Quotes About Optimism

We all need a bit of self-delusion. It gets us over the difficult spots." - John Ralston Saul, On Equilibrium

We are preaching hope, standing on the bones of the past.

If you think things can't get any worse, you have no imagination and no sense of history.

What I will say is this: each of us is born into this life with a light inside of us. Some, like yours, burn brighter than others. You don't see that yet, but I do. What's most important is to never let that light go out, because when you do, it means you've lost yourself to the darkness. It means you've lost your hope. And hope is what makes this world a beautiful place. Do you understand what I am trying to say?

each of us is born into this life with a light inside of us. Some, like yours, burn brighter than others. You don't see that yet, but I do. What's most important is to never let that light go out, because when you do, it means you've lost yourself to the darkness. It means you've lost your hope. And hope is what makes this world a beautiful place.

Why, Tom, we're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people—we go on.

But why think about what was wrong when you could be thinking about what was right?

I have observed that not the man who hopes when others despair, but the man who despairs when others hope, is admired by a large class of persons as a sage.

John Hay on Lincoln: "He always worked with things as they were, while never relinquishing the desire to make them better.

business of New York in the twenties was real estate. Business was booming, and developers and realtors had every reason for continued optimism. Real estate values, they said, rested on the firm bedrock of population, and New York City—world metropolis, center of finance, industry, and art—had new people locating there all the time. With its limited supply of space and an ever-increasing demand, realtors believed that New York property values would always be rising.

Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die of euphoria.

Preparation works better than optimism

wonder possible.

The guarantee that our self enjoys an intended relation to the outer world is most, if not all, we ask from religion. God is the self projected onto reality by our natural and necessary optimism. He is the not-me personified.

The world keeps ending but new people too dumb to know it keep showing up as if the fun's just started.

She had never been a gloomy person. There had been some good times aboard Ringmaster, but little out-and-out fun.

Without acknowledging the potential of defeat, one could not adequately defy it.

Love the optimism, doubt the reality.

Well, don't fret about that, pilgrim

To get the best out of people, we have to believe the best is in there – but how do we know it is, how much is there, and how do we get it out?

To use coaching successfully we have to adopt a far more optimistic view than usual of the dormant capability of all people. Pretending we are optimistic is insufficient because our genuine beliefs are conveyed in many subtle ways of which we are not aware.

Garner up pleasant thoughts in your mind, for pleasant thoughts make pleasant lives.

For a people may endure an almost incredible series of the darkest failures without breaking; but give them respite and some hope for the future, and they may not endure an unexpected denial of that hope.

You mustn't give it up," he said, and his voice took on an urgency that he could not understand. "No matter how hard it will seem sometimes, you mustn't give it up. It's too good for you to give it up. Oh, it's good, there's no doubt of it.