Pessimistic Quotes - Page 2

• I try not to be too optimistic or pessimistic. If you're a pessimist then that's depressing all the time; if you're an optimist and things don't work out then that's depressing, too.

  Nicholas Hoult

  Depressing, Optimistic, Work Out

  7 Copy quote

• The more we understand what is happening in the world, the more frustrated we often become, for our knowledge leads to feelings of powerlessness. We feel that we are living in a world in which the citizen has become a mere spectator or a forced actor, and that our personal experience is politically useless and our political will a minor illusion.

  C. Wright Mills

  Knowledge, Frustration, Political Will

  C. Wright Mills (2000). “C. Wright Mills: Letters and Autobiographical Writings”, p.184, Univ of California Press

  126 Copy quote

  Show source

• Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Funny, Motivational, Humorous

  452 Copy quote

• Listen to the cry of a woman in labor at the hour of giving birth - look at the dying man's struggle at his last extremity, and then tell me whether something that begins and ends thus could be intended for enjoyment.

  Soren Kierkegaard

  Death, Struggle, Men

  25 Copy quote

• I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.

  Antonio Gramsci

  Inspirational, Life Changing, Optimistic

  Antonio Gramsci (2011). “Letters from Prison”, p.299, Columbia University Press

  251 Copy quote

  Show source

• I’m really afraid to feel happy because it never lasts

  Andy Warhol

  Happiness, Happy, Lasts

  30 Copy quote

• We're an ignorant nation right now. We're not really capable, I do not think, the majority of our people, of making the decisions that have to be made at election time and particularly in the selection of their legislatures and their Congress and the presidency, of course. I don't think we're bright enough to do the job that would preserve our democracy, our republic. I think we're in serious danger.

  Walter Cronkite

  Anchorman, Jobs, Thinking

  "Dolly Parton's Anniversary; Walter Cronkite on Peter Jennings". "Larry King Live", edition.cnn.com. September 30, 2005.

  176 Copy quote

  Show source

• Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.

  Dalai Lama

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  93 Copy quote

• Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Thank You, Time, Children

  214 Copy quote

• When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic.

  Carl Rogers

  Optimistic, People, Psychology

  167 Copy quote

• A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will's freedom after it.

  Aldous Huxley

  Freedom, Food, Optimistic

  Aldous Huxley (2000). “Complete Essays: 1926-1929”, Ivan R Dee

  20 Copy quote

  Show source

• Pessimism is as American as apple pie - frozen apple pie with a slice of processed cheese.

  George Will

  Apples, Pie, Cheesy

  10 Copy quote

• The the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hope are optimistic.

  Albert Schweitzer

  God, Faith, Hope

  Albert Schweitzer (1953). “Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography: Postscript 1932-1949 by Everett Skillings”

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: Don't be economic girlie men!

  Arnold Schwarzenegger

  Motivation, Men, Campaigns

  2004 Republican National Convention Address, delivered 31 August 2004, Madison Square Garden, New York

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnified their enemies' resources, and minimized their own.

  Livy

  Men, Views, Enemy

  "History of Rome". Book by Livy. Book XXVII, section 44,

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is not usually our ideas that make us optimistic or pessimistic, but it is our optimism or pessimism of physiological or pathological origin that makes our ideas.

  Miguel de Unamuno

  Optimistic, Ideas, Optimism

  1913 The Tragic Sense of Life.

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Twenty years ago, you might have been pessimistic and said there's no hope. But these days, some of our very biggest companies are acting remarkably cleanly. And in some cases, although not all cases, the CEOs are the driving forces behind that.

  Jared Diamond

  Years, Acting, Twenties

  11 Copy quote

• The blues aren’t pessimistic. We’re prisoners of hope but we tell the truth and the truth is dark.

  Cornel West

  Dark, Telling The Truth, Truth Is

  39 Copy quote

• If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.

  Maya Angelou

  Blessed, Today, Tomorrow

  Maya Angelou (2008). “Letter to My Daughter”, p.32, Random House

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• The ship of my life may or may not be sailing on calm and amiable seas. The challenging days of my existence may or may not be bright and promising. Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.

  Maya Angelou

  Lonely, Gratitude, Attitude

  Maya Angelou (2008). “Letter to My Daughter”, p.32, Random House

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• The road to success is always under construction.

  Lily Tomlin

  Funny, Inspiring, Success

  180 Copy quote

• To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is. A pessimistic attitude can never create the calm and serene smile which blossoms on the lips of Bodhisattvas and all those who obtain the way.

  Nhat Hanh

  Attitude, Reality, Thinking

  "The Miracle of Mindfulness". Book by Thich Nhat Hanh, 1999.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  Norman Reedus

  Optimistic, Thinking, Lifestyle

  Source: www.gq.com

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• Positive, optimistic sales people sell more than pessimistic sales people.

  Martin Seligman

  Optimistic, People, Being Positive

  8 Copy quote

• Don't be pessimistic
  Because, today, the sun hasn't shone
  It probably won't next year
  And you'll then be 61

  John Walter Bratton

  Birthday, Years, Next Year

  4 Copy quote