Optimism Quotes - Page 36

• A flower's fragrance declares to all the world that it is fertile, available, and desirable, its sex organs oozing with nectar. Its smell reminds us in vestigial ways of fertility, vigor, life-force, all the optimism, expectancy, and passionate bloom of youth. We inhale its ardent aroma and, no matter what our ages, we feel young and nubile in a world aflame with desire.

  Diane Ackerman

  Sex, Spring, Flower

  Diane Ackerman (2011). “A Natural History of the Senses”, p.13, Vintage

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• It is because the world is so full of suffering, that your happiness is a gift. It is because the world is so full of poverty, that your wealth is a gift. It is because the world is so unfriendly, that your smile is a gift. It is because the world is so full of war, that your peace of mind is a gift. It is because the world is in such despair, that your hope and optimism is a gift. It is because the world is so afraid, that your love is a gift.

  Robert Holden

  Happiness, War, Love Is

  Robert Holden (2011). “Happiness Now!: Timeless Wisdom for Feeling Good Fast”, p.118, Hay House, Inc

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• He who is of a calm and happy nature, will hardly feel the pressure of age

  Plato

  Age, Pressure, Calm

  Plato (2016). “The Republic”, p.211, Xist Publishing

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• If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic.

  Hazel Henderson

  Change, Spiritual, Optimistic

  Hazel Henderson (1988). “The Politics of the Solar Age: Alternatives to Economics”, Knowledge Systems

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• The tradition of nonviolence, optimism, concern for the individual, and unconditional compassion that developed in Tibet is the culmination of a slow inner revolution, a cool one, hard to see, that began 2,500 years ago with the Buddha's insight about the end of suffering. What I have learned from these people has forever changed my life, and I believe their culture contains an inner science particularly relevant to the difficult time in which we live.

  Robert Thurman

  Time, Believe, Compassion

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• How simple it is to see that we can only be happy now, and that there will never be a time when it is not now.

  Gerald Jampolsky

  Happiness, Attitude, Simple

  Gerald G. Jampolsky (1983). “Teach only love: the seven principles of attitudinal healing”

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• Some people argue against both optimism and pessimism in favor of so-called realistic thinking. They distrust optimism on the grounds that it causes us to sugercoat problems, discount risks, and exaggerate the upside. Pessimism, on the other hand, is criticized as too downbeat, de-energizing, and generally damaging in its impact. This crown prefers realism as the neutral and objective middle ground.

  Price Pritchett

  Thinking, Impact, Hands

  Price Pritchett (2006). “Hard Optimism: How to Succeed in a World Where Positive Wins”, McGraw Hill Professional

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• We should cultivate the optimistic temperament, and endeavour to see the good that dwells in everything. If we sit down and lament over the imperfection of our bodies and our minds, we profit nothing; it is the heroic endeavour to subdue adverse circumstances that carries our spirit upward.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Optimistic, Imperfection, Mind

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.1595, Manonmani Publishers

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• Your positive action combined with positive thinking results in success.

  Shiv Khera

  Success, Positive Thinking, Think Positive

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• Hope is different from optimism. Hope is a tough virtue, not a psychological predisposition. Hope insists on taking facts and reason into account and still insisting that improvement ... is always a real possibility.

  E. J. Dionne

  Real, Political, Different

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• The key is if the economic data stays soft, maybe we don't have to worry much about interest rates anymore. Then we need to worry about earnings. What gave us a really strong move in stock prices from late May until about two weeks ago was this heightened optimism that maybe interest rates are at that high. That gave you a relief rally. Now reality is setting in - if we've seen the worst on interest rates then we've seen the best on earnings.

  Douglas Cliggott

  Strong, Moving, Reality

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• Winning has nothing to do with racing. Most days don't have races anyway. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up.

  Amby Burfoot

  Running, Giving Up, Struggle

  Amby Burfoot (2000). “The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life: What 35 Years of Running Have Taught Me About Winning, Losing, Happiness, Humility, and the Human Heart”, p.31, Rodale

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• For action, whatever its immediate purpose, also implies relief at doing something, anything, and the joy of exertion. This is the optimism that is inherent in, and proper and indispensable to action, for without it nothing would ever be undertaken. It in no way suppresses the critical sense or clouds the judgment. On the contrary this optimism sharpens the wits, it creates a certain perspective and, at the last moment, lets in a ray of perpendicular light which illuminates all one's previous calculations, cuts and shuffles them and deals you the card of success, the winning number.

  Blaise Cendrars

  Cutting, Winning, Numbers

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• However, optimism is highly valued, socially and in the market; people and firms reward the providers of dangerously misleading information more than they reward truth tellers. One of the lessons of the financial crisis that led to the Great Recession is that there are periods in which competition, among experts and among organizations, creates powerful forces that favor a collective blindness to risk and uncertainty.

  Daniel Kahneman

  Powerful, Organization, People

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• When action is needed, optimism, even of the mildly delusional variety, may be a good thing.

  Daniel Kahneman

  May, Action, Delusional

  Daniel Kahneman (2011). “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, p.291, Macmillan

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• Hysterical optimism will prevail until the world again admits the existence of tragedy, and it cannot admit the existence of tragedy until it again distinguishes between good and evil. . . Hysterical optimism as a sin against knowledge.

  Richard M. Weaver

  Evil, Tragedy, World

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• In my forties, my optimism was boundless. I had really good health and tremendous success which allowed me to do anything I wanted.

  Patricia Cornwell

  Good Health, Wanted, Forty

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• Changing the destructive things you say to yourself when you experience the setbacks that life deals all of us is the central skill of optimism.

  Martin Seligman

  Skills, Deals, Destructive

  Martin E.P. Seligman (2011). “Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life”, p.39, Vintage

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• Optimism is invaluable for the meaningful life.  With a firm belief in a positive future, you can throw yourself into the service of that which is larger than you are.

  Martin Seligman

  Meaningful, Belief, Positive Future

  Martin E.P. Seligman (2011). “Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life”, p.11, Vintage

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• Optimism is a revolutionary act

  Cameron Crowe

  Revolutionary

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• There is a general sense of guarded optimism. There have been too many false dawns over the last 60 years. There have been more tears than smiles, but I sense there is a commitment from Abbas and Sharon, a new determination to make a reality of the goal of two states living side by side.

  Jack Straw

  Determination, Commitment, Reality

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• 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.

  Neal A. Maxwell

  Life, Jesus, Cheer

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• Firm and patient optimism always yields its rewards.

  Carlos Slim

  Yield, Rewards, Patient

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• My grandmother was determined that everyone feel a sense of optimism and opportunity. Marc and I want to make sure we're doing that. This period of our lives is not just a tribute to her, it's inspired by her. And it's for when we have our own children — I want to help make sure we've got a world I want them to live in.

  Chelsea Clinton

  Children, Grandmother, Opportunity

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• Optimism boosts your energy and focuses your sights on reaching your goals, rather than wallowing in your setbacks.

  Denis Waitley

  Sight, Goal, Energy

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