76 Optimism Quotes

Are you looking for a dose of positivity to brighten your day and inspire your journey? Optimism has the unique power to shift perspectives, uplift spirits, and foster resilience. In a world full of challenges and uncertainties, maintaining a hopeful outlook can make all the difference. That's why we've meticulously curated a selection of the top 76 optimism quotes to infuse your life with encouragement and hope. Whether you're facing tough times or simply seeking a little extra motivation, these quotes are sure to provide the boost you need. Dive in and let these nuggets of wisdom remind you of the beauty in looking on the bright side.

1. “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” - Oscar Wilde

2. “I am so far from being a pessimist...on the contrary, in spite of my scars, I am tickled to death at life.” - Eugene O'Neill

3. “Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists.” - Thomas Friedman

4. “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

5. “God surely did not create us, and cause us to live, with the sole end of wishing always to die. I believe, in my heart, we were intended to prize life and enjoy it, so long as we retain it. Existence never was originally meant to be that useless, blank, pale, slow-trailing thing it often becomes to many, and is becoming to me, among the rest.” - Charlotte Brontë

6. “Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” - Ashley Smith

7. “No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse. (Apr 2007 Gen Conf)” - Jeffrey R. Holland

8. “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.” - Alphonse Karr

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

10. “I will be the first to admit that I am a pessimist by nature. It is, after all, the wisest way to be. We pessimists have everything to gain, whereas optimists have a fifty-fifty chance of being disappointed.” - Tamar Myers

11. “We must assume every event has significance and contains a message that pertains to our questions...this especially applies to what we used to call bad things...the challenge is to find the silver lining in every event, no matter how negative.” - James Redfield

12. “A word about my personal philosophy. It is anchored in optimism. It must be, for optimism brings with it hope, a future with a purpose, and therefore, a will to fight for a better world. Without this optimism, there is no reason to carry on. If we think of the struggle as aclimb up a mountain, then we must visualize a mountain with no top. We see a top, but when we finall yreach it, the overcast rises and we find ourselves merely on a bluff. The mountain continues on up. Now we see the "real" top ahead of us, and strive for it, only to find we've reached another bluff, the top still above us. And so it goes on, interminably.Knowing that the mountain has no top, that it is a perpetual quest from plateau to plateau, the question arises, "Why the struggle, the conflict, the heartbreak, the danger, the sacrifice. Why the constant climb?" Our answer is the same as that which a real mountain climber gives when he is asked why he does what he does. "Because it's there." Because life is there ahead of you and either one tests oneself in its challenges or huddles in the valleys of a dreamless day-to-day existence whose only purpose is the preservation of a illusory security and safety. The latter is what the vast majority of people choose to do, fearing the adventure into the known. Paradocically, they give up the dream of what may lie ahead on the heighs of tomorrow for a perpetual nightmare - an endless succession of days fearing the loss of a tenuous security.” - Saul Alinsky

13. “Optimism," said Cacambo, "What is that?" "Alas!" replied Candide, "It is the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst.” - Voltaire

14. “My deepest impulses are optimistic, an attitude that seems to me as spiritually necessary and proper as it is intellectually suspect.” - Ellen Willis

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

16. “forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.and perhaps it will be pleasing to have remembered these things one day” - Virgil

17. “As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?” - Cassandra Clare

18. “I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless.” - Neal Shusterman

19. “I'm no longer quite sure what the question is, but I do know that the answer is Yes.” - Leonard Bernstein

20. “i find nothing more depressing than optimism.” - Paul Fussell

21. “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

22. “A monkey glances up and sees a banana, and that's as far as he looks. A visionary looks up and sees the moon.” - Eoin Colfer

23. “The optimist lives on the peninsula of infinite possibilities; the pessimist is stranded on the island of perpetual indecision.” - William Arthur Ward

24. “It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily."So it is.""And freezing.""Is it?""Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately.” - A.A. Milne

25. “Once time is lit, it will burn whether or not you're breathing it in. Even after smoke becomes air, there is the memory of smoke. I am seeing as if by the light of a match, a glimpse of my life and having it feel right.” - David Levithan

26. “Joy, not sorrow.Laughter, not tears.Life, not death.Love, not blame.” - Lisa Schroeder

27. “It is the possibility that keeps me going, and though you may call me a dreamer or a fool or any other thing, I believe that anything is possible.” - Nicholas Sparks

28. “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

29. “Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. It is the belief that problems can be solved, differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile. It can be blackened by fear, and superstition. By the year 2050, when the conflict began, the world had fallen upon fearful, superstitious times.” - Bernard Beckett

30. “We’ll never survive!” “Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has.” - William Goldman

31. “No man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.” - David Hume

32. “Optimism hopes for the best without any guarantee of its arriving and is often no more than whistling in the dark. Christian hope, by contrast, is faith looking ahead to the fulfillment of the promises of God, as when the Anglican burial service inters the corpse 'in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Optimism is a wish without warrant; Christian hope is a certainty, guaranteed by God himself. Optimism reflects ignorance as to whether good things will ever actually come. Christian hope expresses knowledge that every day of his life, and every moment beyond it, the believer can say with truth, on the basis of God's own commitment, that the best is yet to come.” - J. I. Packer

33. “The “Warrior Ethos” emphasizes placing the mission first, not accepting defeat, and being disciplined physically and mentally. Why? Because an American Soldier is a “guardian of freedom and the American way of life.” - Dan Smee

34. “Pessimistic" is a word for "realistic" that optimists use to make themselves feel better (about their unrealisticness).” - Claire

35. “We've got an unbeatable team."- Sauron” - Robert Lynn Asprin

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

37. “Have you noticed how nobody ever looks up? Nobody looks at chimneys, or trees against the sky, or the tops of buildings. Everybody just looks down at the pavement or their shoes. The whole world could pass them by and most people wouldn't notice.” - Julie Andrews Edwards

38. “Consider, if you will, the morning boner. What a metaphor of hope and renewal! How can anyone give way to despair when one’s groin greets each day with such a gala spectacle of physical optimism?” - C.D. Payne

39. “I was blind and heart broken and didn't want to do anything and Gus burst into my room and shouted, "I have wonderful news!" And I was like, "I don't really want to hear wonderful news right now," and Gus said, "This is wonderful news you want to hear," and I asked him, "Fine, what is it?" and he said, "You are going to live a good and long life filled with great and terrible moments that you cannot even imagine yet!” - John Green

40. “The only good thing about being frightened half to death, she thought, is that it makes me forget all about being seasick.” - Alison Croggon

41. “The march of Providence is so slow and our desires so impatient; the work of progress so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope.” - Robert E. Lee

42. “Cultivate an optimistic mind, use your imagination, always consider alternatives, and dare to believe that you can make possible what others think is impossible.” - Rodolfo Costa

43. “If happy I can be I will, if suffer I must I can.” - William Faulkner

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

45. “The mind is an intricate mechanism that can be run on the fuels of both victory and defeatism.” - Pat Conroy

46. “You know, Molly, if you can hold in your mind what you want long enough, you shall have it.” - Kent Allan Rees

47. “For you the cup isn't half full or half empty, you're always topping it up.” - Rowena Cory Daniells

48. “When the road ahead seems impossible, start the engine” - Benny Bellamacina

49. “I consider everything that happened to be precious moments of my life.The pain.The suffering.The fun…And I am here right now, because everyone was there for me.I couldn’t have accomplished anything by standing still, without anybody’s help.I treasure every moment I have spent here.Unlucky?I feel pretty lucky.This is my resolve.”-Sawada Tsunayoshi-” - Sawada Tsunayoshi

50. “In fact no one recognizes the happiest moment of their lives as they are living it. It may well be that, in a moment of joy, one might sincerely believe that they are living that golden instant "now," even having lived such a moment before, but whatever they say, in one part of their hearts they still believe in the certainty of a happier moment to come. Because how could anyone, and particularly anyone who is still young, carry on with the belief that everything could only get worse: If a person is happy enough to think he has reached the happiest moment of his life, he will be hopeful enough to believe his future will be just as beautiful, more so.” - Orhan Pamuk

51. “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

52. “I said, 'Yes theres a lot to look a head to. Like croaking iron at Widders Dump. We do the croaking and they get the iron.'He said, 'Riddley theres other things to do as wel.'I said, 'Yes and they all smel of cow shit dont they?” - Russell Hoban

53. “Up ahead stands the fun house, which you enter through a clown’s smiling mouth.“I would kill myself if I was prisoner here,” Shelby says.“No, you wouldn’t, just out of courtesy,” I say, “because your body would be trapped in there after you die, and your friends would have to watch your corpse rot.”“Hmm,” Shelby says. “Smell it too.”“Well, now we’re looking on the bright side,” Packard says.” - Carolyn Crane

54. “Write it on your heartthat every day is the best day in the year.He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the daywho allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety. Finish every day and be done with it.You have done what you could.Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;begin it well and serenely, with too high a spiritto be cumbered with your old nonsense. This new day is too dear,with its hopes and invitations,to waste a moment on the yesterdays.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

55. “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

56. “Sure my rose-colored glasses don't let me see the world for what it is NOW but what they allow is the chance to see what the world would look like if people cared enough to plant more roses” - Matthew Goldfinger

57. “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

58. “The library refused many downloads, of course, but I succeeded with two Optimists translated from the Late English, Orwell and Huxley;” - David Mitchell

59. “Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.” - Idries Shah

60. “The reason why we believe that change is possible is not because we are idealists but because we believe we have made it, so other people can make it as well.” - Romeo Dallaire

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

62. “I have more enemies than I deserve," I said. "I am fighting a losing battle, me against the world. The next century is at stake. Time is running out and my optimism is sorely strained.""Yeah?" he said. "I was young once too.” - Felix Gilman

63. “Feeling lost, crazy and desperate belongs to a good life as much as optimism, certainty and reason.” - Alain De Botton

64. “But hey, what's life without a little adversity?"That had to have been the fakest attempt at optimism since my fourth grade teacher tried reasoning that we were better off without the dead kids in our class because it'd mean more turns on the playground swings for the rest of us.” - Alexandra Bracken

65. “In my ninety-plus years, I have learned a secret. I have learned that when good men and good women face challenges with optimism, things will always work out! Truly, things always work out! Despite how difficult circumstances may look at the moment, those who have faith and move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out.” - Gordon B. Hinckley

66. “If we define optimism broadly as the tendency to maintain a positive outlook, then realistic optimism is the tendency to maintain a positive outlook within the constraints of the available "measurable phenomena situated in the physical and social world" (DeGrandpre, 2000, p. 733). With respect to fuzzy meaning, realistic optimism involves enhancing and focusing on the favorable aspects of our experiences. Examples include being lenient in our evaluation of past events, actively appreciating the positive aspects of our current situation, and routinely emphasizing possible opportunities for the future. With respect to fuzzy knowledge, realistic optimism involves hoping, aspiring, and searching for positive experiences while acknowledging what we do not know and accepting what we cannot know.” - Sandra L. Schneider

67. “Disappointment is really just a term for our refusal to look on the bright side.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

68. “To make the world a better place, see the world as a better place.” - Alan Cohen

69. “Not all that have fallen are vanquished.” - J. R. R. Tolkien

70. “Optimists are usually inexperienced.” - Wayne Gerard Trotman

71. “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

72. “When life gives you lemons, you don't make lemonade. You use the seeds to plant a whole orchard - an entire franchise! Or you could just stay on the Destiny Bus and drink lemonade someone else has made, from a can.” - Anthon St. Maarten

73. “Critical pessimists, such as media critics Mark Crispin Miller, Noam Chomsky, and Robert McChesney, focus primarily on the obstacles to achieving a more democratic society. In the process, they often exaggerate the power of big media in order to frighten readers into taking action. I don't disagree with their concern about media concentration, but the way they frame the debate is self-defeating insofar as it disempowers consumers even as it seeks to mobilize them. Far too much media reform rhetoric rests on melodramatic discourse about victimization and vulnerability, seduction and manipulation, "propaganda machines" and "weapons of mass deception". Again and again, this version of the media reform movement has ignored the complexity of the public's relationship to popular culture and sided with those opposed to a more diverse and participatory culture. The politics of critical utopianism is founded on a notion of empowerment; the politics of critical pessimism on a politics of victimization. One focuses on what we are doing with media, and the other on what media is doing to us. As with previous revolutions, the media reform movement is gaining momentum at a time when people are starting to feel more empowered, not when they are at their weakest.” - Henry Jenkins

74. “Are you an optimist or a pessimist?" "I can't remember. Which?" "Do you know what those words mean?" "Not really." "An optimist is positive and hopeful. A pessimist is negative and cynical." "I'm an optimist." "Well, that's good, because there’s no irrefutable evidence. There’s nothing that could convince someone who doesn’t want to be convinced. But there is an abundance of clues that would give the wanting believer something to hold on to.” - Jonathan Safran Foer

75. “I am, and always will be, the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes, and the dreamer of improbable dreams.” - Eleventh Doctor

76. “You have this ability to find beauty in weird places.” - Kamila Shamsie