positive thinking

An optimist is the human
personification of spring.

Susan J. Bissonette

   

I am fundamentally an optimist.  Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say.  Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward.  There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair.

Nelson Mandela

      
The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a person to hold his or her head high, to claim the future for him or herself and not to abandon it to the enemy.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  

I am optimistic and confident in all that I do.  I affirm only the best for myself and others.  I am the creator of my life and my world.  I meet daily challenges gracefully and with complete confidence.  I fill my mind with positive, nurturing, and healing thoughts.

Alice Potter

   

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged.  Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.

Lucille Ball

   

I am an optimist.  It does not seem too much use being anything else.

Winston Churchill

   

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In this world, the optimists have it, not because they are always right,
but because they are positive.  Even when they are wrong they
are positive, and that is the way of achievement, correction,
improvement, and success.  Educated, eye-open optimism pays.

David Landes

  

People have been wonderful to me in the good times and the
bad, and I've come to believe that you do indeed reap
what you sow.  For those who constantly gripe about life,
I turn and walk away.  For those who speak negatively about
people behind their backs,  I move on.

Bob Losure

  

Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.  Talk health,
happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. Make all your friends
feel there is something in them.  Look at the sunny side of everything.
Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best.
Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your won.
Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements
of the future.  Give everyone a smile.  Spend so much time improving yourself
that you have no time left to criticize others.
Be too big for worry and too noble for anger.

Christian D. Larsen

  

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces,
I would still plant my apple tree.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

  

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of opportunities and
an optimist is one who makes opportunities of difficulties.

Harry S. Truman

  

positive thinking

Optimism is a happiness magnet.  If you stay positive, good things
and good people will be drawn to you.

Mary Lou Retton
  

Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also
the foundation of courage and true progress.

Lloyd Alexander

   

Optimism means expecting
the best, but confidence
means knowing how
to handle the worst.
Never make a move if
you are merely optimistic.

Zurich Axiom

 

Flowers grow out
of darker moments.

Corita Kent

   

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The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns;
the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose.


Khalil Gibran
    

I have become my own version of an optimist.  If I can't make it
through one door, I'll go through another door--or I'll
make a door.  Something terrific will come
no matter how dark the present.

Rabindranath Tagore

     

Optimism is the one quality more associated
with success and happiness than any other.

Brian Tracy

  

   
An optimist is a person who believes a housefly is looking for a way to get out.

George Jean
   

I am an optimist. . .  I choose to be.  There is a lot of darkness in our world;
there is a lot of pain and you can choose to see that or you can choose to
see the joy.  If you try to respond positively to the world,
you will spend your time better.

Tom Hiddleston

    
Articles and book excerpts on optimism:

The "I Can't" Funeral      Author Unknown

  

Everybody avoids the company of those who are always grumbling, who are
full of "ifs" and "buts," and "I told you so's."  We like the people who always
look toward the sun, whether it shines or not.  It is the cheerful, hopeful people
we go to for sympathy and assistance; not the carping, gloomy critics,--who always
think it is going to rain, and that we are going to have a terribly hot summer,
or a fearful thunder-storm, or who are forever complaining of hard times and
their hard lot.  It is the bright, cheerful, hopeful, contented people who makes
their ways, who are respected and admired.
Gloom and depression not only take much out of life, but detract greatly
from the chances of winning success.  It is the bright and cheerful
spirit that wins the final triumph.

Orison Swett Marden

     

There is an optimism which nobly anticipates the eventual triumph of great
moral lows, and there is an optimism which cheerfully tolerates unworthiness.

Agnes Repplier

   

What choices are you making in your perception of the events around you?
We choose how we view our times.  There is a pinch of pessimism in our
culture now.  Counter it with small acts of optimism.
   Pick up a piece of litter that isn't yours.  Show some extra grace on the
freeway.  Give to your food bank.  Smile at a child who is in your way.
Help someone you know.  Help someone you don't know.
   The accumulation of small, optimistic acts produces quality in our culture
and in your life.  Our culture resonates in tense times to individual acts of
grace.  What's your choice?

Jennifer James
Success Is the Quality of Your Journey

    

We have some inspiring and motivational books that may interest you.  Our main way of supporting this site is through the sale of books, either physical copies or digital copies for your Amazon Kindle (including the online reader).  All of the money that we earn through them comes back to the site in one way or another.  Just click on the picture to the left to visit our page of books, both fiction and non-fiction!

  
To the question of whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer
that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic.

Albert Schweitzer
   

True optimism has no connection whatever with overindulgent judgments
of any kind.  It consists of conceiving and willing the ideal, as this is inspired
by profound and self-consistent affirmation of life and of the world.

Albert Schweitzer
Civilization and Ethics

   

Optimism and humor are the grease and glue of life.
Without both of them we would never have survived our captivity.

Philip Butler
(Vietnam War POW)

positive thinking

  
Those with an optimistic outlook get hit with the same problems
as anyone else, but they see opportunity where others see inconvenience.

Deborah K. Heisz
Live Happy
   

Look for something positive in each day, even if
some days you have to look a little harder.

unattributed

  

Pessimists dismiss optimism as ungrounded and unrealistic.  And while it is true
that optimists, by definition, have high hopes and lofty dreams, these hopes and
dreams can become self-fulfilling prophecies:  Over time they can become real.
A pessimistic outlook makes it more likely that the future will turn out gloomy;
a hopeful disposition is likely to bring about success and well-being.  If optimism
and hope are grounded, they can improve the quality of our relationships, bring
about success at work, help us overcome adversity, and provide an important
foundation for making our dreams come true.  To a great extent, my expectations
of myself or others, and of situations, determine my reality.

Tal Ben-Shahar
Choose the Life You Want

   

        
     

Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.