Introduction, p. 1.
The Best of All Possible Worlds (2006)
“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.
Irving Caesar (1895–1996) American composer and lyricist
This is actually James Branch Cabell from The Silver Stallion (1926)
Misattributed
James Branch Cabell (1879–1958) American author
Coth, in Book Four : Coth at Porutsa, Ch. XXVI : The Realist in Defeat
Source: The Silver Stallion (1926)
Context: Yet creeds mean very little... The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. So I elect for neither label.
“I'm a pessimist about probabilities, I'm an optimist about possibilities.”
Lewis Mumford (1895–1990) American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic
As quoted in "Lewis Mumford Remembers" by Carey Winfrey in The New York Times (6 July 1977)
“To the optimist, pessimists are neurotic; to the pessimist, optimists are deluded.”
David H. Levy (1948) Canadian astronomer
Humor in Psychotherapy (2007)
“Optimists and pessimists differ only on the date of the end of the world.”
Stanisław Jerzy Lec book Unkempt Thoughts
p, 125
Unkempt Thoughts (1957)
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
Robert Anton Wilson (1932–2007) American author and polymath
Source: Cosmic Trigger: Die letzten Geheimnisse der Illuminaten oder An den Grenzen des erweiterten Bewusstseins
