Pessimism Quotes

Quotes tagged as "pessimism" Showing 1-30 of 968
Oscar Wilde
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan
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Alphonse Karr
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.”
Alphonse Karr, A Tour Round My Garden
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James Branch Cabell
“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.”
James Branch Cabell, The Silver Stallion
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Charlie Chaplin
“You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down”
Charlie Chaplin
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Antonio Gramsci
“I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.”
Antonio Gramsci, Antonio Gramsci: Prison Letters
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Arthur Schopenhauer
Der Mensch kann tun was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will.

Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills.”
Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms
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Charles Bukowski
“I wish to weep
but sorrow is
stupid.
I wish to believe
but belief is a
graveyard.”
Charles Bukowski, What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
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George Bernard Shaw
“A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it.”
George Bernard Shaw
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Philip K. Dick
“If you think this Universe is bad, you should see some of the others.”
Philip K. Dick
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Sarah Dessen
“If you expect the worst, you'll never be disappointed.”
Sarah Dessen, Lock and Key
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Arthur Schopenhauer
“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?”
Arthur Schopenhauer, Studies in Pessimism: The Essays
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Chuck Palahniuk
“What people forget is a journey to nowhere starts with a single step, too.”
Chuck Palahniuk, Survivor
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P.G. Wodehouse
“I'm not absolutely certain of the facts, but I rather fancy it's Shakespeare who says that it's always just when a fellow is feeling particularly braced with things in general that Fate sneaks up behind him with the bit of lead piping.”
P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest
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Thomas L. Friedman
“Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists.”
Thomas Friedman
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W.B. Yeats
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
William Butler Yeats, The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Ted Dekker
“The world’s bumper sticker reads: Life sucks, and then you die. Perhaps Christian bumper stickers should read: Life sucks, but then you find hope and you can’t wait to die.”
Ted Dekker, The Slumber of Christianity: Awakening a Passion for Heaven on Earth
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Chuck Palahniuk
“You know how both life and porno movies end. The only difference is life starts with the orgasm.”
Chuck Palahniuk
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Mark Twain
“The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it he knows too little.”
Mark Twain
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Jeffrey R. Holland
“No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse. (Apr 2007 Gen Conf)”
Jeffrey R. Holland
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Robert Lynn Asprin
“When things are at their blackest, I say to myself, 'Cheer up, things could be worse.' And sure enough, they get worse.”
Robert Asprin, editor
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W.B. Yeats
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
William Butler Yeats, The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
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Joyce Carol Oates
“Keep a light, hopeful heart. But ­expect the worst.”
Joyce Carol Oates
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Raymond Carver
“This is awful. I don't know what's going to happen to me or to anyone else in the world.”
Raymond Carver, Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories
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Tamar Myers
“I will be the first to admit that I am a pessimist by nature. It is, after all, the wisest way to be. We pessimists have everything to gain, whereas optimists have a fifty-fifty chance of being disappointed.”
Tamar Myers, As the World Churns
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Kim Young-ha
“Sometimes fiction is more easily understood than true events. Reality is often pathetic.”
Young-ha Kim, I Have The Right To Destroy Myself
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Gillian Flynn
“It had gotten to the point where it seemed like nothing matters, because I’m not a real person and neither is anyone else.”
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
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John Corey Whaley
“I can't seem to be a pessimist long enough to overlook the possibility of things being overwhelmingly good.”
John Corey Whaley, Where Things Come Back
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Criss Jami
“Seeing the glass as half empty is more positive than seeing it as half full. Through such a lens the only choice is to pour more. That is righteous pessimism.”
Criss Jami, Killosophy
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