Last Updated: October 16, 2022 by Quote.cc Team
Life isn’t always great. Things can get out of control, and problems may arise unexpectedly. You never know what the future holds; sometimes, there can be more harm than good. That’s where the optimism comes in. Optimism means realizing that no matter how bad things may turn out today, there will always be a window of opportunity tomorrow. It starts with accepting that life may not always be how you want it to be, so you need to turn the odds in your favor and keep moving forward.
Optimism is essential because it leads to more happiness, better health, and more success in general. More of the ‘good stuff.’ We believe optimism is imperative for happiness and high quality of life. No matter how challenging the day is, no matter how frustrated or stressed out we are, keeping an optimistic state of mind is non-negotiable.
Having an optimistic mindset is a trait that most successful people possess. Once you master the balance between optimism and accepting reality, you’ll have discovered how to be happy, content, and ultimately victorious.
In this article, we share 260 optimistic quotes from writers, philosophers, politicians, and many others who have had their fair share of unimaginable challenges and obstacles. However, they maintained their optimism and were able to flip the tables and become successful.
260 Optimism Quotes
Top 10 Optimism Quotes
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it — always.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“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
“There’s probably a little greater case for pessimism than optimism. But I do not rule out optimism.” – Jim Leach
“The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.” – Winston Churchill
“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 isn’t all over; everything has not been invented; the human adventure is just beginning.” – Gene Roddenberry
“I am very optimistic, and I always think positive, but within reason and never getting too far ahead of the game.” – Luis Fonsi
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” – Martin Luther
“Don’t let your failures define you—let them teach you.” – Barack Obama
“If you think this Universe is bad, you should see some of the others.” – Philip K. Dick
What is Optimism?
“Optimism. It’s not just a mind-set, it is behavior.” – Larry Elder
“Optimism,” said Cacambo, “What is that?” “Alas!” replied Candide, “It is the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst.” – Voltaire
“Optimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism.” – Twyla Tharpe
“Optimism means better than reality; pessimism means worse than reality. I’m a realist.” – Margaret Atwood
“Optimism isn’t funny unless you are laughing at the person, whereas extreme pessimism is extremely funny. It’s exaggeration.” – Steve Toltz
“Optimism isn’t a belief that things will automatically get better; it’s a conviction that we can make things better.” – Melinda Gates
“Optimism is the source of havingness.” – Meir Ezra
“Optimism is the opium of the people.” – Milan Kundera
“Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than any other.” – Brian Tracy
“Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.” – Voltaire
“Optimism is the foundation of courage.” – Nicholas M. Butler
“Optimism is the essence of every fighter; the belief that no matter what you’ll find a way to win.” – MMA
“Optimism is joyful searching; pessimism is a prison of fear and a clutching at illusionary safety.” – Kathleen A. Brehony
“Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress.” – Nicholas Murray Butler
“Optimism is a kind of heart stimulant – the digitalis of failure.” – Elbert Hubbard
“Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.” – Mary Lou Retton
“Optimism inspires, energizes, and brings out our best. It points the mind toward possibilities and helps us think creatively past problems.” – Price Pritchett
“Optimism doesn’t wait on facts. It deals with prospects.” – Norman Cousins
“Optimism doesn’t mean that you are blind to the reality of the situation. It means that you remain motivated to seek a solution to whatever problems arise.” – The Dalai Lama
“Optimism can be relearnt.” – Marian Keyes
“Optimism can be more powerful than a battery of artillery or squadron of tanks. It can be contagious and it’s necessary to being a leader.” – Sylvester Stallone
“Optimism – the doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly.” – Ambrose Pierce
Famous Optimism Quotes
“Youthful cynicism is sad to observe, because it indicates not so much knowledge learned from bitter experiences as insufficient trust even to attempt the future.” – Maya Angelou
“there’s no harm in hoping for the best as long as you’re prepared for the worst.” – Stephen King
“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
we wake up with optimism and love and say, ‘Just what is this beautiful day going to bring me?’” – Margaret Trudeau
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde
“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
“To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic.” – Albert Schweitzer
“You have to be optimistic. I still have doubts and conflicts, but the bottom line is, I believe in the future.” – Frank Gehry
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“This conviction that we can win isn’t static. It’s a flame that must be fed and tended. We tend our hope by setting boundaries about how we consume news content that makes us feel despair.” – Andre Henry
“There’s no difference between a pessimist who says, ‘It’s all over, don’t bother trying to do anything, forget about voting, it won’t make a difference,’ and an optimist who says, ‘Relax, everything is going to turn out fine.’ Either way the results are the same. Nothing gets done.” – Yvon Chouinard
“While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us.” – Benjamin Franklin
“While skepticism is healthy, cynicism, real cynicism, is toxic.” – John Oliver
“When you’re focused on finding a positive angle to challenges or looking for the bright side to life, you find yourself being more optimistic.” – Alex Uwajeh
“When you have vision it affects your attitude. Your attitude is optimistic rather than pessimistic.” – Charles R. Swindoll
we wake up with optimism and love and say, ‘Just what is this beautiful day going to bring me?’” – Margaret Trudeau
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde
“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
“To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic.” – Albert Schweitzer
“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
“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan
“Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has.” – William Goldman
“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.” – Arthur C. Clarke
“No one wants to follow a pessimist… You can be skeptical, you can be realistic, but you can’t be cynical. If your boss is Eeyore, do you want to work with someone like that? Oh, bother.” – Bob Iger
“When I look at the future, it’s so bright it burns my eyes!” – Oprah Winfrey
“What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error.” – Raymond Error
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward
“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” – Roy T. Bennett
“Does saying “things are improving” imply that everything is fine, and we should all relax and not worry? No, not at all. Is it helpful to have to choose between bad and improving? Definitely not. It’s both. It’s both bad and better. Better, and bad, at the same time. That is how we must think about the current state of the world.” – Hans Rosling
“Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us.” – Stephen Colbert
“When I look at the future, it’s so bright it burns my eyes!” – Oprah Winfrey
“What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error.” – Raymond Error
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward
“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
“I don’t think you lead by pessimism and cynicism. I think you lead by optimism and enthusiasm and energy.” – Patricia Ireland
“Being a pessimist closes the door to a learning opportunity while being an optimist opens wide the door for a better future, one of personal and professional development.” – Jeff Ribman
“Be the type of person that leaves everyone you interact with feeling energetic and optimistic.” – Anthony Pompliano
“Another way to be prepared is to think negatively. Yes, I’m a great optimist. but, when trying to make a decision, I often think of the worst case scenario. I call it ‘the eaten by wolves factor.’ If I do something, what’s the most terrible thing that could happen? Would I be eaten by wolves? One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist, is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose. There are a lot of things I don’t worry about, because I have a plan in place if they do.”
“Confidence isn’t optimism or pessimism, and it’s not a character attribute. It’s the expectation of a positive outcome.” – Rosabeth Moss Kanter
“Be fanatically positive and militantly optimistic. If something is not to your liking, change your liking.” – Rick Steves
“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” – Harry S. Truman
Short Optimism Quotes
“Be passionate, be optimistic, be grateful.” – Conor McGregor
“Comedy is acting out optimism.” – Robin Williams
“Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.” – Dalai Lama XIV
“By the darkness, stars are revealed.” – Evette Carter
“Expect the best, prepare for the worst.” – Muhammad Ali Jinnah
“Everything will fall into place, just be patient.” – Unknown
“Every sunset is an opportunity to reset.” – Richie Norton
“They can because they think they can.” – Virgil
“Tough times never last, but tough people do.” – Robert H Schuller
“You have this ability to find beauty in weird places.” – Kamila Shamsie
“The biggest emotion in creation is the bridge to optimism.” – Brian May
“The basis of optimism is sheer terror.” – Oscar Wilde
“Pessimism never won any battle.” – Dwight D. Eisenhauer
“Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.” – William James
“Perpetual Optimism is a Force Multiplier.” – Colin Powell
“Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.” – Colleen Wilcox
“You’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down.” – Charlie Chaplin
“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” – Marthe Troly-Curtin
“My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.” – Henry Rollins
“Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.” – Maya Angelou
“Maybe everyone can live beyond what they’re capable of.” – Markus Zusak
“I find nothing more depressing than optimism.” – Paul Fussell
“I see the glass half full and thank God for what I have.” – Ana Monnar
“He is a psychopath who is unnecessarily optimistic.” – Prashant Bhushan Tyagi
“Happiness depends on your mindset and attitude.” – Roy T. Bennett
“Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.” – Victor Hugo
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
“Be mindful. Be grateful. Be positive. Be true. Be kind.” – Roy T. Bennett
“A good laugh is sunshine in the house.” – William Makepeace Thackeray
“If you can’t give children optimism, then what are you doing?” – Matt Haig
“If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.” – Lucy Larcom
“I’m nothing if not optimistic about all the wrong things.” – Janci Patterson
“Be patient with yourself. Nothing in nature blooms all year.” – Unknown
“The optimism of a healthy mind is indefatigable.” – Margery Allingham
“Life doesn’t get much better than this.” – Stanford Wong
Funny Optimism Quotes
“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” – Helen Keller
“It’s amazing how a little tomorrow can make up for a whole lot of yesterday.” – John Guare
“The difference between an optimist and a pessimist? An optimist laughs to forget, but a pessimist forgets to laugh.” – Tom Bodett
“Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive.” – Hafez
“Sports uplift us. It’s celebratory, gives us optimism and joy.” – Travis Kalanick
“The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it he knows too little.” – Mark Twain
“Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but you’ve actually been planted.” – Christine Caine
“The longest way must have its close – the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe
“Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” – Alphonse Karr
“The optimist lives on the peninsula of infinite possibilities; the pessimist is stranded on the island of perpetual indecision.” – William Arthur Ward
“No Christian can be a pessimist, for Christianity is a system of radical optimism.” – William Inge
“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
“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“It’s not whether the glass is half empty or half full, but who’s pouring the water.” – Mark Cuban
“Pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; it reproduces itself by crippling our willingness to act.” – Howard Zinn
“Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward.” – Nelson Mandela
“The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser – in case you thought optimism was dead.” – Robert Brault
“Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
“The optimist looks at the horizon and sees an opportunity; the pessimist peers into the distance and fears a problem.” – William Arthur Ward
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” – Khalil Gibran
“Optimists are right. So are pessimists. It’s up to you to choose which you will be.” – Harvey Mackay
“Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists.” – Thomas L. Friedman
“Sometimes pessimism or optimism gets popular, and it’s contagious.” – Edward C. Prescott
“Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.” – Lou Holtz
“Regardless of who wins, an election should be a time for optimism and fresh approaches.” – Gary Johnson
“Reconnect to what makes you happy and brings you Joy. If there is something that used to make you happy which you have stopped doing, do it again. Seek to find deeper meaning and significance rather than living on the surface.” – Susan C. Young
“Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.” – Swami Sivananda
“Positive thinking, simply put, can be defined as the process of taking on an optimistic lens in order to manage stress in a better manner.” – Jessica Minty
“The optimist turns the impossible into the possible; the pessimist turns the possible into the impossible.” – William Arthur Ward
“I choose to feel optimistic, because I don’t think I could get out of bed if I didn’t.” – Kerry Washington
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
“What I’ve really learned over time is that optimism is a very, very important part of leadership.” – Bob Iger
“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” – Randy Pausch
“I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.” – Winston Churchill
“The optimist turns the impossible into the possible; the pessimist turns the possible into the impossible.” – William Arthur Ward
“An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while the pessimist sees only the red stoplight. The truly wise person is colorblind.” – Albert Schweitzer
“Be an optimist. Thinking positively will surely drive stress, pressure and frustrations away.” – Melinda Bauer
“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” – Arundhati Roy
“There may be clouds in the sky, and rain may be falling, but this doesn’t mean the sun has stopped shining.” – Connor Chalfant
“And imagine acquiring a new language and only learning the words to describe a wonderful world, refusing to know the words for a bleak one and in doing so linguistically shaping the world that you inhabit.” – Rosamund Lupton
“A pessimist only sees the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides and shrugs; an optimist doesn’t see the clouds at all–he’s walking on them.” – Leonard L. Levinson
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
“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
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
“A pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant.” – Rex Stout
“A monkey glances up and sees a banana, and that’s as far as he looks. A visionary looks up and sees the moon.” – Eoin Colfer
“Even the smallest changes in our daily routine can create incredible ripple effects that expand our vision of what is possible.” – Charles F. Glassman
“I’m a bubbling brew of emotions, but mostly, I’m an optimistic person.” – Carlene Carter
“I think I am going to have to supercharge my optimism to arm myself for the battle ahead.” – Rebecca Bloom
“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
“I shield to one who is pessimistic and shield to one who is optimistic leaving this in a wandering state.” – Josh Cathey
“There are two great days in a person’s life — the day we are born and the day we discover why.” – William Barclay
“I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.” – Antonio Gramsci
Hope And Optimism Quotes
“When we remember the stories of people power overcoming oppression in the past, it serves as the grounds for hope that it can happen again. For this reason, I define hope not as a feeling but as a conviction, based on the knowledge of all the ordinary people who have won against injustice before.” – Andre Henry
“What is hope but a feeling of optimism, a thought that says things will improve, it won’t always be bleak, there’s a way to rise above the present circumstances. Hope is an internal awareness that you do not have to suffer forever and that somehow, somewhere there is a remedy for despair that you will come upon if you can only maintain this expectancy in your heart.” – Wayne W. Dyer
“What is hope but a feeling of optimism, a thought that says things will improve, it won’t always be bleak [and] there’s a way to rise above the present circumstances.” – Wayne W. Dyer
“Understanding that this is America shouldn’t evoke hopelessness. Hope and truth are connected. Hope is not naïveté. It is bearing witness to truth, still believing in better and yielding the energy to contribute to better.” – Bernice King
“True hopefulness and optimism are what leads one to dare. It is also what lifts one back up to dare again after a failed attempt.” – Bibi Bourelly
“What I am trying to cultivate is not blind optimism … but radical hope.” – Junot Diaz
“To be optimistic is to assume things will work out. To be hopeful is to realize things can work out if you work at them. Hope requires responsibility and agency; optimism relieves us of both. In rooting for your sports team, choose optimism. In rooting for democracy, choose hope.” – Eric Liu
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.” – Howard Zinn
“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” – Barack Obama
“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
“Optimism, a thought that says things will improve, it won’t always be bleak, there’s a way to rise above the present circumstances. Hope is an internal awareness that you do not have to suffer forever, and that somehow, somewhere there is a remedy for despair that you will come upon if you can only maintain this expectancy in your heart.” – Wayne W. Dyer
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, it’s unlikely you will step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope.” – Noam Chomsky
“No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.” – Dorothy Day
“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
“It is in col lec tiv i ties that we find reser voirs of hope and optimism.” – Angela Davis
“In the hour of adversity, be not without hope; for crystal rain falls from black clouds.” – Nizami
“I do have reasons for hope: our clever brains, the resilience of nature, the indomitable human spirit, and above all, the commitment of young people when they’re empowered to take action.” – Jane Goodall
“Hope will never be silent.” – Harvey Milk
“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
“Hope is contagious!” – Greta Thunberg
“Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists. Optimists think it will all be fine without our involvement; pessimists adopt the opposite position; both excuse themselves from acting.” – Rebecca Solnit
“Hope confronts. It does not ignore pain, agony, or injustice. It is not a saccharine optimism that refuses to see, face, or grapple with the wretchedness of reality. You can’t have hope without despair, because hope is a response. Hope is the active conviction that despair will never have the last word.” – Cory Booker
“History and data have convinced me that change, from the bottom up, is possible. I’m hopeful because I believe history is a story we’re writing together, not something happening to us — which means we all get a say in how the story ends.” – Andre Henry
“For me, finding hope is not some philosophical exercise or sentimental notion; it is a prerequisite for my survival.” – John Green
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” – John Lewis
“Can we overcome apathy? Yes, but only if we have hope.” – Jane Goodall
“But I do think it’s important that we stay hopeful about our capacity to overcome that bigotry. And I am persuaded that hopelessness is the enemy of justice; that if we allow ourselves to become hopeless, we become part of the problem. I think you’re either hopeful, or you’re the problem. There’s no neutral place. Injustice prevails where hopelessness persists. And if I’ve inherited anything from the generation who came before me, I have inherited their wisdom about the necessity of hope.” – Bryan Stevenson
“Being truthful about the state of our nation and world does not equal losing hope. Hope sees truth and still believes in better. That which dismisses or does not seek truth, but grins, saying “It will be okay,” is naivete, not hope.” – Bernice King
“A single individual is enough for hope to exist. And that individual can be you.” – Pope Francis
“It is the hopeful, buoyant, cheerful attitude of mind that wins. Optimism is a success builder; pessimism an achievement killer.” – Orison Swett Marden
Optimism Quotes For Work
“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
“When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world.” – Paul Hawken
“We should celebrate when optimism and hard work triumph over cynicism, lethargy, and fatalism.” – Sadiq Kahn
“Self-belief, optimism, and hard work, these things don’t guarantee to get any of us to the top, but they at least give us a fighting chance.” – Jason Ayres
“All I ask is one thing, and I’m asking this particularly of young people: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism, for the record, it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.” – Conan O’Brien
“My optimism for life carried through my work.” – John Dyer
“Motivation comes from working on things we care about.” – Sheryl Sandberg
“Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.” – Gever Tulley
“When you are asked if you can do a job, tell ’em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“It can be said of optimism that while sometimes mistaken, it is never sadly mistaken.” – Robert Breault
“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” – L.M. Montgomery
“Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.” – Roy T. Bennett
“Inspiration comes from within yourself. One has to be positive. When you’re positive, good things happen.” – Deep Roy
“I am an optimist. Anyone interested in the future has to be otherwise he would simply shoot himself.” – Arthur C. Clarke
“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
“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
“Cultivate an optimistic mind use your imagination, always consider alternatives, and dare to believe that you can make possible what others think is impossible.” – Rodolfo Costa
“All of my days are held in your hand, crafted into your perfect Plan.” – Moosa Rahat
“Above all, it’s important to be optimistic and enthusiastic when deveƒloping ourselves and those around us.” – Richard Hill
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston S. Churchill
“Be more optimistic. Pessimism is a kind of behavior that you learn . Hoping for the best and believing that everything is going to be fine in the end helps to reduce stress.” – David Brown
“A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it.” – George Bernard Shaw
“Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.” – George Bernard Shaw
“Beyond each impenetrable expanse of thundercloud obscurity reigns a boundless canopy of brilliant sapphire blue.” – Cara Fox
Optimism Quotes About Life
“Optimism is life–Pessimism, slow suicide.” – William Crosby Hunter
“Never regret a day in your life: good days give happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons, and best days give memories.” – Unknown
“No man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.” – David Hume
“It’s not that optimism solves all of life’s problems; it is just that it can sometimes make the difference between coping and collapsing.” – Lucy MacDonald
“Life has no remote….get up and change it yourself!” – Mark A. Cooper
“I think in life, you have a choice. You can either be optimistic or pessimistic, and I go for the optimism.” – Jon Anderson
“It takes no more time to see the good side of life than to see the bad.” – Jimmy Buffett
“I try to think about optimism. I try to look at the beautiful things in life.” – Dolores O’Riordan
“I guess I do have a childlike sense of fun, and although I still have my dark days, I’m generally an optimistic person. The way things have gone in my life, sure, I could have been a bitter person. But I just find bitter people really un-fun, you know? And who wants to be that person?” – Drew Barrymore
“I can’t be a pessimist because I am alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter. So, I am forced to be an optimist. I am forced to believe that we can survive, whatever we must survive.” – James Baldwin
“I am essentially optimistic. Being alive is incredible. Life is extraordinary and beautiful. It can be hard and sad and terrifying, but it’s all we’ve got.” – James Frey
“I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.” – Walt Disney
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” – Marcus Aurelius
“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” – Rabindranath Tagore
“Be Optimistic – People want to be around others who view life as a positive venture.” – Ace McCloud
“I say looking on the bright side of life never killed anybody.” – Jenny Han
“I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual” – Virginia Woolf
“Be appreciative, optimistic and positive about life.” – Maggie Thompson
“An optimist understands that life can be a bumpy road, but at least it is leading somewhere. They learn from mistakes and failures, and are not afraid to fail again.” – Harvey Mackay
“Optimism makes a life happier and meaningful.” – M.K. Soni
“Optimism, then, is a fact within my own heart. But as I look out upon life, my heart meets no contradiction. The outward world justifies my inward universe of good.” – Helen Keller
“The way you look at life can determine your success. As they say, look on the bright side. Have an optimistic attitude.” – Catherine Pulsifer
“Think about every good thing in your life right now. Free yourself of worrying. Let go of the anxiety, breathe. Stay positive, all is well.” – Germany Kent
“To find optimism, look for the good things in life.” – Catherine Pulsifer
“The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true.” – J. Robert Oppenheimer
“I am so far from being a pessimist…on the contrary, in spite of my scars, I am tickled to death at life.” – Eugene O’Neill
“I am enjoying my life because things aren’t going the way I planned.” – Rohit Pandita
“The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns. The pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.” – Khalil Gibran
“What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error.” – Raymond Error
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward
“It is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed.” – Doe Zantamata
“I have never had to face anything that could overwhelm the native optimism and stubborn perseverance I was blessed with.” – Justice Sonia Sotomayor
“In this hour, I do not believe that any darkness will endure.” – J.R.R. Tolkien (see more JRR Tolkein quotes)
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus
“If your dreams are to hard to achieve, just achieve.” – Benny Bellamacina
“I am an optimist… I choose to be. There is a lot of darkness in our world, there is a lot of pain and you can choose to see that or you can choose to see the joy. If you try to respond positively to the world, you will spend your time better.” – Tom Hiddleston
“Gratitude makes you happier and more optimistic, improving your health and relationships and boosting your overall well-being.” – Brenda Nathan
“For myself I am an optimist – it does not seem to be much use to be anything else.” – Winston S. Churchill
“A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will’s freedom after it.” – Aldous Huxley
“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
“If you care about something enough, you’ll find a way to make it happen.” – Roy T. Bennett
“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.” – Hugh Downs
“When I look at the future, it’s so bright it burns my eyes!” – Oprah Winfrey
“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” – Douglas Adams
“I don’t believe in pessimism. If something doesn’t come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it’s going to rain, it will.” – Clint Eastwood
