill (2013). “Churchill By Himself”, p.1089, RosettaBooks

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• Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists.

  Thomas Friedman

  Change, Optimistic, Optimism And Pessimism

  45 Copy quote
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  The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

  William Arthur Ward

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Leadership

  251 Copy quote

• The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.

  George Will

  Inspirational, Funny, Nice

  George F. Will (1995). “The Leveling Wind: Politics, the Culture, and Other News, 1990-1994”, Penguin Group USA

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

  Khalil Gibran

  Inspirational, Meaningful, Spiritual

  75 Copy quote

• A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.

  Harry S. Truman

  Change, Attitude, Optimistic

  94 Copy quote

• We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

  Oscar Wilde

  Inspirational, Funny, Positive

  Lady Windermere's Fan act 3 (1892)

  87 Copy quote

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• The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Optimistic, Men

  Notebook, Dec. 1902

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• Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.

  Oscar Wilde

  Inspirational, Attitude, Two

  13 Copy quote

• I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.

  Winston Churchill

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  36 Copy quote

• The basis of optimism is sheer terror.

  Oscar Wilde

  Positive, Funny Inspirational, Attitude

  Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson, Joseph Bristow, Ian Small (2000). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: The picture of Dorian Gray : the 1890 and 1891 texts”, p.52, Oxford University Press on Demand

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• There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Happiness, Success

  Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.356, Courier Corporation

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• Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole!

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Positive, Attitude

  55 Copy quote

• Optimism - the doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Beauty, Beautiful, Attitude

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.175, University of Georgia Press

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• I have never seen a monument erected to a pessimist.

  Paul Harvey

  Encouragement, Optimism, Pessimist

  "Breatharians" by Callan Wink, www.newyorker.com. October 22, 2012.

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• When you have vision it affects your attitude. Your attitude is optimistic rather than pessimistic.

  Charles R. Swindoll

  Positive, Attitude, Optimistic

  Charles R. Swindoll (2007). “Wisdom for the Way: Wise Words for Busy People”, p.143, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• 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

  School, Years, Class

  13 Copy quote

• An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.

  Bill Vaughan

  New Year, Fun, New Beginnings

  100 Copy quote

• An optimist will tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and the engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be.

  Oscar Wilde

  Glasses, Optimism, Needs

  16 Copy quote

• I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.

  Antonio Gramsci

  Inspirational, Life Changing, Optimistic

  Antonio Gramsci (2011). “Letters from Prison”, p.299, Columbia University Press

  240 Copy quote

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• A pessimist is a man who tells the truth prematurely.

  Edmond Rostand

  Men, Telling The Truth, Pessimist

  4 Copy quote

• We live in the best of all possible worlds

  Gottfried Leibniz

  Philosophy, Philosophical, Optimistic

  Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (2008). “Discourse on Metaphysics and the Monadology”, Cosimo, Inc.

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• An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?

  Rene Descartes

  Running, Attitude, Optimistic

  185 Copy quote