134 Being A Pessimist Quotes

Following is our list of being a pessimist quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about what to do if you are a pessimist.

One quote. Every morning. Free.

Join readers who start their day with a powerful quote + 3 sentences of context. Delivered to your inbox by Veselin from Quotlr.

No spam. Unsubscribe any time.

Quick Jump To

Being A Pessimist Quotes

It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right β€” Mark Twain

There are probably multiple reasons for that. It’s easier to be a pessimist than an optimist. It’s hard to guess how life is going to improve; it’s easier to extrapolate how it’s going to get worse. β€” Naval Ravikant

Darwin was not afraid to look deeply into the void. His bold view can be seen as either noble and pessimistic or noble and admirable. For people of science, he is a hero. Denying man a privileged place in creation, .. he reaffirms with his own intellectual courage the dignity of man. β€” Primo Levi

Being a pessimist quote A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.
A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

People who are optimistic see a failure as due to something that can be changed so that they can succeed next time around, while pessimists take the blame for the failure, ascribing it to some characteristic they are helpless to change. β€” Daniel Goleman

That was one of the virtues of being a pessimist: nothing was ever as bad as you thought it would be. β€” James Jones

The arms race is based on an optimistic view of technology and a pessimistic view of man. It assumes there is no limit to the ingenuity of science and no limit to the deviltry of human beings. β€” I. F. Stone

Being a pessimist quote The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjust the sa
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjust the sails.

That human life must be some kind of mistake is sufficiently proved by the simple observation that man is a compound of needs which are hard to satisfy; that their satisfaction achieves nothing but a painless condition in which he is only given over to boredom . . . β€” Arthur Schopenhauer

I'd rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right. β€” Albert Einstein

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised. β€” George Will

I can't be a pessimist, because I am alive. β€” James A. Baldwin

Pessimistic And Optimistic Quotes

Optimists and pessimists die the exact same death, but they live very different lives! β€” Shimon Peres

I am by nature an optimist and by intellectual conviction a pessimist. β€” William Golding

A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them. β€” Leonard Louis Levinson

Being a pessimist quote The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sa
The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.

Save like a pessimist and invest like an optimist. β€” Morgan Housel

Don't ever become a pessimist... a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events. β€” Robert A. Heinlein

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties. β€” Harry S. Truman

Being a pessimist quote A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks.
A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks.

Dear optimist, pessimist, and realist--while you guys were busy arguing about the glass of wine, I drank it! Sincerely, the opportunist! β€” Lori Greiner

The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose. β€” Kahlil Gibran

There's no difference between a pessimist who says, "Oh it's hopeless, so don't bother doing anything." and an optimist who says, "Don't bother doing anything, it's going to turn out fine anyways. Either way, nothing happens." β€” Yvon Chouinard

An optimist looks at a seed and sees a tree; a pessimist looks at a tree and sees a forest fire. β€” Matshona Dhliwayo

Pessimism Quotes

He who thinks the worst usually is right β€” Greek Proverbs

If you’re a pessimist, you get your feedback from other people. It’s a social act. You’re convincing other people of your pessimism. β€” Naval Ravikant

Unfortunately, pessimism is self-fulfilling. β€” Naval Ravikant

Being a pessimist quote A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping stone to the optimist.
A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping stone to the optimist.

Pessimism never won any battle. β€” Dwight D. Eisenhower

Some people see the glass half full. Others see it half empty. I see a glass that's twice as big as it needs to be. β€” George Carlin

Different day, same s***. Ain't nothing good in the hood. I'd run away from this bitch and never come back if I could. β€” 50 Cent

Being a pessimist quote I have never seen a monument erected to a pessimist.
I have never seen a monument erected to a pessimist.

Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself. β€” Golda Meir

Bull markets are born on pessimism, grown on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria. The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell. β€” John Templeton

Pessimism is an easy trap to fall into, but it implies that humans are not creative. β€” Naval Ravikant

Optimistic young adults stay healthier throughout middle age and, ultimately, live longer than pessimists. β€” Angela Duckworth

Pessimist And Optimist Quotes

Traditionalists are pessimists about the future and optimists about the past. - Lewis Mumford

Traditionalists are pessimists about the future and optimists about the past. β€” Lewis Mumford

The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists. β€” Benjamin Graham

Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole! β€” Mclandburgh Wilson

Being a pessimist quote The poor pessimist live an ugly life.
The poor pessimist live an ugly life.

Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole! β€” Oscar Wilde

If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic. β€” Hazel Henderson

Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists. β€” Thomas L. Friedman

Being a pessimist quote A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping stone to the optimist.
A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping stone to the optimist.

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

Pessimists are second rate people. They do not believe in life. ... All they want to do is drag you down and appease their own feelings of mediocrity and fear. β€” Uell Stanley Andersen

The market is a pendulum that forever swings between unsustainable optimism (which makes stocks too expensive) and unjustified pessimism (which makes them too cheap). The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists. β€” Benjamin Graham

The pessimist waits for better times, and expects to keep on waiting; the optimist goes to work with the best that is at hand now, and proceeds to create better times. β€” Christian D. Larson

I Am Not A Pessimist Quotes

I am not an optimist, because I am not sure that everything ends well. Nor am I a pessimist, because I am not sure that everything ends badly. I just carry hope in my heart. β€” Vaclav Havel

I am an anarchist in politics and an impressionist in art as well as a symbolist in literature. Not that I understand what these terms mean, but I take them to be all merely synonyms of pessimist. β€” Henry Adams

I am not a pessimist. Just a well informed optimist. β€” Antonio Gala

I am not a pessimist but a pejorist (as George Eliot said she was not an optimist but a meliorist); and that philosophy is founded on my observation of the world, not on anything so trivial and irrelevant as personal history. β€” A. E. Housman

I am not a pessimist; to perceive evil where it exists is, in my opinion, a form of optimism. β€” Roberto Rossellini

I am an optimist, unrepentant and militant. After all, in order not to be a fool an optimist must know how sad a place the world can be. It is only the pessimist who finds this out anew every day. β€” Peter Ustinov

I am constantly challenged by pessimists who insist that military solutions are the only way to go. This was true in the 1980s, and it is true today. You should know that I do not consider myself a pacifist; there are times, in my view, when military action may be necessary. β€” Oscar Arias

First, I was an idealist (that was early - fools are born, not made, you know); next I was a realist; now I am a pessimist, and, by Jove! if things get much worse I'll become a humorist. β€” Ellen Glasgow

As far as the environment is concerned, I am becoming pessimistic because I do not see anybody stepping up and taking the long view approach. It seems like we're stuck in a tragedy of the commons where everyone is trying to contribute as little as possible to get out of this situation. β€” Frans de Waal

Optimist And Pessimist Quotes

To the optimist all doors have handles and hinges; to the pessimist, all doors have locks and latches. β€” William Arthur Ward

The pessimist complains about the wind;The optimist expects it to change;And the realist adjusts the sails. β€” William Arthur Ward

Men will gather knowledge no matter what the consequences. Science will go on whether we are pessimistic or optimistic, as I am. More interesting discoveries than we can imagine will be made, and I am awaiting them, full of curiosity and enthusiasm. β€” Linus Pauling

The difference between an optimist and a pessimist? An optimist laughs to forget, but a pessimist forgets to laugh. β€” Tom Bodett

An optimist will tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and the engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be. β€” Oscar Wilde

The spirit of the gospel is optimistic; it trusts in God and looks on the bright side of things. The opposite or pessimistic spirit drags men down and away from God, looks on the dark side, murmurs, complains, and is slow to yield obedience. β€” Orson F. Whitney

A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will's freedom after it. β€” Aldous Huxley

A conservative government survives essentially by dampening expectations and subduing hopes. Conservatism is basically pessimistic, reformism is basically optimistic. β€” Gough Whitlam

An optimist is a person who sees only the lights in the picture, whereas a pessimist sees only the shadows. An idealist, however, is one who sees the light and the shadows, but in addition sees something else: the possibility of changing the picture, of making the lights prevail over the shadows. β€” Felix Adler

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties. β€” Harry S Truman

Optimism And Pessimism Quotes

I am an optimist by nature and I reserve the right to be wrong. β€” Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

Investment risk comes primarily from too high prices, and too high prices often come from excessive optimism and inadequate skepticism and risk aversion. β€” Howard S. Marks

Bull-markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria. β€” John Templeton

The pendulum of investment psychology is constantly fluctuating between optimism and pessimism, between greed and fear, between credulousness and skepticism, between risk tolerance and risk aversion. β€” Howard Marks

I don't think you lead by pessimism and cynicism. I think you lead by optimism and enthusiasm and energy. β€” Patricia Ireland

An optimist is someone who figures that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's the bluebird of happiness. β€” Robert Breault

The realist sees reality as concrete. The optimist sees reality as clay. β€” Robert Breault

The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser - in case you thought optimism was dead. β€” Robert Breault

Always look on the bright side of life. β€” Graham Chapman

If pessimism is despair, optimism is cowardice and stupidity. Is there any need to choose between them? β€” Francis Parker Yockey

Don't Be A Pessimist Quotes

I happen to be a pessimist, and maybe that's a good thing because I don't stop to smell the roses - which is not a good personal thing. I don't stop and enjoy those moments. Always on to the next and never in the moment. β€” Nicki Minaj

I think I'm a realist. Which people who don't like me consider to be pessimism. It isn't pessimism at all. If I was a pessimist I wouldn't get up, I wouldn't shave, I wouldn't watch Batman at 7:30 a.m. Pessimists just don't do that sort of thing. β€” Steven Morrissey

Do you know the difference between an optimist and a pessimist? A pessimist says β€˜Oh dear, things can’t possibly get any worse.’ And an optimist says, β€˜Don’t be so sad. Things can always get worse. β€” Steven Galloway

I try not to be too optimistic or pessimistic. If you're a pessimist then that's depressing all the time; if you're an optimist and things don't work out then that's depressing, too. β€” Nicholas Hoult

I am pessimistic about a picture's power to be the emissary of just one thing. What I hope is that the picture says, "Here I am, this is what I am like," and the person seeing the picture says in return, 'You know a lot but you don't know half of what I know.' β€” Emmet Gowin

It's easy to be pessimistic. Nobody needs to be taught how. You don't need to buy a book on it. You don't need to go to classes to learn how to be pessimistic. But you do read books on how to think positively, and people who write them become very rich because it takes effort. β€” Rush Limbaugh

To be honest I'm not going to sell dreams like everybody else does and say, "Sure, it can be changed." I don't want to seem like a pessimist, but nothing's getting better. β€” Q-Tip

I don't want to be a pessimist. I'm a realist. One man's realist is another man's pessimist. β€” Bill Maher

It's hard not to be kind of pessimistic about human beings generally, because we do tend to mess things up. If you just look at the history of extinctions, we've killed off an awful lot of animals - and I don't think we're doing a very good job of looking after the planet. β€” Bill Bryson

I don't feel that I view things with a pessimistic eye. I should try to say which way events will go rather than which way events should go. We have to be realistic. β€” Henry Kaufman

Optimists And Pessimists Quotes

We live in the best of all possible worlds β€” Gottfried Leibniz

In optimism there is magic. In pessimism there is nothing. β€” Esther Hicks

The pessimist sees only the tunnel; the optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel; the realist sees the tunnel and the light - and the next tunnel. β€” Sydney J. Harris

A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it. β€” George Bernard Shaw

When hearing a door creak, the optimist thinks it's opening and the pessimist thinks it's closing. β€” Matthieu Ricard

No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars. β€” Helen Keller

A pessimist and an optimist, so much the worse; so much the better. β€” Jean De La Fontaine

Vision involves optimism and hope. The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. The pessimist tends to hold back people of vision from pushing ahead. β€” J. Oswald Sanders

A pessimist looks at his glass and says it is half empty; an optimist looks at it and says it is half full. β€” Josiah Stamp

At the beginning of the Syrian conflict, I was optimistic. But now, I'm pessimistic, because it's so complicated. It's much worse than before. The whole world is fighting inside of Syria. It will take years and years to resolve. β€” Osama Alomar

More Being A Pessimist Quotes

It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right β€” Mark Twain

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. β€” Wallace Stegner

There are probably multiple reasons for that. It’s easier to be a pessimist than an optimist. It’s hard to guess how life is going to improve; it’s easier to extrapolate how it’s going to get worse. β€” Naval Ravikant

Darwin was not afraid to look deeply into the void. His bold view can be seen as either noble and pessimistic or noble and admirable. For people of science, he is a hero. Denying man a privileged place in creation, .. he reaffirms with his own intellectual courage the dignity of man. β€” Primo Levi

People who are optimistic see a failure as due to something that can be changed so that they can succeed next time around, while pessimists take the blame for the failure, ascribing it to some characteristic they are helpless to change. β€” Daniel Goleman

That was one of the virtues of being a pessimist: nothing was ever as bad as you thought it would be. β€” James Jones

The arms race is based on an optimistic view of technology and a pessimistic view of man. It assumes there is no limit to the ingenuity of science and no limit to the deviltry of human beings. β€” I. F. Stone

That human life must be some kind of mistake is sufficiently proved by the simple observation that man is a compound of needs which are hard to satisfy; that their satisfaction achieves nothing but a painless condition in which he is only given over to boredom . . . β€” Arthur Schopenhauer

I'd rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right. β€” Albert Einstein

Most people have desires that are great and they want to do great things, and they don't want to be negative people or they don't want to live in pessimistic attitudes, but the problem is a lot of them were not given the right tools. They were not given the right blueprint of how to build a building. β€” Kirk Franklin

For optimists, human life never needs justification, no matter how much hurt piles up, because they can always tell themselves that things will get better. For pessimists, there is no amount of happinessβ€”should such a thing as happiness even obtain for human beings except as a misconceptionβ€”that can compensate us for life’s hurt. β€” Thomas Ligotti

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised. β€” George Will

I can't be a pessimist, because I am alive. β€” James A. Baldwin

A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will's freedom after it. β€” Aldous Huxley

I happen to be a pessimist, and maybe that's a good thing because I don't stop to smell the roses - which is not a good personal thing. I don't stop and enjoy those moments. Always on to the next and never in the moment. β€” Nicki Minaj

To a profound pessimist about life, being in danger is not depressing. β€” F. Scott Fitzgerald

It is most important in creative science not to give up. If you are an optimist you will be willing to "try" more than if you are a pessimist. β€” Stanislaw Ulam

As individuals, people are inherently good. I have a somewhat more pessimistic view of people in groups. And I remain extremely concerned when I see what's happening in our country, which is in many ways the luckiest place in the world. We don't seem to be excited about making our country a better place for our kids. β€” Steve Jobs

It's interesting to feel the pressure of having to be outgoing, because I think in general, as a human being, I'm pessimistic and introverted. But, it's cool, because it's a whole different side of me, and I impress myself. Even at times when I think that there's no possible way that I can be engaging, I'll suddenly pull it out and impress myself. β€” Nate Ruess

Let's say there was no terrorism whatsoever and we were all very nice to one another and we were all kind, we still would be faced with an extremely cruel and hostile universe and existence and so I'm a great pessimist and I feel that it's impossible really to be happy, and that the best you can hope for is to be distracted. β€” Woody Allen

This is the best night of my life," Raffy says, crying. "Raffy, half our House has burnt down," I say wearily. "We don't have a kitchen." "Why do you always have to be so pessimistic?" she asks. "We can double up in our rooms and have a barbecue every night like the Cadets." Silently I vow to keep Raffy around for the rest of my life. β€” Melina Marchetta

I am an anarchist in politics and an impressionist in art as well as a symbolist in literature. Not that I understand what these terms mean, but I take them to be all merely synonyms of pessimist. β€” Henry Adams

I'm a realist all the way. I'm too cynical to be an optimist. But I've lived too much of a charmed life so far to ever be a pessimist. β€” Anthony Jeselnik

I think I'm a realist. Which people who don't like me consider to be pessimism. It isn't pessimism at all. If I was a pessimist I wouldn't get up, I wouldn't shave, I wouldn't watch Batman at 7:30 a.m. Pessimists just don't do that sort of thing. β€” Steven Morrissey

I have been judged to be a pessimist but what abyss of ignorance and low egoism is not hidden in one who thinks that Man is the god of himself and that his future can only be triumphant? β€” Eugenio Montale

No one knows enough to be a pessimist β€” Wayne Dyer

No Christian can be a pessimist, for Christianity is a system of radical optimism. β€” William Ralph Inge

Do you know the difference between an optimist and a pessimist? A pessimist says β€˜Oh dear, things can’t possibly get any worse.’ And an optimist says, β€˜Don’t be so sad. Things can always get worse. β€” Steven Galloway

You have the freedom to choose to be optimistic or pessimistic. You can peel off your old attitude like a suit of clothes, and put on a brand spanking new attitude every single day. It's as simple as that. β€” Rhonda Byrne

The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life. If it be true that optimism compels the world forward, and pessimism retards it, then it is dangerous to propagate a pessimistic philosophy. β€” Helen Keller

Developing a cheerful disposition can permit an atmosphere wherein one's spirit can be nurtured and encouraged to blossom and bear fruit. Being pessimistic and negative about our experiences will not enhance the quality of our lives. A determination to be of good cheer can help us and those around us to enjoy life more fully. β€” Barbara W. Winder

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

You know, you have to be an optimist, a pessimist, sarcastic and pleasant all at the same time to be a photographer. β€” Rondal Partridge

I try not to be too optimistic or pessimistic. If you're a pessimist then that's depressing all the time; if you're an optimist and things don't work out then that's depressing, too. β€” Nicholas Hoult

I've learned that next to the atomic bomb, the greatest danger is defeatism, despair, and inadequate awareness of what human beings possess. I feel that any problem that can be defined is capable of being resolved. Out of this has come my conviction that no person knows enough to be a pessimist. β€” Norman Cousins

I am pessimistic about a picture's power to be the emissary of just one thing. What I hope is that the picture says, "Here I am, this is what I am like," and the person seeing the picture says in return, 'You know a lot but you don't know half of what I know.' β€” Emmet Gowin

A pessimist is a person who is always right but doesn't get any enjoyment out of it, while an optimist, is one who imagines that the future is uncertain. It is a duty to be an optimist, because if you imagine that the future is uncertain, then you mu β€” Victor Cherbuliez

Too often we jump to the conclusion that something is impossible simply because we cannot see the solution. No one knows enough to be a pessimist. β€” Wayne Dyer

Our notion of an optimist is a man who knowing that each year was worse than the preceding, thinks next year will be better. And a pessimist is a man who knows the next year can't be worse than the last one. β€” Franklin P. Adams

There's an old line that goes like this: An optimist is usually happy. And a pessimist is usually right. Maybe so. But which would you rather be, anyway? β€” Joe Posnanski

Pessimists, we're told, look at a glass containing 50% air and 50% water and see it as half empty. Optimists, in contrast, see it as half full. Engineers, of course, understand the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. β€” Bob Lewis

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. β€” Tamar Myers

In the long run, the pessimist may be proven right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip. β€” Daniel Readon

When I was a very young student I loved and admired the work of Sam Beckett, who is famously pessimistic, and whose writing is an extraordinary examination of emptiness. I wanted to be like Beckett. I don't have the same attitude toward the world, I'm naturally optimistic, and so of course I could never be like Beckett. You can't force yourself to become like someone you admire. β€” Michael Craig-Martin

I can't blame anyone for being pessimistic when they look around, after all the blood spilled and energy spent to gain ground for working people in the past, and see it all happening again. I wasn't pointing a finger when I wrote the book, but sometimes the message is there even when you aren't actively trying to be the messenger. β€” James Vance

In Conclusion

Which quotation resonated with you best? Did you enjoy our collection of being a pessimist quotes? Or may be you have a slogan about being a pessimist to suggest. Let us know using our contact form.

Citation

Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes in this collection of being a pessimist quotations. For popular citation styles(APA, Chicago, MLA), please use this citation page.

Embed HTML Link

Copy and paste this HTML code in your webpage