Nelson Mandela - Idries Shah - Gambit 2012 - Ken Dodd - Rab C Nesbitt TV - Don Marquis - Oscar Wilde - Noam Chomsky - Harper Lee - Voltaire - Monty Python 1979 - Daniel Defoe - Lionel Tiger - Snowpiercer 2013 - Adam Curtis TV -
I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death. Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information. Idries Shah, Reflections
An optimist is simply a man who hasn’t heard the news. Gambit 2012 starring Colin Firth & Cameron Diaz & Alan Rickman & Tom Courtenay & Stanley Tucci & Cloris Leachman & Togo Igawa et al, director Michael Hoffman, sidekick
I’m an optimist. No, an optimist, love. It’s nothing to do with your eyes. Ken Dodd, on stage
I didn’t know optimism was compulsory. Rab C Nesbitt s7e5: Community, BBC 1998
An optimist is a guy
that has never had
much experience. Don Marquis, Archy and Mehitabel, 1927
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan, 1892
Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so. Noam Chomsky
Things are always better in the morning. Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
‘Optimism,’ said Cacambo, ‘What is that?’ ‘Alas!’ replied Candide, ‘It is the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst.’ Voltaire, Candide
Always look on the bright side of life. Monty Python’s Life of Brian 1979 starring Graham Chapman & John Cleese & Terry Gilliam & Eric Ide & Terry Jones & Michael Palin & Kenneth Colley & Sue Jones-Davies & Spike Milligan et al, director Terry Jones, closing song
I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I enjoyed, rather than what I wanted: and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it. Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
There is a tendency for humans consciously to see what they wish to see. They literally have difficulty seeing things with negative connotations while seeing with increasing ease items that are positive. Lionel Tiger, Optimism: The Biology of Hope
My friend, you suffer from the misplaced optimism of the doomed. Snowpiercer 2013 starring Chris Evans & Song Kang-ho & Tilda Swinton & Jamie Bell & Octavia Spencer & Ewan Bremner & John Hurt & Ed Harris & Go Ah-sung & Luke Pasqualino & Alison Pill et al, director Bong Joon-ho
And in America all optimistic visions of the future had also disappeared … and everyone became possessed by dark forebodings imagining the very worst might happen. Adam Curtis, Hypernormalisation, BBC 2016