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Pessimism Quotes

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Pessimism Quotes

“It is understandable how some people could give way to this kind of pervasive pessimism, but we speak of a gospel which brings good tidings of great joy and this must be reflected in our lives, if we are to be believable especially as we suggest to others that there is, in fact, not only a better way, but also the way. Scriptures that speak of man as a being who "might have joy" have more impact when falling from the lips or pens of men and women whose lives give fresh evidence of the validity of that scripture.”

PeopleIfsMenWayGivingKindFactsMightJoyFallSpeakOur LivesEvidenceMen And WomenImpactLipsScripturePensPessimismBetter WaysValidityBelievableGreat JoyTidings
Author:Neal A. Maxwell
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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.”

PeopleThinkingProblemHandsCausesRiskMiddleOptimismImpactArguingFavorsObjectivesPessimismRealisticCrownsRealismDistrustDiscountsMiddle GroundEnergizingOptimism And Pessimism
Book:Hard Optimism: How to Succeed in a World Where Positive Wins
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“Some people learn from mistakes and don't repeat them, Others try to block the memories and just delete them. But I keep 'em as a reminder they're not killing me, And I thank God for teaching me humility. Son, remember when you fight to be free To see things how they are and not how you like em to be. Cause even when the world is falling on top of me, Pessimism is an emotion, not a philosophy. Knowing what's wrong doesn't imply that you right, And it's another when you suffer to apply it in life. But I'm no rookie... And I'm never gonna make the same mistake twice, pussy.”

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Author:Immortal Technique
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“It is a quite remarkable fact that the great religions of the most civilized peoples are more deeply fraught with sadness than the simpler beliefs of earlier societies. This certainly does not mean that the current of pessimism is eventually to submerge the other, but it proves that it does not lose ground and that it does not seem destined to disappear.”

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Book:Suicide: A Study in Sociology
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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.”

WayLifeDoneHelpingCoursesJesusNationsEasyChristCan DoCommunityOur LivesOne ThingSeriousBalanceCitizensConsciousJesus ChristOptimismPessimismCheerRelevantNaiveAvoidedOur CommunityCivicsChoresGood CheerSharing The Gospel
Author:Neal A. Maxwell
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“The very act of writing assumes, to begin with, that someone cares to hear what you have to say. It assumes that people share, that people can be reached, that people can be touched and even in some cases changed. So many of the things in our world lead us to despair. It seems to me that the final symptom of despair is silence, and that storytelling is one of the sustaining arts; it’s one of the affirming arts. A writer may have a certain pessimism in his outlook, but the very act of being a writer seems to me to be an optimistic act.”

PeopleWorldWritingMayArtSeemsCareCertainSilenceCasesShareChangedDespairAssumingFinalsStorytellingOptimisticTouchedOur WorldPessimismSymptomsOutlookSustainingAffirming
Author:Tobias Wolff
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“A few modern philosopher's assert that an individual's intelligence is a fixed quantity, a quantity which cannot be increased. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism.... With practice, training, and above all, method, we manage to increase our attention, our memory, our judgment and literally to become more intelligent than we were before.”

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Author:Alfred Binet
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“It belongs to small-mindedness to be unable to bear either honor or dishonor, either good fortune or bad, but to be filled with conceit when honored and puffed up by trifling good fortune, and to be unable to bear even the smallest dishonor and to deem any chance failure a great misfortune, and to be distressed and annonyed at everything. Moreover the small-minded man is the sort of person to call all slights an insult and dishonor, even those that are due to ignorance or forgetfulness. Small-mindedness is accompanied by pettiness, querulousness, pessimism and self-abasement.”

MenPersonsSelfChanceIgnoranceBearsHonorDifficultyFilledFortuneDuesInsultMisfortunesPessimismSmallestHonoredGood FortuneConceitCopingForgetfulnessDishonorTriflingPettinessAbasement
Author:Aristotle
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“Though I am alive now, I do not believe an old man's pessimism is nessessarily truer than a young man's optimism simply because it comes after. There are things a young man knows that are true and are not yet in the old man's power to recollect. Spring has its sappy wisdom.”

KnowsMenLifeBelieveYoungAliveSpringOptimismYoung ManOld ManPessimismI Am Alive
Book:Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father
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“Pessimism is a very easy way out because it is a short view of life. If you look at what is happening around us today, you can't help but feel that life is a terrible complexity of problems. But if you look back a few thousand years, you realize that we have advanced fantastically. If you take a long view, I do not see how you can be pessimistic about the future of mankind.”

IfsWayLifeFeelsYearsLooksLongHelpingProblemTodayLife IsEasyRealizingViewsMankindTerribleFutureThousandHappeningsComplexityPessimismThousand YearsPessimisticEasy WayFuture Of Mankind
Author:Robertson Davies
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“When the worms are scarce, what does a hen do? Does she stop scratching? She does not. She scratches all the harder. A lot of businessmen have been showing less sense than a hen since orders became scarce. They have laid off salesmen; they have stopped or reduced their advertising; they have simply resigned themselves to inaction and, of course, to pessimism. If a hen knows enough to scratch all the harder when the worms are scarce, surely businessmen ... ought to have gumption enough to scratch all the harder for business.”

IfsKnowsDoeHas BeensEnoughOrderCoursesOughtHarderPerseveranceAdvertisingPessimismBusinessmanWormsScratchesInactionScarceSalesmanResignedHensLaid OffGumption
Author:B. C. Forbes
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“The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser - in case you thought optimism was dead In fact maybe there is a lesson there for how we should approach the future...with fourteen parts optimism - anticipating what could go right and the benefits - and one part pessimism - anticipating what could go wrong so we can avoid them.”

ShouldLongFactsHalfCasesLessonsBenefitsApproachOptimismSevenAveragePessimismInchesAnticipationPencilsFourteenErasers
Author:Robert Breault
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“Without [hope and] confidence in a cause, there is no action. Ignorance may be enlightened, superstition wiped out; intolerance may become tolerant, and hate be changed into love; ideas may be quickened, intelligence widened, and men's hearts may be ennobled; but from pessimism which can see nothing but gloomy visions nothing is to be expected.”

MenHeartMayIdeasActionHateCausesVisionChangedIgnoranceExpectedEnlightenedPessimismSuperstitionsAnticipationIntoleranceGloomyWithout Hope
Author:Klas Pontus Arnoldson
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“The modern technological world appears overwhelming to many people. It drives some to pessimism and despair. It makes others doubt the future of mankind unless we retreat to simpler lives and even to the ways of our ancestors. What these people fail to realize is that we cannot go back to those ways and those days. Furthermore, for all our difficulties, life today is far better for more people and the possibilities for the future can be brighter than ever if we develop not only new knowledge, but a greater faith and confidence in the human mind and spirit.”

PeopleIfsWorldWayMindHumansTodaySpiritRealizingDoubtGreaterFailingModernMankindPossibilityDespairDifficultyHuman MindPessimismOverwhelmingAncestorTechnologicalRetreatBrighterNew KnowledgeFuture Of Mankind
Author:Glenn T. Seaborg
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“Let us never give in to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day. Do not give in to pessimism and discouragement. We have the firm certainty that the Holy Spirit gives the Church with His mighty breath, the courage to persevere and also to seek new methods of evangelization, to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth.”

GivingEndsEarthChristianSpiritChurchReligiousCourageHolyOffersDevilBreathsCatholicMethodChristian InspirationalCertaintyFirmSatanHoly SpiritBitternessPessimismPersevereGospelDiscouragementNever Give In
Author:Pope Francis
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