Optimism quotes
626 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside optimism — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life. If it be true that optimism compels the world forward, and pessimism retards it, then it is dangerous to propagate a pessimistic philosophy."
"Optimism approves of everything, submits to everything, believes everything; it is the virtue above all of the taxpayer."
"Positiveness is a good quality for preachers and speakers because, whoever shares his thoughts with the public will convince them as he himself appears convinced."
"Being an optimist after you've got everything you want doesn't count."
"Faith and optimism come from love."
"I learned a good deal about economics, and about America, from the author of the Reagan tax reforms - the great Jack Kemp. What gave Jack that incredible enthusiasm was his belief in the possibilities of free people, in the power of free enterprise and strong communities to overcome poverty and despair. We need that same optimism right now."
"Optimism can keep a fool from accepting failure."
"There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change."
"Optimism boosts your energy and focuses your sights on reaching your goals, rather than wallowing in your setbacks."
"Pessimism and optimism are slammed up against each other in my records, the tension between them is where it's all at, it's what lights the fire."
"The primary ingredient for progress is optimism. The unwavering belief that something can be better drives the human race forward."
"I look forward without dogmatic optimism but without dread."
"We're approaching the end of a bloody century plagued by a terrible political invention, totalitarianism. Optimism comes less easily today, not because democracy is less vigorous, but because democracy's enemies have refined their instruments of repression."
"Optimism is a perfectly legitimate response to failure."
"Optimism is the content of small men in high places."
"I ignore all the doomsaying nonsense. I'm in a business where the odds of ever earning a living are a zillion to one, so I know itcan be done. I know the impossible can become possible."
"There is a dangerous optimism of ignorance and indifference."
"I trust, and I recognize the beneficence of the power which we all worship as supreme- Order, Fate, the Great Spirit, Nature, God. I recognize this power in the sun that makes all things grow and keeps life afoot. I make a friend of this indefinable force…this is my religion of optimism."
"Optimism, then, is a fact within my own heart. But as I look out upon life, my heart meets no contradiction. The outward world justifies my inward universe of good."
"So far as my experience goes, travelers generally exaggerate the difficulties of the way. Like most evil, the difficulty is imaginary; for what's the hurry?"
