Pessimism Quotes - Page 15

• Every time a man is begotten and born, the clock of human life is wound up anew to repeat once more its same old tune that has already been played innumerable times, movement by movement and measure by measure, with insignificant variations.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Men, Tunes, Variation

  Arthur Schopenhauer (2012). “The World as Will and Representation”, p.322, Courier Corporation

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• Only from the perspective of such a utopia is it possible to use the concepts of pessimism and optimism with full justification: an optimist is someone who thinks that on planet number five the history of mankind will be less bloody. A pessimist is one who thinks otherwise.

  Milan Kundera

  Thinking, Numbers, Optimism

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• I don't think in terms of optimism and pessimism when writing a story. I am telling a story.

  Doris Lessing

  Writing, Thinking, Optimism

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• All religions promise a reward beyond life, in eternity, for excellences of the will or heart, but none for excellences of the head or understanding.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Heart, Understanding, Promise

  "The World as Will and Idea".

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• Every child is in a way a genius; and every genius is in a way a child.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Children, Genius, Way

  "The World as Will and Representation". Book by Arthur Schopenhauer (Bd. 2, § 3.31, p. 451), 1819.

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• The truth can wait, for it lives a long life.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Long, Waiting, Long Life

  "Willen in der Natur". Book by Arthur Schopenhauer, chapter 'Einleitung', 1836.

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• I can UNDERSTAND pessimism, but I don't BELIEVE in it. It's not simply a matter of faith, but of historical EVIDENCE. Not overwhelming evidence, just enough to give HOPE, because for hope we don't need certainty, only POSSIBILITY.

  Howard Zinn

  Believe, Giving, Historical

  Howard Zinn (2011). “The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy”, p.709, Seven Stories Press

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• The pessimism of the intellect is the starting point for struggle. It's not the end point, it's the starting point. You have to make something critical to make it meaningful, to make it transformative.

  Henry Giroux

  Meaningful, Struggle, Intellect

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• I'm not pessimistic, because poor people tend to bounce back. We've been through worse than this - working people been through worse than this. We've got slavery and Jim Crow. We've got workers with no rights up until `35. We're going to bounce back. We are resilient, resisting people. So, it's not pessimism, but it is blues-like. It's not optimistic. We're just prisoners of hope, that's all.

  Cornel West

  Optimistic, Rights, People

  Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

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• Pessimism drops the curtain on tomorrow.

  Robert H. Schuller

  Tomorrow, Curtains

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• Pessimism negates the existing world. Yet its negating is ambiguous. It can simply will decay and nothingness, but it can also renounce what exists and thus open a path for a new formation of the world.

  Martin Heidegger

  Decay, World, Path

  Martin Heidegger (1987). “Nietzsche”

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• I'm kind of perverse in that I think pessimism is helpful. My pessimism is my own kind of patriotism. My dissent.

  Tracy Letts

  Thinking, Helpful, Kind

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• Pessimism is carefully cultivated in some intellectual circles, as if it were a precious plant that the human race could not afford to lose.

  Arthur Lynch

  Race, Circles, Intellectual

  Arthur Lynch (1921). “Moods of Life: Popular Psychological Studies of Affairs of Every Day”

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• Pessimism is a product of our civilization. It is not natural to the savage; he feels pain, or discomfort, and suffers from these palpable conditions, but when he recovers from wounds he forgets the torments, and when he is well fed he is joyous in the light of day.

  Arthur Lynch

  Pain, Light, Civilization

  Arthur Lynch (1921). “Moods of Life: Popular Psychological Studies of Affairs of Every Day”

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• The first-rate mind is always curious, compassionate, original, and pessimistic.

  Mignon McLaughlin

  Mind, Firsts, Pessimistic

  Mignon McLaughlin (2014). “Aperçus: The Aphorisms of Mignon McLaughlin”, p.85, BookBaby

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• remember to recognize the small successes that you will have. Don't let the brightness of that big goal blind you to what happens on the way toward the goal. Meet one wave at a time and enjoy what progress you make. I want you please not to be taken up in the undertow of pessimism.

  Lucille Ball

  Success, Taken, Goal

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• People who 'view with alarm' never build anything.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Views, People, Negativity

  Eleanor Roosevelt (2012). “Tomorrow Is Now: It Is Today That We Must Create the World of the Future”, p.44, Penguin

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• It is important to possess a short-term pessimism and a long-term optimism.

  Adrienne Rich

  Long, Optimism, Important

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• The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates.

  Margaret Mead

  Alternatives, Failing, Prophet

  Margaret Mead (1970). “Culture and Commitment”

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• Now the pessimist proper is the most modest of men. ... under no circumstances does he presume to imagine that he, a mere unit of pain, can in any degree change or soften the remorseless words of fate.

  Agnes Repplier

  Pain, Fate, Men

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• Pessimism like calumny is easy to do, and attracts immediate attention. The gossiper and the writer may find this out soon enough, and a little encouragement from the current mood will procure them successes that bring endless imitators in their trail. On the other hand saying good things about life in general and individuals in particular and making it interesting is a serious task which few can achieve with credit.

  Bernard Berenson

  Encouragement, Hands, Calumny Is

  Bernard Berenson (1963). “Sunset and Twilight: From the Diaries of 1947-1958”, New York : Harcourt, Brace & World

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• Optimism isnt funny unless you are laughing at the person, whereas extreme pessimism is extremely funny. Its exaggeration.

  Steve Toltz

  Laughing, Optimism, Extremely Funny

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• Humans will always endure suffering - even accepting the fact that we're going to die will cause us suffering, and from that stems a little pessimism and negativity that all of us are susceptible to.

  Jason Mraz

  Negativity, Suffering, Facts

  Source: www.timeout.com

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• People misunderstand happiness. They think it's the absence of trouble. That's not happiness, that's luck. Happiness is the ability to live well alongside trouble. No two people have the same trouble, or the same way of metabolizing it. Q.E.D. - No two happy people are happy in the same way. . . . Every day brilliant people, people smarter than I, wallow in safe tragedy and pessimism, shying from what really takes guts - recognizing how much courage and labor happiness demands.

  Rachel Kadish

  Thinking, Two, People

  Rachel Kadish (2007). “Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story”, p.325, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Finally, develop tenacity and an optimistic outlook. It doesn't mean that everything will always work out or that you won't suffer. But pessimism seems to be designed to force you to suffer before the fact!

  William Foege

  Optimistic, Mean, Work Out

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