Variant: Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.
“Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute.”
Quoted in Women Know Everything!: 3,241 Quips, Quotes, and Brilliant Remarks By Karen Weekes, p. 41
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Gladys Bronwyn Stern 5
British writer 1890–1973Related quotes
“To the optimist, pessimists are neurotic; to the pessimist, optimists are deluded.”
Humor in Psychotherapy (2007)
Epilogue, p. 242
Out of My Life and Thought : An Autobiography (1933)
“The optimist sees the donut, the pessimist sees the hole.”
“A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping-stone to the optimist.”
“I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.”
Letter from Prison (19 December 1929); also attributed to Romain Rolland.
Source: Gramsci's Prison Letters
“Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.”
Source: Reflections