Pessimistic Quotes

• Pessimism leads to weakness. Optimism leads to power.

  William James

  Uplifting, Optimistic, Positive Thinking

  "The Varieties of Religous Experience: A Study in Human Nature".

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• If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic.

  Hazel Henderson

  Change, Spiritual, Optimistic

  Hazel Henderson (1988). “The Politics of the Solar Age: Alternatives to Economics”, Knowledge Systems

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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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• At my age it is unseemly to be pessimistic.

  Naguib Mahfouz

  Birthday, Age, Literature

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

  Don Marquis

  Funny, Life, Witty

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• As individuals, people are inherently good. I have a somewhat more pessimistic view of people in groups. And I remain extremely concerned when I see what's happening in our country, which is in many ways the luckiest place in the world. We don't seem to be excited about making our country a better place for our kids.

  Steve Jobs

  Country, Kids, Views

  "Steve Jobs: The Next Insanely Great Thing". Interview with Gary Wolf, www.wired.com. February 1, 1996.

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• When I'm lying in my bed, I think about life and I think about death.
  And neither one particularly appeals to me.

  Steven Morrissey

  Life, Death, Song

  "Song: 'Nowhere Fast'". 1985.

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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

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• Some people say my work is often depressing and pessimistic, with the emphasis on death, blood, overcrowding, strange beings and so on, but I don't really think it is.

  H. R. Giger

  Depressing, Thinking, Blood

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• An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight... the truly wise person is colorblind.

  Albert Schweitzer

  Wise, Wisdom, Attitude

  1965 Quoted in CBS News tribute,14 Jan.

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• The limit of every pain is an even greater pain.

  Emile M. Cioran

  Pain, Limits, Greater

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• If everything always went perfectly, I would feel like, When is the ball going to drop? Because good things don't always last. Maybe I'm a pessimistic person. When something just seems too good, I can't believe it.

  January Jones

  Believe, Balls, Lasts

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• I'm a pessimistic person, I see the glass half empty even when it's full.

  Nigahiga

  Glasses, Half, Empty

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• I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin.

  Leonard Cohen

  Rain, Optimistic, Reality

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• When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic.

  Carl Rogers

  Optimistic, People, Psychology

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• The the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hope are optimistic.

  Albert Schweitzer

  God, Faith, Hope

  Albert Schweitzer (1953). “Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography: Postscript 1932-1949 by Everett Skillings”

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• To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: Don't be economic girlie men!

  Arnold Schwarzenegger

  Motivation, Men, Campaigns

  2004 Republican National Convention Address, delivered 31 August 2004, Madison Square Garden, New York

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• Pessimism is as American as apple pie - frozen apple pie with a slice of processed cheese.

  George Will

  Apples, Pie, Cheesy

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• Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnified their enemies' resources, and minimized their own.

  Livy

  Men, Views, Enemy

  "History of Rome". Book by Livy. Book XXVII, section 44,

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• A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will's freedom after it.

  Aldous Huxley

  Freedom, Food, Optimistic

  Aldous Huxley (2000). “Complete Essays: 1926-1929”, Ivan R Dee

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• The road to success is always under construction.

  Lily Tomlin

  Funny, Inspiring, Success

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• I try not to be too optimistic or pessimistic. If you're a pessimist then that's depressing all the time; if you're an optimist and things don't work out then that's depressing, too.

  Nicholas Hoult

  Depressing, Optimistic, Work Out

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• The blues aren’t pessimistic. We’re prisoners of hope but we tell the truth and the truth is dark.

  Cornel West

  Dark, Telling The Truth, Truth Is

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• Twenty years ago, you might have been pessimistic and said there's no hope. But these days, some of our very biggest companies are acting remarkably cleanly. And in some cases, although not all cases, the CEOs are the driving forces behind that.

  Jared Diamond

  Years, Acting, Twenties

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• It is not usually our ideas that make us optimistic or pessimistic, but it is our optimism or pessimism of physiological or pathological origin that makes our ideas.

  Miguel de Unamuno

  Optimistic, Ideas, Optimism

  1913 The Tragic Sense of Life.

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