#mis

It is the most ambitious and driven among us who are the most sorely in need of having our reckless hopes dampened through immersive dousings in the darkness which religions have explored. This is a particular priority for secular Americans, perhaps the most anxious and disappointed people on earth, for their nation infuses them with the most extreme hopes about what they may be able to achieve in their working lives and relationships. ↗

— Alain de Botton

#americans #anxiety #atheism #disappointment #drive

Sometimes I get the feeling the whole world is against me, but deep down I know that's not true. Some smaller countries are neutral. ↗

— Robert Orben

#pessimism

When you've been struck by lightning as many times as I have, you start to expect the worst pretty much all the time. ↗

— Jennifer Bosworth

#lightning #pessimism #pessimism

But it's like no matter how much energy you pour into getting to the station on time, or getting on the right train, there's still no guarantee that anybody's gonna be there for you to pick you up when you get there. ↗

— Nancy Oliver

#friends #pessimism #rely #pessimism

Stain my eyes as I may, on all sides all is black. ↗

— Helen Hunt Jackson

#pessimism #sad #sadness #pessimism

To make the world a better place, see the world as a better place. ↗

— Alan Cohen

#visualization #visualization

People often ask, "What is the single most important environmental population problem facing the world today?" A flip answer would be, "The single most important problem is our misguided focus on identifying the single most important problem! ↗

— Jared Diamond

#error #misguidedness #population #problems #environmentalism

There is such a thing as the poetry of a mistake, and when you say, "Mistakes were made," you deprive an action of its poetry, and you sound like a weasel. ↗

— Charles Baxter

#deniability #mistakes #passive-voice #politics #villainy

Rainy, gloomy, drab, sunless day.  There are times when hope seems entirely clouded over; when looking for the blessings in your circumstances feels like trying to catch a ray of sunshine from six feet under. ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#gloom #hopelessness #misery #regret #richelle

There are people who are never content, never appeased, forever dissatisfied; who continually look to what escapes them, convincing themselves that if only they could attain that one desire outside of reach, they would be happy.  It seems almost pointless to give to these people because their eyes immediately shift from the gift to stare miserably at the portion held back.  Their wants, demands, expectations, appetites are never satiated, thus, they refuse to be happy.  And you cannot make them so. ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#greed #misery #richelle #richelle-goodrich #unappeasable