We are never present with, but always beyond ourselves; fear, desire, hope, still push us on toward the future.
The pessimism of the intellect is the starting point for struggle. It's not the end point, it's the starting point. You have to make something critical to make it meaningful, to make it transformative.
Pessimism never won any battle.
Pessimism is an emotion not a philosophy.
Both hope and pessimism are deeply contagious. And no one is more infectious than a leader.
I found, when I left, that there were others who felt the same way. We'd meet, they'd come and seek me out, we'd talk about the future. And I found that their depression and pessimism was every bit as acute as mine.
It is important to possess a short-term pessimism and a long-term optimism.
To be a prophet it is sufficient to be a pessimist.
I really like dark music and darkness in general and cynicism and pessimism and negativity because it allows you to create an even bigger contrast.
The entire concept of pessimism crumbles the moment one human being puts aside thoughts of self and reaches out to another to minister to her suffering. The experience of either person can neither be denied nor adequately explained by a negative philosophy.
Expect the worst, and you won't be disappointed.
In optimism there is magic. In pessimism there is nothing.
Depression is not generalized pessimism, but pessimism specific to the effects of one's own skilled action.
Success requires enough optimism to provide hope and enough pessimism to prevent complacency.
The official strategy is defensive pessimism, always.
It is wisdom in prosperity, when all is as thou wouldn't have it, to fear and suspect the worst.
I don't think you lead by pessimism and cynicism. I think you lead by optimism and enthusiasm and energy.
The pessimism that protests and defends itself cannot be truly said to be pessimism.
. . . we should all fortify ourselves against the dark hours of depression by cultivating a deep distrust of the certainties of despair. Despair is relentless in the certainties of its pessimism. But we have seen again and again, from our own experience and others', that absolute statements of hopelessness that we make in the dark are notoriously unreliable. Our dark certainties are not sureties.
This actual world of what is knowable, in which we are and which is in us, remains both the material and the limit of our consideration.