Optimism Quotes

Here are some of my favorite quotes regarding Optimism.  Do you have any good Optimism quotes to recommend?

 

“I am an optimist. It does not seem to be much use being anything else.”

~ Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister (1874-1965)

“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.”

~ Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher & naturalist

 

“…Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms-to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
~ Viktor Frankl, Neurologist and psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, from Man’s Search for Meaning (photo: Prof. Dr. Franz Vesely) 

“There’s two things that are almost always true: one is that the world keeps getting better and two is that people always think it’s getting worse.”

~ Penn Jillette, magician, juggler, comedian, musician, inventor, actor, author (photo: Gage Skidmore)

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

~ Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist (1901-1978)

"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, Actress, Comedienne, Model, Studio Executive, Producer (1911-1989

“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist fears this is true.”

~ James Branch Cabell, author (1879-1958) (photo: Carl Van Vechten)

 

“Borrow money from pessimists; they don’t expect it back.”

~ Steven Wright, Comedian (photo: 48 States)

 

“We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.”
~ Epictetus (c. 50-120) Roman Stoic philosopher, former slave & tutor of Marcus Aurelius

 

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right.”
~ Henry Ford, industrialist (1863-1947)

 

“Habits of thinking need not be forever. One of the most significant findings in psychology in the last twenty years is that individuals can choose the way they think.”
~ Martin Seligman, Psychologist and Educator, from Learned Optimism

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”
~ William Arthur Ward, “writer of inspirational maxims” [a good job if you can get it] (drawing by G. Marston, of Ernest Shackleton's last expedition to the South Pole, 1914-1917)