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Pessimism Quotes

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Pessimism Quotes

“Every person has the power to make others happy. Some do it simply by entering a room others by leaving the room. Some individuals leave trails of gloom; others, trails of joy. Some leave trails of hate and bitterness; others, trails of love and harmony. Some leave trails of cynicism and pessimism; others trails of faith and optimism. Some leave trails of criticism and resignation; others trails of gratitude and hope. What kind of trails do you leave?”

KindPersonsHappinessJoyHateIndividualRoomsGratitudeCriticismOptimismHarmonyLeavingBitternessPessimismCynicismEnteringTrailsGloomResignationMake Others Happy
Author:William Arthur Ward
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“Market moralities and mentalities-- fueled by economic imperatives to make a profit at nearly any cost-- yield unprecedented levels of loneliness, isolation, and sadness. And our public life lies in shambles, shot through with icy cynicism and paralyzing pessimism. To put it bluntly, beneath the record-breaking stock markets on Wall Street and bipartisan budget-balancing deals in the White House lurk ominous clouds of despair across this nation.”

LyingHouseNationsWhiteLevelsDealsRecordsSadnessEconomicStreetsLonelinessWallMoralityCostDespairShotsCloudsProfitBudgetsIsolationYieldWhite HousePessimismMentalityCynicismImperativesPublic LifeUnprecedentedIcyBipartisanOminousShamblesRecords Breaking
Book:Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America
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“What I am suggesting is that each of us turn from the negativism that permeates our society and look for the remarkable good among those with whom we associate, that we speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults, that optimism replace pessimism, that our faith exceed our fears. When I was a young man and was prone to speak critically, my father would say: “Cynics do not contribute, skeptics do not create, doubters do not achieve.”

MenLooksHappinessYoungTurnsFatherSpeakVirtueAchievePositive ThinkingOptimismFaultsYoung ManRemarkableOur SocietyPessimismAssociatesExceedSkepticSuggestingDoubters
Author:Gordon B. Hinckley
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“The past doesn't change no matter how much time you spend thinking about it. Good and bad all add up to the whole. Take away one piece, no matter how small, and the whole changes. Whether it's optimism, pessimism or fatalism, I don't spend my time wishing for the past to be different so present would be different, too. I control my future with what I choose now.”

ThinkingDifferentMatterWholeWould BePastWishPiecesOptimismAddMy TimePessimismGood And BadMy FutureOne PieceFatalism
Author:Megan Hart
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“Dad always warned that it was misleading when one imagined people, when one sas them in the Mind's Eye, because one never remembered them as they really were, with as many inconsistencies as there were hairs on a human head (100,000 to 200,000). Instead, the mind used a lazy shorthand, smoothed the person over into their most dominating characteristic--their pessimism or insecurity (something really being lazy, turning them into either Nice or Mean)--and one made the mistake of judging them from this basis alone and risked, on a subsequent encounter, being dangerously surprised.”

PeopleMindHumansMeanPersonsMadeEyeUsedMistakeNiceJudgingHairDadBasesRememberedCharacteristicsEncountersLazyInsecurityPessimismMisleadDominatingInconsistencyShorthandBeing Lazy
Author:Marisha Pessl
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“If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather have so much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the burden of existence, or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose that burden upon it in cold blood?”

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Book:Collected Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer
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“Pessimism is not in being tired of evil but in being tired of good. Despair does not lie in being weary of suffering, but in being weary of joy. It is when for some reason or other good things in a society no longer work that the society begins to decline; when its food does not feed, when its cures do not cure, when its blessings refuse to bless.”

DoeReasonJoyLyingSufferingEvilBlessingDespairTiredGood ThingsRefuseCuresBlessPessimismDeclineWeary
Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
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“I have a hunch that our obsession with photography arises from an unspoken pessimism; it is our nature to believe the good things will not last. . . But photos provide a false sense of security> like our flawed memory, they are guaranteed to fade. . . . We take photographs in order to remember, but it is in the nature of a photograph to forget (pg 157)”

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Author:Michelle Richmond
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“...we should all fortify ourselves against the dark hours of depression by cultivating a deep distrust of the certainties of despair. Despair is relentless in the certainties of its pessimism. But we have seen again and again, from our own experience and others', that absolute statements of hopelessness that we make in the dark are notoriously unreliable. Our dark certainties are not sureties.”

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Author:John Piper
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“The best consolation in misfortune or affliction of any kind will be the thought of other people who are in a still worse plight than yourself; and this is a form of consolation open to every one. But what an awful fate this means for mankind as a whole! We are like lambs in a field, disporting themselves under the eye of the butcher, who chooses out first one and then another for his prey.”

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Book:Studies in Pessimism
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“If cynicism and love lie at opposite ends of a spectrum, do we not sometimes fall in love in order to escape the debilitating cynicism to which we are prone? Is there not in every coup de foudre a certain willful exaggeration of the qualities of the beloved, an exaggeration which distracts us from our habitual pessimism and focuses our energies on someone in whom we can believe in a way we have never believed in ourselves?”

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Book:On Love: A Novel
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“It seems almost oxymoronic to believe that this new idealism has led to a new pessimism about marriage, but that is exactly what has happened. In generations past there was far less talk about "compatibility" and finding the ideal soul mate. Today we are looking for someone who accepts us as we are and fulfills our desires, and this creates an unrealistic set of expectations that frustrates both the searchers and the searched for.”

BelieveSoulSeemsTodayPastDesireAcceptingGenerationsHappenedFindingsExpectationsIdealsPessimismMatesIdealismSoul MateCompatibilitySearchers
Book:The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God
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“Both men and women today see marriage not as a way of creating character and community but as a way to reach personal life goals. They are looking for a marriage partner who will 'fulfill their emotional, sexual, and spiritual desires.' And that creates an extreme idealism that in turn leads to a deep pessimism that you will ever find the right person to marry.”

MenWayPersonsCharacterTodaySpiritualDesireTurnsGoalCommunityEmotionalCreatingMen And WomenExtremesPartnersFulfillmentPessimismIdealismPersonal LifeLife GoalRight PersonCreating Characters
Book:The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God
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