“I find the audiences very excited. But then they come and say to me, "Your optimism has brushed off on me. I didn't know we had an option. I feel so much better." They say, "Your optimism." And I am not optimistic or pessimistic. I feel that optimism and pessimism are very unbalanced. I am a very hard engineer.”

—  Buckminster Fuller

From 1980s onwards, Only Integrity is Going to Count (1983)
Context: I find the audiences very excited. But then they come and say to me, "Your optimism has brushed off on me. I didn't know we had an option. I feel so much better." They say, "Your optimism." And I am not optimistic or pessimistic. I feel that optimism and pessimism are very unbalanced. I am a very hard engineer. I am a mechanic. I am a sailor. I am an air pilot. I don't tell people I can get you across the ocean with my ship unless I know what I'm talking about.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I find the audiences very excited. But then they come and say to me, "Your optimism has brushed off on me. I didn't kno…" by Buckminster Fuller?
Buckminster Fuller photo
Buckminster Fuller 171
American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inv… 1895–1983

Related quotes

Kamila Shamsie photo

“I tend to be an optimist about human nature but a political pessimist…I think we’re living in very, very scary times and we have to find ways of looking squarely at it and finding reasons for optimism.”

Kamila Shamsie (1973) Pakistani writer

Source: On balancing pessimism and optimism in “Kamila Shamsie: 'We have to find reasons for optimism’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/08/kamila-shamsie-we-have-to-find-reasons-for-optimism-home-fire in The Guardian (2018 Jun 8)

“I can't understand how anyone is able to paint without optimism. Despite the general pessimistic attitude in the world today, I am nothing but an optimist.”

Hans Hofmann (1880–1966) American artist

As quoted in The Artist's Voice : Talks With Seventeen Modern Artists (1962) by Katharine Kuh, p. 119
1960s

Henryk Sienkiewicz photo

“Do not be afraid, Leon, — I feel much better; but in case anything should happen to me I wanted to leave you something to remember me by. Perhaps I ought not to say it so soon after my husband's death; but as I might die, I wanted to tell you now that I loved you very, very much.”

Henryk Sienkiewicz book Without Dogma

Anelia, to Leon, 21 November
Without Dogma (1891)

Madeline Kahn photo

“I can't even really tell a joke. I find being funny very hard work. I am always asked about it and I feel guilty saying that, but it's the truth. I love my work but it ain't easy.”

Madeline Kahn (1942–1999) American actress

Michael Specter, (April 8, 1993) "At Home With: Madeline Kahn; Funny? Yes, but Someone's Got to Be" http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7D9153DF93BA35757C0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1, The New York Times, The New York Times Company

Ray Bradbury photo

“I don’t believe in optimism. I believe in optimal behavior. That’s a different thing.”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

The Paris Review interview (2010)

Nicholas Sparks photo

“I wish I had the talent to paint the way I feel about you, for my words always feel inadequate. I imagine using red for your passion and pale blue for your kindness; forest green to reflect the depth of your empathy and bright yellow for your unflagging optimism. And still I wonder: can even an artist's palette capture the full range of what you mean to me?”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

Ira Levinson, Chapter 28, p. 326-327
2009, The Longest Ride (2013)

Muhyiddin Yassin photo

“I have to speak out because I am very much a part of the party hierarchy. And I have received tremendous response from the grassroots who feel that I am saying something right.”

Muhyiddin Yassin (1947) Home Affairs Minister of Malaysia

Quote

Anna Sui photo

“I'm always about optimism and exuberance. It's what I feel about fashion.”

Anna Sui (1964) American fashion designer

via Borrelli-Persson, Laird. Spring 2010 Ready-to-Wear. Vogue (September 16, 2009). http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2010-ready-to-wear/anna-sui

Abbas Kiarostami photo

“Believe me, I am still very surprised that I managed to make that film [Close-Up]. When I actually look back on that film, I really feel that I was not the director but instead just a member of the audience. Because the film made itself, to a large extent. The characters involved were very real, I wasn't directing the actors so much as being directed by them. So it was a very particular film.”

Abbas Kiarostami (1940–2016) Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/apr/28/hayfilmfestival2005.guardianhayfestival

Related topics