Quotes About Pessimism

optimism is a disease

But sixteen years without optimism had taken a heavy toll;

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?

Success requires enough optimism to provide hope and enough pessimism to prevent complacency.

Cease negative mental chattering. If you think a thing is impossible, you'll make it impossible. Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed.

I went from a very pessimistic person to a very optimistic person sort of overnight, which is very weird. It's not even the success of my shows. I think it's the lifestyle change, I really do.

Many an optimist has become rich simply by buying out a pessimist.

It is the way of weakened minds to see everything through a black cloud. The soul forms its own horizons; your soul is darkened, and consequently the sky of the future appears stormy and unpromising.

The unfortunates cling to the smallest hopes, as the happy do to the greatest good;

I believe in tragedy," Shelby responds coldly. "Not miracles.

Shelby has absolutely nothing inside of her. She's a black hole. A sinkhole. A whole lot of nothing. She's told Ben that, but he doesn't want to believe her. Who would have imagined he'd turn out to be such an optimist?

It is the worst of times. It is the best of times. Try as I might I cannot find a more appropriate opening for this volume: it helps tremendously that these words have been spoken before and, thanks to Charles Dickens, written at the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities.

Pessimism n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile.

Ambrose Bierce

There's always a worse case than your worst case, and more often than not, it happens.

But I guess you learn to stop hoping, after a while. Life teaches you to expect the worst, eh?

I find hope is best abandoned early,' muttered Temple.

La gente prefiere creer que el mundo está lleno de maldad antes que de mala suerte, egoísmo y estupidez.

Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre.

Or maybe he should always just expect the worst. Most often he would be right, and the few times he was not, at least he would be pleasantly surprised.

The main reason why clinicians may not diagnose personality disorders is that they think that doing so supports therapeutic pessimism. Recent research has shown this is not true; most patients get better, either with time or with treatment, that the prognosis is actually better than in many patients with severe mood and anxiety disorders.

Political pessimism keeps people trapped in a search for purely personal and individual solutions.

The alternative to cruel optimism - telling people a simplistic story that sets them up to fail - isn't pessimism, the idea that you can't change anything. It's authentic optimism. This is where you honestly acknowledge the barriers that stand in the way of your goal and establish a plan to work together with other people to dismantle those barriers, step by step.

Viewed from the summit of reason, all life looks like a malignant disease and the world like a madhouse.