Pessimist Quotes - Page 11

• 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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• 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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• I always look on the black side of life. That way, you won't be disappointed and I'm cheerful if it doesn't work out. I'm a cheerful pessimist.

  Paul Davies

  Spring, Work Out, Black

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• I'm sort of a pessimist about tomorrow and an optimist about the day after tomorrow.

  Eric Sevareid

  Tomorrow, Optimist

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• Pessimist: The optimist who didn't arrive.

  Mark Twain

  Pessimistic, Optimist

  Mark Twain (2016). “The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain”, p.142, Chartwell

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• If you expect the worst from a person, you can't ever be disappointed... The pessimist takes a sort of gloomy pleasure in observing the depths to which human behaviour can sink. The more sin he sees, the more his belief in Original Sin is confirmed. Everyone likes to have his deepest convictions confirmed; that is one of the most abiding of human satisfaction.

  Anthony Burgess

  Depth, Abiding, Behaviour

  "The Wanting Seed".

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• Realism is for pessimists. An optimist creates his own reality.

  David Harley

  Reality, Entrepreneur, Realism

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• Although the optimist may be a little giddy when foreseeing the future, telling himself that it will all work out in the end when that isn't always the case, his attitude is more fruitful since, in the hope of undertaking a hundred projects, followed up by diligent action, the optimist will end up completing fifty. Conversely, in limiting himself to undertake a mere ten, the pessimist might complete five at best and often fewer, since he'll devote little energy to a task he feels to be doomed from the start.

  Matthieu Ricard

  Attitude, Work Out, Energy

  Matthieu Ricard (2011). “The Art of Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill”, p.173, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• Do you know the difference between an optimist and a pessimist? A pessimist says ‘Oh dear, things can’t possibly get any worse.’ And an optimist says, ‘Don’t be so sad. Things can always get worse.

  Steven Galloway

  Differences, Optimist, So Sad

  Steven Galloway (2009). “The Cellist of Sarajevo”, p.53, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• In South Africa, they dig for diamonds. Tons of earth are moved to find a little pebble not as large as a little fingernail. The miners are looking for the diamonds, not the dirt. They are willing to lift all the dirt in order to find the jewels. In daily life, people forget this principle and become pessimists because there is more dirt than diamonds. When trouble comes, don’t be frightened by the negatives. Look for the positives and dig them out. They are so valuable it doesn't matter if you have to handle tons of dirt.

  Robert Ringer

  Jewels, Order, People

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• The optimist is right. The pessimist is right. Point of view is the determining factor in the life of each.

  Ralph Waldo Trine

  Views, Perspective, Point Of View

  Ralph Waldo Trine (2013). “In Tune With the Infinite: Fullness of Peace, Power and Plenty (New Thought Edition)”, p.7, Lulu Press, Inc

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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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