Pessimist Quotes - Page 10

• That was one of the virtues of being a pessimist: nothing was ever as bad as you thought it would be.

  James Jones

  Would Be, Virtue

  James Jones (2011). “From Here to Eternity: The Restored Edition”, p.943, Open Road Media

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• Unless, of course, there's no such thing as chance;...in which case, we should either-optimistically-get up and cheer, because if everything is planned in advance, then we all have a meaning and are spared the terror of knowing ourselves to be random, without a why; or else, of course, we might-as pessimists-give up right here and now, understanding the futility of thought decision action, since nothing we think makes any difference anyway, things will be as they will. Where, then, is optimism? In fate or in chaos?

  Salman Rushdie

  Cheer, Giving Up, Fate

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• I'm a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a Black,...an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive.

  Octavia Butler

  Ambition, Oil And Water, Feminist

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• The optimist lives on the peninsula of infinite possibilities; the pessimist is stranded on the island of perpetual indecision.

  William Arthur Ward

  Optimistic, Islands, Infinite

  William Arthur Ward (1968). “Thoughts of a Christian Optimist: The Words of William Arthur Ward”

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• Sometimes it's not the optimist you need, but another pessimist to walk beside you.

  Laurell K. Hamilton

  Needs, Sometimes, Optimist

  Laurell K. Hamilton (2008). “Blood Noir: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel”, p.324, Penguin

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• When men have come to the edge of a precipice, it is the lover of life who has the spirit to leap backwards, and only the pessimist who continues to believe in progress.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Believe, Men, Progress

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• I am by nature an optimist and by intellectual conviction a pessimist.

  William Golding

  Intellectual, Conviction, Optimist

  William Golding (1983). “Lord of the Flies”, p.211, Penguin

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• Are you ever not a pessimist?" "Sometimes. But then I wake up.

  Mira Grant

  Wake Up, Sometimes

  Mira Grant (2010). “Feed: The Newsflesh Trilogy:”, p.95, Hachette UK

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• I have a lot of faith in us. I have a lot of faith in humanity. It's based, though, on my own life; I've come too far to be a pessimist.

  Alice Walker

  Humanity

  "Alice Walker discusses two new collections". Interview with Kevin Nance, articles.chicagotribune.com. July 12, 2013.

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• A pessimist and an optimist, so much the worse; so much the better.

  Jean de La Fontaine

  Attitude, Optimist

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• Pessimist by policy, optimist by temperament- it is possible to be both. How? By never taking an unnecessary chance and by minimizing the risks you can't avoid. This permits you to play out the game untroubled by the certainty of the outcome.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Games, Play, Risk

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.331, Penguin

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• ...the incontestable truth is that America has been built up by optimists, not by pessimists, but by men possessing courage, confidence in the nation's destiny, by men willing to adventure, to shoulder risks terrifying to the timid.

  B. C. Forbes

  Sports, Adventure, Destiny

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• An optimist expects his dreams to come true; a pessimist expects his nightmares to.

  Laurence J. Peter

  Dream, Nightmare, Possibility

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

  Lewis Mumford

  Past, Tradition, Optimist

  Lewis Mumford (1940). “Faith for living”

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• I can't seem to be a pessimist long enough to overlook the possibility of things being overwhelmingly good.

  John Corey Whaley

  Long, Enough, Possibility

  John Corey Whaley (2014). “Noggin”, p.355, Simon and Schuster

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• The optimist sees a light at the end of the tunnel, the realist sees a train entering the tunnel, the pessimist sees a train speeding at him, hell for leather, and the machinist sees three idiots sitting on the rail track. "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist fears this is true."

  James Branch Cabell

  Tunnels, Light, Track

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

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• One of the more serious temptations which stifles boldness and zeal is a defeatism, which turns us into querulous and disillusioned pessimists, sourpusses.

  Pope Francis

  Temptation, Serious, Disillusioned

  Pope Francis (2015). “The Spirit of St Francis: Inspiring Words on Faith, Love and Creation”, p.89, SPCK

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• The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe that bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and are their own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the same hard knocks of this world, think about misfortune in the opposite way. They tend to believe that defeat is just a temporary setback or a challenge, that its causes are just confined to this one case.

  Martin Seligman

  Believe, Thinking, Opposites

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• No one really knows enough to be a pessimist.

  Norman Cousins

  Inspirational, Enough, Knows

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• Things of the spirit are what count: brotherhood – in a day when there is too much hatred at home and abroad; cheerfulness – in a day when the pessimists have the floor and cynics are popular; service – in a day when millions are interested in getting or grasping, rather than giving

  E. Urner Goodman

  Hate, Home, Giving

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• Pessimists are not boring. Pessimists are right. Pessimists are superfluous.

  Elias Canetti

  Fear, Pessimism, Boring

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• The market is a pendulum that forever swings between unsustainable optimism (which makes stocks too expensive) and unjustified pessimism (which makes them too cheap). The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.

  Benjamin Graham

  Intelligent, Swings, Optimism

  Benjamin Graham (2009). “The Intelligent Investor, Rev. Ed”, p.13, Harper Collins

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• I mean, I think there's a lot of hope in my work. I don't think I'm a total pessimist, so I think you can find hope in all my films. Some more than others, but there's definitely... I think we want to convey the feeling of hope with the montage at the end.

  Spike Lee

  Thinking, Feelings, Want

  "Q+A: Spike Lee Goes Back to Brooklyn". Interview with Simon Abrams, www.esquire.com. January 25, 2012.

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• I'm a technological optimist in that I do believe that technology will provide solutions that will allow the world in 2050 to support 9 billion people at an acceptable standard of living. But I'm a political pessimist in that I am concerned about whether the science will be appropriately applied.

  Martin Rees

  Believe, Technology, People

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• I'm not a pessimist by nature. I'm not someone who sees things in a bleak way.

  Nouriel Roubini

  Way, Bleak

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