#pessimism

The optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist knows it. ↗

— Julius Robert Oppenheimer

#pessimism #pessimism

I particularly scorn my fondness for paradox. I despise pessimism, narcissism, solipsism, truculence, word-play, and pusillanimity, my chiefer inclinations; loathe self-loathers ergo me; have no pity for self-pity and so am free of that sweet baseness. I doubt I am. Being me’s no joke. ↗

— John Barth

#paradox #pessimism

But suspense presupposes uncertainty. No matter how nightmarish the situation, real suspense is impossible when we know in advance that the protagonist will prevail (as we would if Woolrich had used series characters) or will be destroyed. This is why, despite his congenital pessimism, Woolrich manages any number of times to squeeze out an upbeat resolution. Precisely because we can never know whether a particular novel or story will be light or dark, allegre or noir, his work remains hauntingly suspenseful. ("Introduction") ↗

— Francis M. Nevins

#noir #noir-fiction #suspense #pessimism

Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists. ↗

— Thomas L. Friedman

#optimism #pessimism #change

‎I was cursed with the pessimism of both the Russians and the Jews two of the gloomiest tribes in the world. Still if there wasn't greatness in me maybe I had the talent to recognize it in others even in the most irritating others. ↗

— David Benioff

#history #inspirational #jewish #jews #pessimism

You better watch out, or you're going to be defeated by pessimism! ↗

— Matthew Quick

#pessimism #inspirational

If life is a punishment, one should wish for an end; if life is a test, one should wish it to be short. ↗

— Bernardin de Saint-Pierre

#life #paul-and-virginie #paul-et-virginie #pessimism #pessimistic

Fuck you! I hope you die!" "Everybody Dies," I said. "So fuck you. ↗

— Lawrence Block

#pessimism #truth #death

Death, my son, is a good thing for all men; it is the night for this worried day that we call life. It is in the sleep of death that finds rest for eternity the sickness, pain, desperation, and the fears that agitate, without end, we unhappy living souls. ↗

— Bernardin de Saint-Pierre

#death #desperation #french-literature #life #paul-et-virginie

Our experience of the governments of the world, our knowledge of the weapons at their disposal, and our awareness of our own limitations justify pessimism. But some mysterious factor deep in the human psyche has produced a countervailing conviction that educating, organizing, uniting, and acting will make a difference. ↗

— David T. Dellinger

#pessimism #political #resistance #education