#optimism

The Gospel worldview equips the artist with a unique combination of optimism and realism about life. ↗

— Timothy Keller

#depravity #idealism #optimism #realism #art

What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error. ↗

— Raymond Aron

#error #intellectual #most #often #optimism

Emerson then incarnated the moral optimism, the progress, and the energy of the American spirit. ↗

— Howard Mumford Jones

#american spirit #emerson #energy #moral #optimism

There's probably a little greater case for pessimism than optimism. But I do not rule out optimism. ↗

— Jim Leach

#greater #i #i do #little #optimism

Whereas in the past optimism had been regarded as rather shallow - because 'oh well, it's just your temperament, you happen to be just a cheerful sort of person' - what I wanted to do was to establish that in fact it is the pessimists who are allowing all kinds of errors to creep into their work. ↗

— Colin Wilson

#because #been #cheerful #creep #errors

In fact no one recognizes the happiest moment of their lives as they are living it. It may well be that, in a moment of joy, one might sincerely believe that they are living that golden instant "now," even having lived such a moment before, but whatever they say, in one part of their hearts they still believe in the certainty of a happier moment to come. Because how could anyone, and particularly anyone who is still young, carry on with the belief that everything could only get worse: If a person is happy enough to think he has reached the happiest moment of his life, he will be hopeful enough to believe his future will be just as beautiful, more so. ↗

— Orhan Pamuk

#happiness #hope #joy #life #optimism

The secret idea she was forming of an afterlife gave her the foothold she needed to endure the agonies to come, a newfound courage and optimism which found instant expression through SHOPPING. ↗

— Lucy Ellmann

#shopping #courage

The only good thing about being frightened half to death, she thought, is that it makes me forget all about being seasick. ↗

— Alison Croggon

#death

I consider everything that happened to be precious moments of my life. The pain. The suffering. The fun… And I am here right now, because everyone was there for me. I couldn’t have accomplished anything by standing still, without anybody’s help. I treasure every moment I have spent here. Unlucky? I feel pretty lucky. This is my resolve.” -Sawada Tsunayoshi- ↗

— Sawada Tsunayoshi

#life #optimism #experience

Though nihilism has been relentlessly criticized for overemphasizing the dark side of human experience, it might be equally true that this overemphasis represents a needed counterbalance to shallow optimism and arrogant confidence in human power. Nihilism reminds us that we are not gods, and that despite all of the accomplishments and wonders of civilization, humans cannot alter the fact that they possess only a finite amount of mastery and control over their own destinies. ↗

— John Marmysz

#optimism #pessimism #equality