All Gall Is Divided (1952)
As quoted in Serving "60 Years to Life", Newsweek Europe (12 December 2005)
"Introduction"
The Defendant (1901)
Context: The pessimist is commonly spoken of as the man in revolt. He is not. Firstly, because it requires some cheerfulness to continue in revolt, and secondly, because pessimism appeals to the weaker side of everybody, and the pessimist, therefore, drives as roaring a trade as the publican. The person who is really in revolt is the optimist, who generally lives and dies in a desperate and suicidal effort to persuade all the other people how good they are. It has been proved a hundred times over that if you really wish to enrage people and make them angry, even unto death, the right way to do it is to tell them that they are all the sons of God.
“Be an optimist! It’s the only way to live.”
Source: The Heritage Universe, Summertide (1990), Chapter 13, “Summertide Minus Ten” (p. 151)
“To the optimist, pessimists are neurotic; to the pessimist, optimists are deluded.”
Humor in Psychotherapy (2007)
“A pessimist is a man who has been compelled to live with an optimist.”
The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927)
“We should always be practical, realistic and optimistic.”
Quotes on Life and its challenges, http://www.sheikhmohammed.co.ae/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ab878960a5a11310VgnVCM1000004d64a8c0RCRD&appInstanceName=default, sheikhmohammed.ae.
Variant: Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.
Source: Why Stock Markets Crash - Critical Events in Complex Systems (2003), Chapter 10, 2050: The End Of The Growth Era?, p. 390.
