#pessimism

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

In my opinion it is not the writer's job to solve such problems as God, pessimism, etc; his job is merely to record who, under what conditions, said or thought what about God or pessimism. The artist is not meant to be a judge of his characters and what they say; his only job is to be an impartial witness. I heard two Russians in a muddled conversation about pessimism, a conversation that solved nothing; all I am bound to do is reproduce that conversation exactly as I heard it. Drawing conclusions is up to the jury, that is, the readers. My only job is to be talented, that is, to know how to distinguish important testimony from unimportant, to place my characters in the proper light and speak their language. ↗

— Anton Chekhov

#writing-craft #pessimism

Pessimism never won any battle. ↗

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

#battle #never #pessimism #won

In securing the future of the planet, we secure happiness for ourselves. One of the aims of the Greens is to turn around the tide of pessimism amongst the young people of the world. ↗

— Bob Brown

#amongst #around #future #greens #happiness

I don't think you lead by pessimism and cynicism. I think you lead by optimism and enthusiasm and energy. ↗

— Patricia Ireland

#energy #enthusiasm #i #i think #lead

There came an awful day when I picked up the phone and knew at once, as one does with some old friends even before they speak, that it was Edward. He sounded as if he were calling from the bottom of a well. I still thank my stars that I didn't say what I nearly said, because the good professor's phone pals were used to cheering or teasing him out of bouts of pessimism and insecurity when he would sometimes say ridiculous things like: 'I hope you don't mind being disturbed by some mere wog and upstart.' The remedy for this was not to indulge it but to reply with bracing and satirical stuff which would soon get the gurgling laugh back into his throat. But I'm glad I didn't say, 'What, Edward, splashing about again in the waters of self-pity?' because this time he was calling to tell me that he had contracted a rare strain of leukemia. Not at all untypically, he used the occasion to remind me that it was very important always to make and keep regular appointments with one’s physician. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#edward-said #friends #friendship #insecurity #leukemia