CURATED COLLECTION

Staying Optimistic

Optimism is not stupidity — it is the disciplined choice to believe that things can be made better.

50 quotes found

“
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

—Eleanor RooseveltDiplomat & Activist

Post-War ERA • North America

“
I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are truly good.

—Anne FrankScholar & Thinker

Early Modern ERA • Western Europe

“
Hope is not the conviction that things will go well, but that they are worth doing.

—Václav HavelPlaywright, Essayist & President

Late Modern ERA • Eastern Europe

“
You have to believe that you’ll be okay. Because you will.

—Hanya YanagiharaNovelist & Editor

Digital Age ERA • North America

“
It is in collectivities that we find reservoirs of hope and optimism.

—Angela DavisActivist & Philosopher

Digital Age ERA • North America

“
We have on this earth what makes life worth living.

—Mahmoud DarwishPoet

Late Modern ERA • MENA

“
Pessimism is a luxury in good times. In hard times, it's a self‑fulfilling prophecy.

—Bill GatesEntrepreneur & Philanthropist

Digital Age ERA • North America

“
Far better it is to have a stout heart and a poor hope than none at all.

—HerodotusHistorian

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
We must never give up on our dreams for a more peaceful, just world.

—Ban Ki-moonDiplomat & General

Digital Age ERA • East Asia

“
So often in life, things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great good fortune.

—Ruth Bader GinsburgLawyer

Digital Age ERA • North America

“
And once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through.

—Haruki MurakamiNovelist

Contemporary ERA • East Asia

“
Meaning makes a great many things endurable – perhaps everything.

—Carl JungPsychiatrist

Post-War ERA • Western Europe

“
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

—Percy Bysshe ShelleyPoet & Thinker

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

“
Hope is the one thing that cannot be taken from us.

—Nadezhda MandelstamMemoirist

Post-War ERA • Eastern Europe

“
If you believe you can destroy, believe you can repair.

—Nachman of BreslovMystic

Industrial Age ERA • Eastern Europe

“
Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.

—Anne FrankScholar & Thinker

Early Modern ERA • Western Europe

“
A man is made for happiness like a bird is made for flying.

—Mikhail SholokhovNovelist

Post-War ERA • Eastern Europe

“
Hope is the only good god remaining among mankind.

—Theognis of MegaraElegiac Poet

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.

—Walt WhitmanPoet & Essayist

Industrial Age ERA • North America

“
Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.

—Václav HavelPlaywright, Essayist & President

Late Modern ERA • Eastern Europe

Loading more...