Optimists And Pessimists Quotes

• 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

  90 Copy quote

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

  George Bernard Shaw

  Funny, Motivational, Humorous

  345 Copy quote

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

  Khalil Gibran

  Inspirational, Meaningful, Spiritual

  73 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

  239 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  J. Robert Oppenheimer

  Inspirational, Funny, Life

  95 Copy quote
• 

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

  William Arthur Ward

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Leadership

  235 Copy quote

• 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

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  95 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

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Oscar Wilde

  Inspirational, Attitude, Two

  12 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

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them.

  Leonard Louis Levinson

  Attitude, Optimistic, Dark

  93 Copy quote

• A pessimist is a person who has had to listen to too many optimists.

  Don Marquis

  Funny, Life, Witty

  15 Copy quote

• I never considered myself a lucky person. I'm the most extraordinary pessimist. I truly am.

  Christopher Nolan

  Lucky, Pessimist, Persons

  "Biography: Christopher Nolan". www.thecinemaholic.com. February 10, 2018.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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)

  73 Copy quote

  Show source

• Traditionalists are pessimists about the future and optimists about the past.

  Lewis Mumford

  Past, Tradition, Pessimist

  Lewis Mumford (1940). “Faith for living”

  52 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Creeds matter very little... The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. So I elect for neither label.

  James Branch Cabell

  Optimistic, Optimism, Labels

  The Silver Stallion bk. 4, ch. 26 (1926) See Leibniz 3; Voltaire 7; Voltaire 8

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• A pessimist is a man who thinks all women are bad. An optimist is a man who hopes they are.

  Chauncey Depew

  Funny, Women, Silly

  "FPA Book of Quotations : A New Collection of Famous Sayings". Book by Franklin Pierce Adams, 1952.

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• Unsatisfied desire is the characteristic feature of human life. That is the common fact out of which both pessimism and optimism are constructed. Dwell on the impossibility of ever getting a state of complete and permanent satisfaction with what you have, and you become a pessimist. Dwell on the opportunity for endless growth and conquest which this same fact makes possible, and you become an optimist.

  William DeWitt Hyde

  Opportunity, Optimism, Growth

  8 Copy quote

• 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

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• I am such a pessimist that every project has surpassed what I envisioned.

  Colin Mochrie

  Planning, Management, Pessimist

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

  2 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Positive, Attitude

  54 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

  8 Copy quote

  Show source