51 Inspirational Optimism Quotes

In a world that often feels turbulent and unpredictable, maintaining a sense of optimism can be a powerful tool for navigating life's challenges. Optimism doesn't just help brighten our outlook; it lays the foundation for resilience, creativity, and growth. Whether you're in need of a gentle nudge toward positivity or a significant mindset shift, inspirational quotes can serve as reminders of the potential that each day holds. We've curated a collection of 51 uplifting quotes to inspire optimism and encourage you to see the brighter side of life. Dive into these nuggets of wisdom and let them fuel your hope and determination.

1. “TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” - Howard Zinn

2. “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. “If you think this Universe is bad, you should see some of the others.” - Philip K. Dick

4. “Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.” - Dalai Lama XIV

5. “He caught a glimpse of that extraordinary faculty in man, that strange, altruistic, rare, and obstinate decency which will make writers or scientists maintain their truths at the risk of death. Eppur si muove, Galileo was to say; it moves all the same. They were to be in a position to burn him if he would go on with it, with his preposterous nonsense about the earth moving round the sun, but he was to continue with the sublime assertion because there was something which he valued more than himself. The Truth. To recognize and to acknowledge What Is. That was the thing which man could do, which his English could do, his beloved, his sleeping, his now defenceless English. They might be stupid, ferocious, unpolitical, almost hopeless. But here and there, oh so seldome, oh so rare, oh so glorious, there were those all the same who would face the rack, the executioner, and even utter extinction, in the cause of something greater than themselves. Truth, that strange thing, the jest of Pilate's. Many stupid young men had thought they were dying for it, and many would continue to die for it, perhaps for a thousand years. They did not have to be right about their truth, as Galileo was to be. It was enough that they, the few and martyred, should establish a greatness, a thing above the sum of all they ignorantly had.” - T.H. White

6. “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” - Arundhati Roy

7. “You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down” - Charlie Chaplin

8. “Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying “yes” begins things. Saying “yes” is how things grow. Saying “yes” leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say “yes'.” - Stephen Colbert

9. “The closed mind is a disease. You need to have an open mind; otherwise life will just pass you by.” - Danny Wallace

10. “What day is it?” asked Pooh. “It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.“My favorite day,” said Pooh.” - A.A. Milne

11. “By four o'clock, I've discounted suicide in favor of killing everyone else in the entire world instead.” - Warren Ellis

12. “One cannot be pessimistic about the West. This is the native home of hope. When it fully learns that cooperation, not rugged individualism, is the quality that most characterizes and preserves it, then it will have achieved itself and outlived its origins. Then it has a chance to create a society to match its scenery.” - Wallace Stegner

13. “I would like [my readers] to better understand human beings and human life as a result of having read [my] stories. I'd like them to feel that this was an experience that made things better for them and an experience that gave them hope. I think that the kind of things that we talk about at this conference -- fantasy very much so, science fiction, and even horror -- the message that we're sending is the reverse of the message sent by what is called "realistic fiction." (I happen to think that realistic fiction is not, in fact, realistic, but that's a side issue.) And what we are saying is that it doesn't have to be like this: things can be different. Our society can be changed. Maybe it's worse, maybe it's better. Maybe it's a higher civilization, maybe it's a barbaric civilization. But it doesn't have to be the way it is now. Things can change. And we're also saying things can change for you in your life. Look at the difference between Severian the apprentice and Severian the Autarch [in The Book of the New Sun], for example. The difference beteween Silk as an augur and Silk as calde [in The Book of the Long Sun]. You see?We don't always have to be this. There can be something else. We can stop doing the thing that we're doing. Moms Mabley had a great line in some movie or other -- she said, "You keep on doing what you been doing and you're gonna keep on gettin' what you been gettin'." And we don't have to keep on doing what we've been doing. We can do something else if we don't like what we're gettin'. I think a lot of the purpose of fiction ought to be to tell people that.” - Gene Wolfe

14. “Well, you can go on looking forward," said Gandalf. "There may be many unexpected feasts ahead of you.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

15. “If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?” - Voltaire

16. “Negativity is often looked upon [in the USA] as a kind of thought crime. Not since the advent of socialist realism has the world witnessed such pathological upbeatness.” - Terry Eagleton

17. “Being an idealist is not being a simpleton; without idealists there would be no optimism and without optimism there would be no courage to achieve advances that so-called realists would have you believe could never come to fruition.” - Alisa Dana Steinberg

18. “In the middle of the night, things well up from the past that are not always cause for rejoicing--the unsolved, the painful encounters, the mistakes, the reasons for shame or woe. But all, good or bad, give me food for thought, food to grow on.” - May Sarton

19. “I see the glass half full and thank God for what I have.” - Ana Monnar

20. “Just when normal life felt almost possible - when the world held some kind of order, meaning, even loveliness (the prismatic spray of light through an icicle; the stillness of a sunrise), some small thing would go awry and the veil of optimism was torn away, the barren world revealed. They learned, somehow, to wait those times out. There was no cure, no answer, no reparation.” - David Wroblewski

21. “When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: if you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse.” - Martin Keogh

22. “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.” - Charlaine Harris

23. “Promise YourselfTo be so strong that nothingcan disturb your peace of mind.To talk health, happiness, and prosperityto every person you meet.To make all your friends feelthat there is something in themTo look at the sunny side of everythingand make your optimism come true.To think only the best, to work only for the best,and to expect only the best.To be just as enthusiastic about the success of othersas you are about your own.To forget the mistakes of the pastand press on to the greater achievements of the future.To wear a cheerful countenance at all timesand give every living creature you meet a smile.To give so much time to the improvement of yourselfthat you have no time to criticize others.To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,not in loud words but great deeds.To live in faith that the whole world is on your sideso long as you are true to the best that is in you.” - Christian D. Larson

24. “An optimist is a man who has never had much experience.” - Don Marquis

25. “Optimism is denial for chumps with no life experience"."What's pessimism?" I said."Religion without God.” - Jonathan Kellerman

26. “Pessimism never won any battle.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower

27. “Be happy -- if you're not even happy, what's so good about surviving?” - Tom Stoppard

28. “I write about adversity, I praise adversity, not to be pessimistic, but rather to strengthen myself. The more familiar that you are with it, the less likely you are to have a breakdown when it occurs. You become more reflective of its purpose, you understand God's reason for it, and are then able to make the best of everything that you are handed. The darkness is only frightening after constant sunshine.” - Criss Jami

29. “And you? Did you find the doorknob?”Hadrian picked up a jug and downed several swallows, drinking so quickly some of the water dripped down his chin. He poured some in his palm and rinsed his face, running his fingers through his hair.“I didn’t even get close enough to see a door.”“Well, look on the bright side”—Hadrian smiled—“at least you weren’t captured and condemned to death this time.”“That’s the bright side?”“What can I say? I’m a glass-half-full kinda guy.” - Michael J. Sullivan

30. “I like to see the glass as half full, hopefully of jack daniels.” - Darynda Jones

31. “You can't make yourself feel positive, but you can choose how to act, and if you choose right, it builds your confidence.” - Julien Smith

32. “We all have our alloted portions of black and white paint; how we lay it on is a question of temperament.” - Ewart Grogan

33. “And sometimes, just sometimes,out of every hundred; you are shinningon the inside. Sometimessometimes, on the same day,universe decides to reflect you on theoutside, it decides to shine too ,Soyou put a smile on your face, take awalk and watch it sharing yourhappiness, sharing your light ,breathit all in, take your boost and let theworld lift you up till you actuallybelieve that it has your back ,take thegift and take your credit, even if it'snot your wings, cause this universeonly reflects back, it gifts back, it'sfair but it isn't an initiator. Andmaybe, just maybe if you believe in it,it will believe in you too, maybe thenwhen it's raining on you, when it's toodark, when rock bottom gives you aconcussion, you will look up withfaith, and out of all the thingsshowering on your head, you will findyour favorite one, you will be giftedwith stars,ones that can reflect on your inside,ones that can light you up back” - Mennah al refaey

34. “I discovered very quickly that criticism is a form of optimism, and that when you are silent about the shortcomings of your society, you're very pessimistic about that society. And it's only when you speak truthfully about it that you show your faith in that society.” - Carlos Fuentes

35. “I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it.” - Emma Goldman

36. “I might walk vast expansesof earth and always be beginningand I love beginningor could learnto love it.” - S. Jane Sloat

37. “Appreciate every little beautiful moment in every day of your life. Give it a try and you'll see the world from another perspective.” - Thea Kristine May

38. “Let me tell you something: when you dance, you are the greatest dancer who has ever lived. And when you sing, you will have the courage to raise your voice to the heavens, knowing that you may never get an answer.” - Emma Forrest

39. “I still think sincere pessimism the unpardonable sin.” - G.K. Chesterton

40. “Optimism: That effervescent, blindingly- bright, perky, chipper, twittering quality you want to squash out of annoying people.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

41. “Real optimism is aware of problems but recognizes the solutions, knows about difficulties, but believes they can be overcome, sees the negatives but accentuates the positives, is exposed to the worst but exceeds the best, has reason to complain but chooses to smile.” - William A Warden

42. “Real optimism is not the pep talk you give yourself. It is earned through the labor involved in emotional housekeeping.” - Augusten Burroughs

43. “When our hopes for performance are not completely met, realistic optimism involves accepting what cannot now be changed, rather than condemning or second-guessing ourselves. Focusing on the successful aspects of performance (even when the success is modest) promotes positive affect, reduces self-doubt, and helps to maintain motivation (e.g., McFarland & Ross, 1982).... Nevertheless, realistic optimism does not include or imply expectations that things will improve on their own. Wishful thinking of this sort typically has no reliable supporting evidence. Instead, the opportunity-seeking component of realistic optimism motivates efforts to improve future performances on the basis of what has been learned from past performances.” - Sandra L. Schneider

44. “I've never been more hopeful about our future. I have never been more hopeful about America. And I ask you to sustain that hope. I'm not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. I'm not talking about the wishful idealism that allows us to just sit on the sidelines or shirk from a fight. I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.” - Barack Obama

45. “And the candle by the light of which she had been reading that book filled with anxieties, deceptions, grief and evil, flared up brighter than ever, lit up for her all that had once been darkness, sputtered, grew dim and went out for ever.” - Leo Tolstoy

46. “The disciplines of physical exercise, meditation and study aren't terribly esoteric. The means to attain a capability far beyond that of the so-called ordinary person are within the reach of everyone, if their desire and their will are strong enough. I have studied science, art, religion and a hundred different philosophies. Anyone could do as much. By applying what you learn and ordering your thoughts in an intelligent manner it is possible to accomplish almost anything. Possible for an 'ordinary person.' There's a notion I'd like to see buried: the ordinary person. Ridiculous. There is no ordinary person.” - Alan Moore

47. “Alongside the practical thought something else struggled and, like an escaped butterfly, took wing: the assurance of something wonderful awaiting her. Just around the corner......” - Norah Lofts

48. “They've been stepping on my toes for years. It's just a reason to get new boots.” - Steven Tyler

49. “Be warned - Hammond does tend to be a bit optimistic about these kind of things. If the army were made up of one-legged mutes, he would praise their balance and their listening skills.” - Brandon Sanderson

50. “He found that the business of optimism was no mean task.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

51. “Lighten up.” I yawned, pointing across the street to the diner. “If I got upset every time someone beat me, or chased me, or tried to rape me, I’d be crying in my cereal every morning. No one likes a whiner.” - Mary Calmes