Optimism and Pessimism

"A pessimist is a man who thinks all women are bad. An optimist is a man who hopes that they are." Chauncey Depew (American businessman and politician, 1834-1928)

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is *true.*all there is.*false.* James Branch Cabell (American author, 1879-1958)

"I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else." Winston Churchill (British Conservative statesman, 1874-1965)

"I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will." Antonio Gramsci (Italian Marxist philosopher, 1891-1937)

"An optimist is someone who falls off the Empire State Building, and after 50 floors says, 'So far so good!'" anonymous

The place where optimism most flourishes is the *lunatic asylum.*seaside resort.*surface of the Moon.* Havelock Ellis (English physician, 1859-1939)

An optimist is a guy that has never had much *experience.*fun.*cake.* Don Marquis (American poet and journalist, 1878-1937)

"A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties." Harry S. Truman (American Democratic statesman, 1884-1972)

"The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." J. Robert Oppenheimer (American theoretical physicist, 1904-1967)

"Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists." Thomas L. Friedman (American political commentator and author, 1953-)

"An optimist is a fellow who believes a housefly is looking for a way to get out." George Jean Nathan (American critic and writer, 1882-1958)

"An optimist is someone who gets treed by a lion but enjoys the scenery." Walter Winchell (American journalist, 1897-1972)

"An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?" Michel de Saint-Pierre (French author, 1916-1987)

"The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole!" Oscar Wilde (Irish dramatist and poet, 1854-1900)

"I am by nature an optimist and by *intellectual conviction*chance*the love of God* a pessimist." William Golding (English novelist, 1911-93)

"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 1904-74

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." William Arthur Ward (American motivational writer, 1921-1994)

"The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little." Mark Twain (American writer, 1835-1910)

"The optimist is as often wrong as the pessimist, but is far happier." Sydney J. Harris (American journalist , 1917-1986)

"I was going to buy a copy of 'The Power of Positive Thinking', and then I thought: What the hell good would that do?" Ronnie Shakes (American comedian, 1947-1987)

"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 (Canadian singer and writer, 1934-)

I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth. Janeane Garofalo (American comedian, 1964-)

"The people who live in a Golden Age usually go around complaining how *yellow*shiny*boring* everything looks." Randall Jarrell (American poet, 1914-65)

"An optimist is a girl who mistakes a bulge for a curve." Ring Lardner (American writer, 1885-1933)

"What fresh hell is this?" Dorothy Parker (American critic and humorist, 1893-1967) on hearing the doorbell or a ringing telephone

"Pessimist: A man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it." George Bernard Shaw (Irish dramatist, 1856-1950)

"The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." George F. Will (American columnist, 1941-)