“Optimists and pessimists differ only on the date of the end of the world.”
p, 125
Unkempt Thoughts (1957)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Stanisław Jerzy Lec28
Polish writer 1909–1966Related quotes
Shimon Peres (1923–2016) Israeli politician, 8th prime minister and 9th president of Israel
As quoted in Serving "60 Years to Life", Newsweek Europe (12 December 2005)
“To the optimist, pessimists are neurotic; to the pessimist, optimists are deluded.”
David H. Levy (1948) Canadian astronomer
Humor in Psychotherapy (2007)
“Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.”
Idries Shah book Reflections
Source: Reflections
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright
Variant: Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.
Gladys Bronwyn Stern (1890–1973) British writer
Quoted in Women Know Everything!: 3,241 Quips, Quotes, and Brilliant Remarks By Karen Weekes, p. 41
“The Optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds, the Pessimist fears it is true.”
Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) American theoretical physicist and professor of physics
This is derived from a statement of James Branch Cabell, in The Silver Stallion (1926) : The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.
Misattributed
Variant: The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true.
Ivar Ekeland (1944) French mathematician
Introduction, p. 1.
The Best of All Possible Worlds (2006)
Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher
Epilogue, p. 242
Out of My Life and Thought : An Autobiography (1933)
