Optimism Quotes

‘Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.’ – Helen Keller

‘Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A ‘you can do it’ when things are tough.’ – Richard M. DeVos

‘Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.’ – Colin Powell

‘Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.’ – William James

‘My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.’ – Henry Rollins

‘I’m continually inspired by nature, and the rainbow is one of nature’s greatest optical phenomenons. The sighting of a rainbow never fails to bring a smile to people’s faces. They signify optimism and positivity: with them comes the sunshine after the rain.’ – Matthew Williamson

‘Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.’ – Voltaire

‘Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress.’ – Nicholas M. Butler

‘One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.’ – Lucille Ball

‘My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.’ – Jack Layton

‘The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.’ – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

‘It is the hopeful, buoyant, cheerful attitude of mind that wins. Optimism is a success builder; pessimism an achievement killer.’ – Orison Swett Marden

‘Good things are associated with blue, like clear days, more than singing the blues. Just the word ‘blue’ in the singular is full of optimism and positive connotation to most people.’ – David Carson

‘I believe any success in life is made by going into an area with a blind, furious optimism.’ – Sylvester Stallone

‘Truth is, I’ll never know all there is to know about you just as you will never know all there is to know about me. Humans are by nature too complicated to be understood fully. So, we can choose either to approach our fellow human beings with suspicion or to approach them with an open mind, a dash of optimism and a great deal of candour.’ – Tom Hanks

‘The biggest emotion in creation is the bridge to optimism.’ – Brian May

‘The basis of optimism is sheer terror.’ – Oscar Wilde

‘Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.’ – Vaclav Havel

‘Children have limited power to shape their own lives, but when they can experiment with possibilities through books, their optimism can be recharged and kept alive.’ – Morris Gleitzman

‘Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. It is the belief that problems can be solved, differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile. It can be blackened by fear and superstition.’ – Bernard Beckett

‘Comedy is acting out optimism.’ – Robin Williams

‘We can choose to wake up and grumble all day and be bitter and angry and judge others and find satisfaction in others doing bad instead of good. Or we can we wake up with optimism and love and say, ‘Just what is this beautiful day going to bring me?” – Margaret Trudeau

‘Pessimism of the spirit; optimism of the will.’ – Antonio Gramsci

‘There’s a lot of optimism in changing scenery, in seeing what’s down the road.’ – Conor Oberst

‘Optimism means better than reality; pessimism means worse than reality. I’m a realist.’ – Margaret Atwood

‘These are the soul’s changes. I don’t believe in ageing. I believe in forever altering one’s aspect to the sun. Hence my optimism.’ – Virginia Woolf

‘The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum.’ – Havelock Ellis

‘Regardless of who wins, an election should be a time for optimism and fresh approaches.’ – Gary Johnson

‘World War II, the atomic bomb, the Cold War, made it hard for Americans to continue their optimism.’ – Stephen Ambrose

‘Pessimism, when you get used to it, is just as agreeable as optimism.’ – Arnold Bennett

‘When people exercise, we talk about endorphins, but endorphins are just short-term. The reason why exercise is valuable is it trains your brain to believe, ‘My behavior matters,’ which is optimism.’ – Shawn Achor

‘Optimism doesn’t wait on facts. It deals with prospects. Pessimism is a waste of time.’ – Norman Cousins

‘Confidence isn’t optimism or pessimism, and it’s not a character attribute. It’s the expectation of a positive outcome.’ – Rosabeth Moss Kanter

‘There are two things in Indian history – one is the incredible optimism and potential of the place, and the other is the betrayal of that potential – for example, corruption. Those two strands intertwine through the whole of Indian history, and maybe not just Indian history.’ – Salman Rushdie

‘I try to think about optimism. I try to look at the beautiful things in life.’ – Dolores O’Riordan

‘For me optimism is two lovers walking into the sunset arm in arm. Or maybe into the sunrise – whatever appeals to you.’ – Krzysztof Kieslowski

‘I hope the millions of people I’ve touched have the optimism and desire to share their goals and hard work and persevere with a positive attitude.’ – Michael Jordan

‘Optimism is the opium of the people.’ – Milan Kundera

‘I have never had to face anything that could overwhelm the native optimism and stubborn perseverance I was blessed with.’ – Sonia Sotomayor

‘My optimism has helped me through some hard times. If you try to send out good things, good things come back to you.’ – Jan Brett

‘Optimism comes less easily today, not because democracy is less vigorous, but because democracy’s enemies have refined their instruments of repression.’ – Ronald Reagan

‘Positive thinking is the notion that if you think good thoughts, things will work out well. Optimism is the feeling of thinking things will be well and be hopeful.’ – Martin Seligman

‘We should celebrate when optimism and hard work triumph over cynicism, lethargy, and fatalism.’ – Sadiq Khan

‘Qualities you need to get through medical school and residency: Discipline. Patience. Perseverance. A willingness to forgo sleep. A penchant for sadomasochism. Ability to weather crises of faith and self-confidence. Accept exhaustion as fact of life. Addiction to caffeine a definite plus. Unfailing optimism that the end is in sight.’ – Khaled Hosseini

‘If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do not want to encourage blind faith.’ – Aung San Suu Kyi

‘When we adopt a dog or any pet, we know it is going to end with us having to say goodbye, but we still do it. And we do it for a very good reason: They bring so much joy and optimism and happiness. They attack every moment of every day with that attitude.’ – W. Bruce Cameron

‘I ceased using words like optimism and pessimism a long time ago.’ – Wole Soyinka

‘Many of the qualities that come so effortlessly to dogs – loyalty, devotion, selflessness, unflagging optimism, unqualified love – can be elusive to humans.’ – John Grogan

‘With optimism, you look upon the sunny side of things. People say, ‘Studs, you’re an optimist.’ I never said I was an optimist. I have hope because what’s the alternative to hope? Despair? If you have despair, you might as well put your head in the oven.’ – Studs Terkel

‘My view is that at a younger age your optimism is more and you have more imagination etc. You have less bias.’ – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

‘A good attitude is really important. And a sense of optimism, someone who has ideas and isn’t afraid to pitch them no matter what level she is. Someone who is proactive. Someone with efficiency and common sense. They don’t always go hand-in-hand, common sense and, well, everything else.’ – Eva Chen

‘Young people have a right to optimism, and rightly so; human beings have grown and developed and accomplished wonderful feats in the world. But what mires me in pessimism is the fact that so much of life is pain and sorrow and willful ignorance and violence, and pushing back against that tide takes so much effort, so much steady fight. It’s tiring.’ – Jesmyn Ward

‘There is no problem that doesn’t have some underlying need for more optimism, stamina, resilience and collaboration. And games are, I believe, the best platform we have for providing that.’ – Jane McGonigal

‘Half a century ago, Ronald Reagan, the man whose relentless optimism inspired me to enter politics, famously said that he didn’t leave the Democratic Party; the party left him. I can certainly relate. I didn’t leave the Republican Party; it left me.’ – Charlie Crist

‘What I’ve really learned over time is that optimism is a very, very important part of leadership.’ – Bob Iger

‘Optimism is infectious, and opportunity irresistible. Progress follows progress. Someone, even government, just has to get it started.’ – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

‘Optimism is normal, but some fortunate people are more optimistic than the rest of us. If you are genetically endowed with an optimistic bias, you hardly need to be told that you are a lucky person – you already feel fortunate.’ – Daniel Kahneman

‘If pessimism is despair, optimism is cowardice and stupidity. Is there any need to choose between them?’ – Francis Parker Yockey

‘I do believe that most men live lives of quiet desperation. For despair, optimism is the only practical solution. Hope is practical. Because eliminate that and it’s pretty scary. Hope at least gives you the option of living.’ – Harry Nilsson

‘There are so many difficult things we’re living through in the world today, so many horrible events, but we cannot let them stop us. No matter what happens, I feel you must move forward with optimism and not get totally sideswiped.’ – Gloria Estefan

‘The most fearless hearts, the audacious dreamers, have always maintained a sense of optimism that often flies in the face of the available evidence.’ – Martin O’Malley

‘Thanks to my Buddhist faith, to the positivity that arose from prayer, I put the optimism of determination before the pessimism of logic and reason.’ – Roberto Baggio

‘The optimism of a healthy mind is indefatigable.’ – Margery Allingham

‘There’s probably a little greater case for pessimism than optimism. But I do not rule out optimism.’ – Jim Leach

‘Optimism – the doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly.’ – Ambrose Bierce

‘No Christian can be a pessimist, for Christianity is a system of radical optimism.’ – William Inge

‘For the Holy Ghost blesses us with optimism and wisdom at times of challenge that we simply cannot muster on our own.’ – Sheri L. Dew

‘In life, an abundance of confidence gives us higher motivation, persistence, and optimism and can allow us to accomplish things we otherwise might not have undertaken.’ – Whitney Tilson

‘Optimism is a kind of heart stimulant – the digitalis of failure.’ – Elbert Hubbard

‘These days I wonder more and more why people are pessimistic when American history actually supports optimism.’ – bell hooks

‘The only time I would like to see was the 20s and 30s in America because I love the music and the style and the optimism, I wanted to see New York being built. I wanted to see all that, you know.’ – Billy Connolly

‘It’s amazing to think how powerful of a force optimism and hope can be. It’s the thing that saves me. I believed that I lived in the greatest country in the world. I still believe that, and consequently, I believed that I had a chance, even though things around me were absolutely crazy and difficult.’ – J. D. Vance

‘It’s OK to stand back. But it’s also good to demonstrate that it’s fun to be involved. As long as you are willing to say, ‘This looks fun. I’d like to try this, too,’ your child will mimic your example of openness, playfulness and optimism.’ – Julia Cameron

‘The optimism that many felt in the 1960s over labour-saving technology is giving way to a fearful question: ‘Will your labour be good for anything in the future? Or will you be replaced by a machine?” – Peter Thiel

‘Children are born with their own optimism. They have a clarity and a simplicity that we can only wish for.’ – Meshell Ndegeocello

‘Only the really young are fearless, have the optimism, the romanticism to take unimaginable risks.’ – Olivia Wilde

‘True hopefulness and optimism is what leads one to dare. It is also what lifts one back up to dare again after a failed attempt.’ – Bibi Bourelly

”Say Hello’ was inspired by optimism.’ – Nancy Wilson

‘My early novels were written in quite a dark place. I stand by them, but I would never write them again. I think it is subversive to embrace emotional optimism, because it goes against the grain.’ – Matt Haig

‘I am full of optimism. The world hasn’t beaten it out of me yet. And I’m going to work very hard to make sure that they don’t.’ – Jordan Gavaris

‘I felt from the start that America was not likely to relinquish lightly positions established at the cost of such sacrifices, and I pressed the view that a high degree of preparation and willingness to make sacrifices would be necessary on our side, but everybody here always persists in facile optimism until the very worst actually happens.’ – Isoroku Yamamoto

‘I’m a pessimist. But I think I’d describe my pessimism as broken-hearted optimism.’ – Ellen Ullman

‘I do think children come in wired a certain way. Why else would I be filled with hope and optimism? You just could not keep me down for very long. You can call it grace or a gift from God, but I do think I came in with it.’ – Florence Henderson

‘Really great entrepreneurs have this very special mix of unstoppable optimism and scathing paranoia.’ – Astro Teller

‘In spite of our agonizing history, Native American people find much to celebrate. The songs, the dances, the culture and traditions surrounding planting and harvests, the prayers that are sent upward for healing and peace, and the welcoming of children into our families, are all reasons for us to keep moving forward with optimism.’ – Deb Haaland

‘I think in life, you have a choice. You can either be optimistic or pessimistic, and I go for the optimism.’ – Jon Anderson

‘I instilled in my children the importance of good values in business: hard work, determination, integrity, and optimism.’ – Henry Sy

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

‘I choose optimism. I hope to be a catalyst not only by providing financial resources but also by fostering a sense of possibility: encouraging top experts to collaborate across disciplines, challenge conventional thinking, and figure out ways to overcome some of the world’s hardest problems.’ – Paul Allen

‘I think Edward Sharpe’s music is counter-cultural music in the strangest sense where you have a time now where love, optimism, hope and community are uncool and not part of the mainstream culture.’ – Alex Ebert

‘It’s always been a subtext of our secular optimism that you solve the economic problem, and all other things sort of take care of themselves. Well, we seem to be doing well on the economic side – we are doing very well – and the other things are not solving – they’re compounding.’ – Daniel Patrick Moynihan

‘Movement has been one of the few constants in my life, and I always feel a great sense of optimism when I set off to a new place.’ – Conor Oberst

‘I believe I have a sunny disposition, and am not naturally a grouch. It takes a lot of optimism, after all, to be a traveler.’ – Paul Theroux

‘My grandmother was determined that everyone feel a sense of optimism and opportunity.’ – Chelsea Clinton

‘Optimism is the foundation of courage.’ – Nicholas M. Butler

‘The dreams of the 1960s began to disappear in the 1970s. The economy collapsed, and so did the optimism of the Metabolists.’ – Toyo Ito

‘I’m cheerfully optimistic about life. Optimism is very important!’ – Terry Jones

‘I find nothing more depressing than optimism.’ – Paul Fussell

‘Children are my favorite people, because they inspire me with their optimism and spirit.’ – Dia Mirza

‘I understand the concept of optimism. But I think with me what you get is a lack of cynicism.’ – Tom Hanks

‘If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn’t. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.’ – Oscar Wilde

‘My optimism is not based primarily on the successful march of democracy in recent times but rather is based on the experience of having lived in a fear society and studied the mechanics of tyranny that sustain such a society.’ – Natan Sharansky

‘I would say that the study of history is that which gives man the greatest optimism, for if man were not destined by his Maker to go on until the Kingdom of Heaven is attained, man would have been extinguished long ago by reason of all man’s mistakes and frailties.’ – Douglas Southall Freeman

‘I have optimism for the future. You have to.’ – Michelle Lujan Grisham

‘When I was growing up in Iraq, there was an unbroken belief in progress and a great sense of optimism. It was a moment of nation building.’ – Zaha Hadid

‘Urgent optimism is the desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle, combined with the belief that we have a reasonable hope of success.’ – Jane McGonigal

‘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

‘There is only one optimist. He has been here since man has been on this earth, and that is man himself. If we hadn’t had such a magnificent optimism to carry us through all these things, we wouldn’t be here. We have survived it on our optimism.’ – Edward Steichen

‘Organizations may be better able to tame optimism than individuals are.’ – Daniel Kahneman

‘When I listen to music from different eras, I sense different things. The 1940s music, there’s so much optimism and romance, maybe because they just solved the biggest problem on Earth at that time – World War II. In the 1960s, there was so much creativity and innovation in sound.’ – Eric Betzig

‘There’s nothing particularly wrong with being more pessimistic than optimistic. Optimism is broad-based, non-detail-oriented thinking; pessimism is detail-oriented thinking.’ – David Rakoff

‘What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error.’ – Raymond Aron

‘What keeps athletes going is the optimism we are going to be able to compete again.’ – Mark Cavendish

‘My favorite zone is from 1890 -1915, that zone that spans the overlap of the so-called Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. People had such a boundless sense of optimism; They felt they could do anything they wanted to do, and they went out and tried to do it.’ – Erik Larson

‘Where the despair of loneliness and poverty haunts every hour, the optimism to embark on new projects cannot find a place to alight on the brain’s cortex. Poverty itself is an enormous obstacle to an enlightened and enlightening – not to say healthy – old age.’ – Sherwin B. Nuland

‘As a Californian, I feel lucky to live in what is truly the Golden State – a place of sunshine, agricultural bounty, natural beauty, technological innovation, and boundless optimism.’ – Tom Steyer

‘The existence of any evil anywhere at any time absolutely ruins a total optimism.’ – George Santayana

‘Intrinsically, I’m the same person I was as a young lad, and I think I still have the optimism of life, still the same wants and desires to be good and great about what I do.’ – Pierce Brosnan

‘As long as I’m needed. I’ll be ready to serve. I look forward with optimism. We need the Jews here. Move to Israel! Move to Israel!’ – Ariel Sharon

‘The Jewish state has so much to teach diaspora Jews about resilience, innovation, energy, and optimism.’ – Bari Weiss

‘There is an interesting scientific dispute about realism and optimism. Some find that very optimistic people have benign illusions about themselves. These people may think they have more control, or more skill, than they actually do. Others have found that optimistic people have a good handle on reality. The jury is still out.’ – Martin Seligman

‘Most of my memories of the Sixties are ones of optimism, high spirits and confidence.’ – Mary Quant

‘We are a nation with a powerful investment in the idea of our own fundamental innocence. Our can-do optimism and ingenuity are based on the faith that we are a decent, open, and generous people. This is our identity.’ – Shelby Steele

‘Americans like optimism, and ‘Once’ walks a tightrope: you feel uplifted at the end even if you’re crying.’ – John Carney

‘My optimism for life carried through my work.’ – John Dyer

‘History can bring luck: this is what we can call optimism.’ – Stephane Hessel

‘You really need to love something or someone in order to work hard enough to be very successful. You have to believe in something and have a certain optimism. Faith and optimism come from love.’ – Maya Soetoro-Ng

‘If you can’t give children optimism, then what are you doing?’ – Matt Haig

‘Optimism is the key.’ – Will Champion

‘I would hope more people would have optimism about where the Latino has come. How we have emerged, and that there will be more women, women of color especially Latinas who will get involved.’ – Hilda Solis

‘Well, optimism’s a good thing. It – makes people go out and – you know, start businesses and spend and do whatever is necessary to get the economy going.’ – Ben Bernanke

‘If you don’t have a tonne of optimism, you’re not going to make it… you won’t be able to evangelise to everyone else. On the other hand, if you aren’t constantly paranoid about what can go wrong and put plans in place, then you’re going to get bitten at some point.’ – Astro Teller

‘There are grounds for cautious optimism that we may now be near the end ofthe search for the ultimate laws of nature.’ – Stephen Hawking

‘But before looking to the future, let’s glance back at the road we’ve traveled these past two years because that is the source of much of the optimism we are all feeling about the future.’ – Linda Lingle

‘It is not possible, given any degree of optimism and generosity in regard to people in general, to set a time limit on creative reflection or a limitation on the number of people involved in the creation.’ – Earle Brown

‘Through my optimism I naturally prefer and capture the beauty in life.’ – Leni Riefenstahl

‘There is no fun in psychiatry. If you try to get fun out of it, you pay a considerable price for your unjustifiable optimism.’ – Harry Stack Sullivan

‘And for all my rampant technological optimism, sometimes I think I’d be more comfortable if I were regarding these transcendental events from one thousand years remove… instead of twenty.’ – Vernor Vinge

‘I don’t think you lead by pessimism and cynicism. I think you lead by optimism and enthusiasm and energy.’ – Patricia Ireland

‘That is why, with optimism instead of fear, all those who want to see Puerto Rico’s status resolved should seek the truth about each option, including the upside and the downside of each.’ – Dick Thornburgh

‘But Walt and him shared the same kind of optimism. Walt believed in himself, and he was optimistic about what he wanted to do. He just knew it will be okay, and Dali was the same way. They had a great deal in common that way.’ – John Hench

‘I always admired Walt’s optimism. He seemed to know the direction he was going to. When I was at the studio, I remember he kept driving all of us back down to a more fundamental level all the time.’ – John Hench

‘Always the eternal optimist, President Reagan instilled confidence and optimism at a time both were in short supply in our country.’ – Jim Ramstad

‘Optimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism.’ – Twyla Tharp

‘Emerson then incarnated the moral optimism, the progress, and the energy of the American spirit.’ – Howard Mumford Jones

‘There was just this amazing individuality. It’s just a whole different world of optimism and fearlessness, women taking off their bras and dancing around naked, and a political hopefulness and involvement.’ – Jill Clayburgh

‘I have a real sense of optimism that we are revolutionizing the way we do politics in this country.’ – Joan Blades

‘I am not a prophet in any sense of the word, and I entertain an active and intense dislike of the foregoing mixture of optimism, fatalism, and conservatism.’ – Herbert Croly

‘The young women in my classes are feisty and clever and believe, often with the passion of youthful optimism, that feminism is a battle already won. I worry for them – and for my daughters, too.’ – Louise Brown

‘Optimism is not inherently a superior way of viewing the world. Certainly doctors will say it might be better for one’s physical health to be an optimist. But, morally speaking it may not be appropriate in certain circumstances.’ – Todd Solondz

‘What we can borrow from Ronald Reagan… is that great sense of optimism. He led by building on the strengths of America, not running America down.’ – Rudy Giuliani

‘We must return optimism to our parenting. To focus on the joys, not the hassles; the love, not the disappointments; the common sense, not the complexities.’ – Fred G. Gosman

‘You would have to say his number one accomplishment has been to inspire a sense of confidence in the country. That confidence, that optimism, not only gives President Obama a political cushion, but it could have a real world economic impact.’ – George Stephanopoulos

‘So this is the space during tutoring hours. It’s very busy. Same principles: one-on-one attention, complete devotion to the students’ work and a boundless optimism and sort of a possibility of creativity and ideas.’ – Dave Eggers

‘The failure of national economic policy is costing us more than jobs; it has begun to weaken that uniquely American spirit of risk-taking, large ambition, and optimism about the future. We must rally them now to bold departures that rebuild our national morale as well as our material prosperity.’ – Mitch Daniels

‘Even in a gleefully negative comic, there is optimism, although it’s slightly hidden: It comes out through a comic character’s sheer tenacity. He keeps going and trying to find some sort of fulfillment regardless of his perpetual failure record. That’s a form of hope, a form of optimism. Really hokey I know, but it’s true.’ – Lev Yilmaz

‘Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me.’ – Jack Layton

‘A lot of people over time have had this kind of pattern in their relationship with Bill Clinton. You first meet him and you’re overwhelmed by his talent. He’s so energetic and articulate and full of ideas and he calls himself a congenital optimist and that optimism is contagious.’ – Dee Dee Myers

‘To me, what I love about the draft is; first, you see the young men who are realizing their dreams that they’ve worked so hard for. That’s a pretty cool thing. You saw the emotion from some of these guys the other day. And then, the second thing is this total sense of hope and optimism. And, I think that’s great for everybody.’ – Roger Goodell

‘I don’t doubt for a second that Neil Armstrong’s spirit is still with us: that unique blend of optimism, humility and the utter confidence that when the world needs someone to do the really big stuff, you need an American.’ – Mitt Romney

‘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.’ – Paul Ryan

‘Obama ran on a platform of unmitigated optimism – a promise to usher in a brighter day for America. But there could hardly be a greater contrast between his pledge and his performance in office, between his commitment to the nation and his current abandonment of all hope.’ – David Limbaugh

‘I look forward without dogmatic optimism but without dread.’ – Robert Anton Wilson

‘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.’ – Bruce Springsteen

‘At a time of such hope and optimism in the Middle East, we cannot let the Libyan government violate every principle of international law and human rights with impunity.’ – William Hague

‘I suspect that many of the great cultural shifts that prepare the way for political change are largely aesthetic. A Buick radiator grille is as much a political statement as a Rolls Royce radiator grille, one enshrining a machine aesthetic driven by a populist optimism, the other enshrining a hierarchical and exclusive social order.’ – J. G. Ballard

‘Whereas in the past optimism had been regarded as rather shallow – because ‘oh well, it’s just your temperament, you happen to be just a cheerful sort of person’ – what I wanted to do was to establish that in fact it is the pessimists who are allowing all kinds of errors to creep into their work.’ – Colin Wilson

‘I don’t think in terms of optimism and pessimism when writing a story. I am telling a story.’ – Doris Lessing

‘For sure, the ‘Obamania’ that’s fast taking hold reflects an incredible thirst for change in global politics and, dare I say, a wave of optimism that things can be different.’ – Lucy Powell

‘On Australia Day 2010, as we enter this second decade of the 21st century, Australians can be optimistic about our future, but we cannot afford to mistake optimism for complacency.’ – Kevin Rudd

‘Blending hard-bitten realism with long-view optimism, Obama said that every 20 or 30 years brings a new cycle of pessimism in America.’ – Ron Fournier

‘Obama learned from Ronald Reagan that it helps to strike an optimistic tone. But genuine optimism deriving from American exceptionalism, it turns out, does not come naturally to him.’ – John Podhoretz

‘Germany has always stood for an E.U. of the 27 countries. But in light of Britain’s continued resistance to further integration steps, as we saw with the fiscal pact, there are limits to my optimism in this regard. It’s quite possible that we will have to create the new institutions for the euro zone first.’ – Wolfgang Schauble

‘I have a lot of optimism about new doctors because I think it’s really clear that it’s a lot of hard work and no guarantee of a lot of money.’ – Anna Deavere Smith

‘What’s great about the geek spirit is that life never seems to stop us, and they never seem to kill our enthusiasm, our optimism and our hunger to experience the world. We keep our sense of humor, we protect our dignity, we talk to our friends about the experience and then we start again fresh the very next day.’ – Paul Feig

‘I’m not interested in blind optimism, but I’m very interested in optimism that is hard-won, that takes on darkness and then says, ‘This is not enough.” – Colum McCann

‘Optimism can be relearnt.’ – Marian Keyes

‘What I am against is false optimism: the notion either that things have to go well, or else that they tend to, or else that the default condition of historical trajectories is characteristically beneficial in the long-run.’ – Tony Judt

‘George W. Bush was president through some of the darkest days of our history and yet his optimism never waned. He is optimistic by nature, but he also understood the importance of always communicating a sense that things will get better.’ – Mark McKinnon

‘Having a child at 55… that’s optimism.’ – Steve Earle

‘My life has been a series of well-orchestrated accidents; I’ve always suffered from hallucinogenic optimism.’ – Evan Williams

‘Since Reagan there has been this tradition, which has become a cliche, of promising morning in America, this fake optimism, we’re the best, the city on the hill. In fact the great American task is self-scrutiny.’ – Naomi Wolf

‘There are physical characteristics which are inherited. These include things like good looks, high intelligence, physical coordination. These attributes contribute to success in life, and success in life is a determinant of optimism.’ – Martin Seligman

‘So many people grew up with challenges, as I did. There weren’t always happy things happening to me or around me. But when you look at the core of goodness within yourself – at the optimism and hope – you realize it comes from the environment you grew up in.’ – Sonia Sotomayor

‘I’ve lived in Washington now for 44 years, and that’s a lot of folly to witness up close. Whatever confidence and optimism I felt towards the central government when I got here on January 1, 1970 has pretty much dissipated at the hands of the government.’ – George Will

‘L.A. runs on optimism, enthusiasm and flattery. I think you can go a little bit crazy. I’ve heard people say there’s a limit to the number of years you can stay in this city without going slightly mad. It’s just too damn sunny in every dimension – weather-wise, socially and professionally.’ – Hugh Laurie

‘Counterpoint is a component that gives real energy, and it is about optimism.’ – Twyla Tharp

‘Maybe there’s a sort of veneer of optimism about U.S. comedy, whereas perhaps in England, we don’t mind ending it on a sourer note.’ – Stephen Merchant

‘I would absolutely recommend against excessive positivity and optimism. Any positive emotion that you’re infusing into a workplace needs to be grounded in reality. If it’s not realistic, sincere, meaningful, and individualized, it won’t do much good.’ – Tom Rath

‘When Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s government fell in May 1940, the nation turned to Churchill. At last, his unique qualities were brought to bear on a supreme challenge, and with his unshakable optimism, his heroic vision, and above all, his splendid speeches, Churchill roused the spirit of the British people.’ – Gretchen Rubin

‘Optimism isn’t funny unless you are laughing at the person, whereas extreme pessimism is extremely funny. It’s exaggeration.’ – Steve Toltz

‘When I hear people express extreme optimism about the Internet, I say, we’ve had it in mature form for about ten years. Macroeconomically speaking, those are about the worst 10 years we’ve had since about the 1930s. I don’t blame the Internet for that – that would be ridiculous.’ – Tyler Cowen

‘In the early nineteenth century, with Enlightenment optimism soured by years of war and revolution, critics were skeptical of America’s naive faith that it had reinvented politics.’ – Simon Schama

‘I’m not an overnight sensation. I’m a Texan. And I’m a Texas success story. I am the epitome of hard work and optimism.’ – Wendy Davis

‘One of the great things and one of the horrible things about the American character is this extraordinary optimism and arrogance that everything will continue to be great and keep looking up.’ – John Wells

‘The whole scale and scope of the decorating and fashion business in this country are incomparably grander than in London. What’s thrilling about America in general, and the New York fashion scene in particular, is its optimism. It makes the whole experience energizing and uplifting.’ – Hamish Bowles

‘Americans like to get rich fast. That this means we go broke fast, too, is something that we have become very good at forgetting. Our ignorance of history is matched only by our unfailing optimism; it’s actually part of our optimism.’ – Jill Lepore

‘For style and for creating a mood of optimism and hope – Kennedy on that count is as effective as any president the country has had in its history.’ – Robert Dallek

‘The Queen’s wedding dress in 1947, there was some embroidery on the train which was definitely there to illustrate new dawn/post-war optimism, that sort of thing.’ – Kate Reardon

‘I distinctly remember the vivacious optimism that inundated the United States when the Soviet Union imploded in the early 1990s. This was not glee generated by the doom of an implacable enemy, but thrill germinated by the real possibilities that the future held for freedom.’ – Eskinder Nega

‘One misconception is that entrepreneurs love risk. Actually, we all want things to go as we expect. What you need is a blind optimism and a tolerance for uncertainty.’ – Drew Houston

‘My education was dominated by modernist thinkers and artists who taught me that the supreme imperative was courage to face the awful truth, to scorn the soft-minded optimism of religious and secular romantics as well as the corrupt optimism of governments, advertisers, and mechanistic or manipulative revolutionaries.’ – Ellen Willis

‘I love the Restoration. It’s a bit like coming out of the John Major era into the optimism of Tony Blair.’ – Charles Dance

‘Vaudeville was characterized by sunny optimism, acts that were uplifting, cheerful, and clean. It provided a fanciful, magical escape, but after Black Friday, the tone of American entertainment changed almost overnight.’ – Karen Abbott

‘Actually, we chose the name Sun Cellular because we believe the name ‘Sun’ is bright, forward-looking and optimistic. It is my sincere hope that the whole Philippines will share our positive outlook, optimism and faith in the country’s future.’ – John Gokongwei

‘My politics of optimism and hope still casts its lot with the Democrats – in the optimistic hope that the dying embers of its status as the party of our better angels, one that took risks for social justice, can still be fanned into a flame. But I’m an old man, born in 1969.’ – Rick Perlstein

‘In Ronald Reagan’s case, he always bore with him this extraordinary ability to radiate confidence, optimism, clarity, a blitheness of spirit, in what other people saw as chaos. And after the 1970s, that was catnip.’ – Rick Perlstein

‘The Fifties and Sixties were years of unreal optimism about weather forecasting. Newspapers and magazines were filled with hope for weather science, not just for prediction but for modification and control. Two technologies were maturing together: the digital computer and the space satellite.’ – James Gleick

‘There are really two kinds of optimism. There’s the complacent, Pollyanna optimism that says, ‘Don’t worry – everything will be just fine,’ and that allows one to just lay back and do nothing about the problems around you. Then there’s what we call dynamic optimism. That’s an optimism based on action.’ – Ramez Naam

‘With the sole exception of President Bill Clinton, whose ‘bridge to the 21st century’ evoked the vision and optimism of other great Democratic presidents of the 20th century, such as FDR and John F. Kennedy, pessimism about America’s economic future has been the hallmark of modern progressivism.’ – Bernard L. Schwartz

‘It may be that the seemingly intrinsic attraction that past time has for me is merely a desire for escapism, as I look out at the nation and world with little optimism.’ – David Souter

‘An experienced designer with more freedom to act might have realised that there was just too much optimism in the Ares I concept: that a shuttle SRB was simply too small as a first stage for a rocket carrying the relatively heavy Orion spacecraft.’ – Henry Spencer

‘There’s a kind of optimism specifically within Christianity about the world – about whose side God is on. Well, I didn’t have any of that in my background. I had physicality and chaos.’ – Ta-Nehisi Coates

‘Optimism is an expectation that good things are going to be plentiful. The wealthy generally have the sense that life will bring good rather than bad outcomes. That doesn’t mean they believe that good things will be omnipresent, but that they will outnumber the not-so-good.’ – Jean Chatzky

‘I get teased a lot for my optimism.’ – Rob McClure

”Enchanted’ illustrates how impractical fairy-tale ideals are in the World As We Know It, and yet, Giselle’s unabashed optimism always seems to magically find its time and place.’ – Alethea Kontis

‘I believe that we are missing a great opportunity. We as Republicans are not really emphasizing what brings us together, and that’s conservative values: love of the country. Love of family. Personal responsibility. Hard work. Optimism. Those are the things that we should be communicating to Latinos, and we’re doing that very poorly.’ – Lionel Sosa

‘That’s one of the great gifts of this, the greatest of all games, baseball: it allows you, still, to lose yourself in a dream, to feel and remember a season of life when summer never seemed to die and the assault of cynicism hadn’t begun to batter optimism.’ – Mike Barnicle

‘I offer optimism. All my books have happy endings. I don’t see any point in letting my readers down at the end. I’m an optimist – people feel that in my books.’ – Phyllis A. Whitney

‘Sometimes pessimism or optimism gets popular, and it’s contagious.’ – Edward C. Prescott

‘The Republican Party has to be the party of optimism and giving our children a better starting point. We have to make sure we’re broader, more inclusive, and reaching out to every community.’ – Cory Gardner

‘I think optimism springs from nature. I’m a gardener. Nature has taught me about rhythm, the essence of every art. With so much that is terrible, nature gives me pleasure.’ – Mira Nair

‘You have a lot of optimism when you are young.’ – Alec Baldwin

‘We try and reflect that there’s a lot of optimism, there’s a lot of positive things that are happening in ‘Silicon Valley’.’ – T. J. Miller

‘My optimism holds that the good guys eventually come out on top.’ – Brad Feld

‘I’m an optimistic person, and I tend to bury my cynicism in what I read and the movies I watch. My optimism holds that the good guys eventually come out on top.’ – Brad Feld

‘Young people have to learn in a cocoon filled with false optimism. Unlike their parents and grandparents, they grow up with very little sense of the pitiless passage of time.’ – Norman Davies

‘Technology will mirror the culture and the psychology creating it. We need new psychological scaffolding to work with. Less fear and more optimism.’ – Gray Scott

‘When you work with filmmakers, and it’s their first film, there’s an exuberance and optimism, which is quite… There’s no room for being jaded. Thinking that you know it all.’ – Rebecca Hall

‘I would love for Senator Cruz, and everyone creating fear mongering and hatred, to consider creating hope, optimism and love.’ – Mandy Patinkin

‘You have to look to the future with optimism instead of negative ideas. Take the good and the bad and face it head on.’ – Goldie Hawn

‘It’s jarring to live in a world where every person feels his life will only get better when you came from a world where many rightfully believe that things have become worse. And I’ve suspected that this optimism blinds many in Silicon Valley to the real struggles in other parts of the country. So I decided to move home to Ohio.’ – J. D. Vance

‘My student days in PSG saw three Prime Ministers, two wars, taught us courage, resilience, leadership and optimism.’ – Shiv Nadar

‘Optimism is the ultimate definition of a leader. A leader has to look optimistically at what is ahead while not ignoring the challenges that must be overcome. Those challenges are in government, politics, world leadership, and even in community life.’ – Linda McMahon

‘Science fiction always has had strains of pessimism and optimism weaving through its historical development, sometimes one dominating and then the other, usually depending on the state of the world.’ – James Gunn

‘Sports uplift us. It’s celebratory, gives us optimism and joy.’ – Travis Kalanick

‘Most people imagine that resolving particular problems will make them happy. If only one had more money, or love, or success, then life would feel manageable. It can be devastating to realize the falseness of such tempered optimism.’ – Andrew Solomon

‘There are really four ‘headlines’ for me: honesty, integrity, hard work, and what I call a ‘can-do’ attitude. You could call that ‘can-do’ attitude optimism, but it is not Pollyannaish optimism. Rather, it is a ‘we’ll figure it out’ type of mentality.’ – Dylan Taylor

‘The Lusitania is a monument to this optimism, to the hubris of the era. I love that, because where there is hubris, there is tragedy.’ – Erik Larson

‘My priorities are going to be to play a very balanced role in the sense that I have to keep an eye on the challenges in the environment. At the same time, I have to keep an eye on the optimism that is there for India.’ – Chanda Kochhar

‘We can all think we’re discriminated against, and I’m sure many of us are. But I see a ton of optimism in corporate America around the advancement and retention of women.’ – Cathy Engelbert

‘Start your diet during a period of optimism and happiness.’ – Karl Lagerfeld

‘I want to have a sense of openness and optimism, even if that means being open to things that are potentially dark.’ – Carrie Brownstein

‘My greatest influence has and always will be my mother. I admire her strength, fearlessness, and optimism.’ – Selah Louise Marley

‘The original ‘Star Trek’ is very much a product of the ’60s – the new frontier, optimism, the idea of bringing democracy to the galaxy. It’s still a timeless show, but it’s very much a show made in the 1960s.’ – Ronald D. Moore

‘I am a Tony voter; it is an honor that I take seriously. Each season, I enter the process with a degree of enthusiasm and optimism, which dissipates as I slowly plow through show after show.’ – Lynn Nottage

‘The fact is that during the post-1989 heyday of globalization optimism, political and business elites did not think enough about the prospect – plainly predicted in economic theory – that trade would harm some people even while leaving society as a whole better off. The result was overpromised benefits and inadequate adjustment plans.’ – Arancha Gonzalez

‘Among immigrants today, it is increasingly fashionable to reject American exceptionalism in favor of multiculturalism. To pretend that this isn’t happening isn’t optimism; it’s sheer fantasy.’ – Laura Ingraham

‘I remember coming up in the business and seeing how the grind turned some executives into grizzled cynics. And I vowed to never become that guy. I have always believed it’s incumbent upon network brass to bring a wide-eyed optimism to the chairs they rent. Talent deserves that. And frankly, the jobs are just no fun otherwise.’ – Kevin Reilly

‘In the room, when I’m playing SpongeBob, I’m optimistic and I’m happy, and I smile in the face of those who are upset in order to make them happier. You know, there’s this overwhelming optimism. And I’ve been lucky enough to have that become a part of my life. I like to think that it’s influenced me.’ – Ethan Slater

‘I think there is this very nice, if at times dangerous, untethered optimism that exists in Silicon Valley.’ – John Collison

‘I find the strongest predictor of people who do well at Shopify is whether they see opportunity as something to compete for, or do they see opportunity as essentially everywhere and unlimited? It’s a rough proxy for pessimism and optimism.’ – Tobias Lutke

‘When people used to ask me what I missed about America, I would say, ‘The optimism.’ I grew up in the land of hope, then moved to one whose catchphrases are ‘It’s not possible’ and ‘Hell is other people.’ I walked around Paris feeling conspicuously chipper.’ – Pamela Druckerman

‘Before Donald Trump took office, optimism about his presidency was the lowest of any president-elect since at least the 1970s.’ – Pamela Druckerman

‘Optimism – even, and perhaps especially in the face of difficulty – has long been an American hallmark.’ – Pamela Druckerman

‘It’s not such a bad thing to bring some naive optimism to Washington.’ – Rod Lurie

‘I have this weird optimism that when things are not good – like, really, genuinely not good – that we shall persevere.’ – Michaela Watkins

‘I don’t think optimism is always the best quality for an actor, in the same way you wouldn’t want a super-optimist to be a traffic controller – you want a guy that’s really worried about every plane in the sky!’ – Mia Goth

‘As Paretsky detailed in her short memoir Writing in an Age of Silence (2007), early optimism buoyed by the civil rights movement of the 1960s and early 1970s has, in her view, all but crumbled in the face of a bombardment of sadism and misogyny, the withholding of civil liberties, and the nation’s move from proud speech into near-deafening silence.’ – Sarah Weinman

‘I’d like to live permanently in October 1988, when I started college. I had no responsibility and the energy to do whatever I wanted. My optimism wasn’t dented by experience or low self-esteem.’ – Sue Perkins

‘We really had boundless optimism about the place of music in the culture – and in the world.’ – Nancy Wilson

‘When Barack Obama arrived in Washington, many in the media welcomed him with optimism as a historic figure focused on progressive change. But their overwhelmingly favorable treatment of him ultimately turned Americans who disagreed with Obama’s policies away from traditional media sources they came to distrust.’ – Ben Domenech

‘Something that helps me build more optimism in the dead of winter is not staying up too late and waking up early.’ – Natalya Neidhart

‘The creative industries, a source of optimism in recent years owing to, among other things, a resurgence on the world stage of British music, have come out foursquare against Brexit.’ – Layla Moran

‘In fact, I’m happy to go on record as saying that the ability to create a reality distortion field is right up there alongside optimism as an entrepreneur’s most valuable weapon.’ – Marc Randolph

‘We have to bring back that Reagan optimism.’ – Dan Crenshaw

‘The ’60s were a time of great optimism and hope. There was a buzz – everybody could be successful.’ – Dave Clark

‘My son Ishaan’s passion for movies and his exposure to world cinema infuses me with optimism.’ – Rajesh Khattar

‘I think there is optimism to what I write.’ – KT Tunstall

‘Although my mom and I had often disagreed politically and personally, she’d led our family by example, instilling in us a can-do attitude that often defied reason – an optimism many would call foolish, ignorant, and naive, but an optimism that occasionally shocked our neighbors and our world with its brazen veracity.’ – Dustin Lance Black

‘I like to keep working and keep changing. It’s a hopeful, optimistic thing to think and sit about what you could do next. Maybe it’s blind optimism.’ – Samuel Ervin Beam

‘Being on the left is supposed to be about unbounded optimism, a belief that what is deemed politically impossible by the ‘sensible grownups’ of politics can be realised, with sufficient imagination and determination.’ – Owen Jones

‘The silver screen offers much in the way of over-the-top rom-coms, long lost love, saddening love stories and heart warming optimism that can spark feelings in anyone.’ – Hilary Farr

‘It is true that Britain and its institutions have survived past crises, but often this was because those in charge, at a certain point, snapped out of the stupor of latent optimism, recognised the dangers circling the nation and acted.’ – David Olusoga

‘I reckon every player feels much the same on the eve of a Six Nations championship. We all want to finish top, win the title and do our respective countries proud in the process. We’re also aware a lot of other people are seeking precisely the same thing. Pessimism and optimism collide like two ferrets in a sack.’ – James Haskell

‘As Oregonians, we share a deep optimism for a better future. From the time of the Oregon Trail, we have understood that a better future won’t just happen by accident or by sticking with the status quo.’ – Ted Wheeler

‘A lot of great things are going on. In many ways, the past 30 years have been the best in world history. But we can do much better. I prefer the word hope over optimism.’ – Rutger Bregman

‘Optimism leads to investment, and anything that our government can do to reinforce optimism in our economy is good.’ – Mike Parson

‘I have about an equal amount of optimism and pessimism.’ – Carey Price

‘The creeping optimism that there might be a route to peace in Syria remains constrained by the elephant in the room – Bashar al-Assad.’ – Crispin Blunt

‘I’m dementedly optimistic, and whoever I’m with usually feels they have to balance my more wayward optimism.’ – Alexander Armstrong

‘The late 1990s were really a moment of still tremendous hope and optimism about the relationship between Russia and the United States.’ – Antony Blinken

‘We always had a lot of optimism for this game, New World.’ Customers really liked it; it tested really well.’ – Andy Jassy

‘The spirit of hope and optimism is always there, and that’s what I think characterizes Star Trek’ in such a big way.’ – Isa Briones

‘The fact that Americans do have this ingrained optimism, even against a lot of actual information about how things work, is not that bad of a quality. You know, I think it is one of our better qualities.’ – Brendan Hunt

‘Family vacations are the kind of enterprises you embark upon with hope and optimism, and return with a lot of dirty laundry and suffering extreme exhaustion.’ – Shweta Bachchan Nanda

‘I am inspired by the resilience and optimism that young people are showing, despite the challenges they face.’ – Cynthia Germanotta

‘I’d like to see us learn resilience and learn optimism.’ – Cynthia Germanotta

‘The festive season is the busiest time of the football calendar which players, managers, owners and fans alike approach with a mix of bonhomie, optimism and trepidation.’ – Simon Jordan

‘I know that through our hard work and renewed optimism – and with God’s blessings – we can secure a bright future for our children and grandchildren.’ – Mike Johnson