If you pretend to be good the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.
On Australia Day 2010 as we enter this second decade of the 21st century Australians can be optimistic about our future but we cannot afford to mistake optimism for complacency.
The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present but it is a source of inspiration of vitality and hope where others have resigned it enables a man to hold his head high to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.
My optimism is not based primarily on the successful march of democracy in recent times but rather is based on the experience of having lived in a fear society and studied the mechanics of tyranny that sustain such a society.
If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do not want to encourage blind faith.
One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Even in a gleefully negative comic there is optimism although it's slightly hidden: It comes out through a comic character's sheer tenacity. He keeps going and trying to find some sort of fulfillment regardless of his perpetual failure record. That's a form of hope a form of optimism. Really hokey I know but it's true.
The failure of national economic policy is costing us more than jobs it has begun to weaken that uniquely American spirit of risk-taking large ambition and optimism about the future. We must rally them now to bold departures that rebuild our national morale as well as our material prosperity.
Optimism is a kind of heart stimulant - the digitalis of failure.
What's great about the geek spirit is that life never seems to stop us and they never seem to kill our enthusiasm our optimism and our hunger to experience the world. We keep our sense of humor we protect our dignity we talk to our friends about the experience and then we start again fresh the very next day.
Optimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism.
Optimism is the foundation of courage.
Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress.
To me what I love about the draft is first you see the young men who are realizing their dreams that they've worked so hard for. That's a pretty cool thing. You saw the emotion from some of these guys the other day. And then the second thing is this total sense of hope and optimism. And I think that's great for everybody.
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
Through my optimism I naturally prefer and capture the beauty in life.