Quotes about Pessimism

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.

To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.

It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful.

"Like so many of us, I spent a great deal of my life....cataloging all the ways I had been injured and abused...I analyzed and categorized the whos, whats and wheres of my misery.  I was a confirmed pessimist, always able to see the dark side of anything and everything.  My belief was that life was hard and disaster was looming around every corner...Despite life's difficulties, it was my responsibility to do all the good I could and become the best person I could be...I started to notice the dearth of positive emotions in my life...I knew precious little about joy, happiness, optimism, faith and trust....That's when I learned that you don't have to be saddled for life with mental attitudes you adopted in childhood.  All of us are free to change our minds, and as we change our minds, our experiences will also change."

"We'll never survive!"
"Nonsense. You're only saying that because no one ever has."

Do you know what a pessimist is? A man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it.

When a person says, "I'll try," the part he doesn't say is "but I'll probably fail."

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

A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping-stone to the optimist.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Your morning thoughts may determine your conduct for the day. Optimistic thoughts will make your day bright and productive, while pessimistic thinking will make it dull and wasteful. Face each day cheerfully, smilingly and courageously, and it will naturally follow that your work will be a real pleasure and progress will be a delightful accomplishment.

The pessimist complains about the wind; The optimist expects it to change; The realist adjusts the sails.

Words That Encourage Darkness and The Adversary: Angry, Antagonistic, Appetites, Arrogant, Confused, Contention, Covetous, Critical, Depressed, Domineering, Doubt, Easily Offended, Evasive, Fear, Frustrated, Harshness, Impatience, Ineffective, Irritable, Jealousy, Negative, Pessimistic, Possessive, Resentful, Secretive, Self-C entered, Selfish, Troubled, Uncontrolled, Unhappy, Vindictive,

If a pessimist is always right, is he a realist?

I am glad I am an optimist. The pessimist is half-licked before he starts. The optimist has won half the battle, the most important half that applies to himself, when he begins his approach to a subject with the proper mental attitude. The optimist may not understand, or if he understands he may not agree with, prevailing ideas; but he believes, yes, knows, that in the long run and in due course there will prevail whatever is right and best.

City folk need not feel sorry for themselves or be pessimistic about the soil in which Christianity is planted to live and bear fruit. The Christian faith was made for contest, and its best fruits are always produced out of the harsh soil of difficulty and danger.

Pessimism is a very easy way out because it is a short view of life. If you look at what is happening around us today, you can't help but feel that life is a terrible complexity of problems. But if you look back a few thousand years, you realize that we have advanced fantastically. If you take a long view, I do not see how you can be pessimistic about the future of mankind.

I am not a pessimist; to perceive evil where it exists is, in my opinion, a form of optimism.

Too much pessimism has led too many men into making serious mistakes. And perhaps part of our pessimism comes because we are too close to ourselves to see in proper perspective.

May I make two citations from the words of a discerning editorial writer, not one of my faith, but one of much faith: "If we neglect the divine . . . and give ourselves over wholly to the human," he said, "we may certainly count upon nothing but the triumph of pessimism. . . . True optimism must rest upon a calm, unshakable faith in eternal life and in the unlimited goodness of him who gives it."

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities; an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.

Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.

No one really knows enough to be a pessimist.

It is understandable how some people could give way to this kind of pervasive pessimism, but we speak of a gospel which brings good tidings of great joy and this must be reflected in our lives, if we are to be believable especially as we suggest to others that there is, in fact, not only a better way, but also the way. Scriptures that speak of man as a being who "might have joy" have more impact when falling from the lips or pens of men and women whose lives give fresh evidence of the validity of that scripture.

Naive optimism and pervasive pessimism are both to be avoided, therefore. It's not an easy balance to maintain, to be asked to work away in the Ninevehs of our lives without being so conscious of the coming cataclysm that we are not serious citizens of our communities and nations. By living and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are doing the most relevant thing we can do by way of helping. (There are civic and other chores to be done, of course.) Day in and day out, the gospel is the one thing that is most relevant, and we are to be of good cheer.

There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist.

The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist, the opportunity in every difficulty.

An optimist sees a light where there is none. A pessimist comes and turns it off. Una optimista ve una luz adónde no hay. Una pesemista viene y lo apaga.

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.

The optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist knows it.