Feelin' Good
Optimism is a way of viewing the world that is positive, hopeful, and open. There are many quotations on optimism that are inspirational and enlightening. Hope is somewhat less-assertive and features less personal agency if you will. For example, an optimistic person will be positively expectant about future events, the world in general, and the self; they basically see the “glass as half-full.” Hope is similar but somewhat more passive; for example, hope that one lives when battling a terminal illness, or hope that there is a God who looks down favorably upon oneself. These nuances are differentiated by the typical phrases we hear: “I’m optimistic I will finish the marathon because I have trained a lot and I feel good” vs. “I hope the plane that went down was not the one John was on!” In nonverbal terms, optimism is cracking one’s knuckles, and hope is putting one’s hands together to pray. This blog presents a bit of background and many interesting quotes about the subject.
The things Values of the Wise really brings to the table, so to speak, are quotes, proverbs, and song lyrics that help to demonstrate a value, provide support for it, and elucidate the meaning of it. Here are some quotations on optimism that provide such insight. Enjoy! Feel free to do your own search for quotations on optimism by visiting The Wisdom Archive! You might also want to learn more about optimism from the perspective of positive psychology here. Below, before the quotations on optimism begin, is a “mind map” of positive psychology, which has much to do with optimism. In fact, the founder of the discipline virtually coined the term learned optimism. It just doesn’t get any clearer than this: “People who have the most positive emotion, the most engagement, and the most meaning in life are the happiest, and they have the most life satisfaction.”
Everything’s okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end. ~ Carolyn Myers
No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit. ~ Helen Keller
Optimism is essential to achievement, and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress. ~ Lloyd Alexander
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
If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down. ~ Mary Pickford
Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the singing bird will come. ~ Chinese proverb
If it were not for hope the heart would break. ~ Thirteenth-century proverb
Now is the time to think like poets, to envision and make visible a new society: a peaceful, cooperative, loving world without poverty and oppression, limited only by our imaginations. ~ Robin D. G. Kelley
It’s a sad world, a very sad world; but I’m an optimist. ~ Golda Meir
Never cease to be convinced that life might be better – your own and others’. ~ Andre Gide
Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes. ~ Benjamin Disraeli
I was born in a poor family, but I had the good fortune of having a mother who gave my brother, my sister, and me hope from the very beginning. ~ Herbie Hancock
A person should always consider how much they have more than they want, and how much more unhappy they might be than they really are. ~ Joseph Addison
Everything starts with yourself — with you making up your mind about what you’re going to do with your life. I tell kids that it’s a cruel world, and that the world will bend them either left or right, and it’s up to them to decide which way to bend. ~ Tony Dorsett
More quotations on optimism and hope are available in the Wisdom Archive, always free, ceaselessly interesting.
