Jim Valvano Quotes

People think it’s easy to be cynical and pessimistic, but it’s incredibly hard work. It’s much easier to be hopeful.

If I go into a season and I say, 'For f***'s sake, if we don't win anything, they will all leave,' I have already lost. The problem of the media is always to imagine the worst. The problem of the manager is always to imagine the best.

Even bad teams have optimism. You don't want to take away the optimism so early in the season. The Bad News Bears coach wouldn't even tell (his team) that.

You take a team with twenty-five assholes and I'll show you a pennant. I'll show you the New York Yankees.

If you're running around with a negative attitude all the time, you're going to feel down, you're going to have negative results. But if you feel like you're going to make it through and you have positive thoughts, you have a much better chance to survive and be successful and happy.

My responsibility is leadership, and the minute I get negative, that is going to have an influence on my team.

There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass! Who's been pinching my beer?

How you experience your life depends on how you look at it. If you look at it as a constant stream of difficulties and challenges, messes and problems, it will show up that way. If, on the other hand, you see it as a continuing flow of good fortune, one good thing after another, that is what you will encounter.

I think everyone has the same question on their mind: Is the glass half-full or half-empty?

I consider myself a leader of this football team, along with a lot of other guys.

When you are speaking to your team after a game, never talk about the kid who was the star of the game. Talk about what your other players did to help the team win. Be sure to spread the wealth... Then have individual meetings with one to three players to praise and reinforce. Make sure you touch them.

An optimist expects his dreams to come true; a pessimist expects his nightmares to.

The problem with you is that you always see a glass of milk half empty instead of half filled.

It's like most anything. If you want to be a loser, there's always a way to dwell on the negative. If you want to win, there's always a way to think positively.

Cynicism is a choice. Optimism is a better choice.

The man who believes he can do it is probably right, and so is the man who believes he can't.

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.

Optimists are right. So are pessimists. It's up to you to choose which you will be.

If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say in a pleasant and hopeful voice, "Well this isn't too bad, I don't have a left arm anymore but at least nobody will ever ask me if I'm left-handed or right-handed," but most of us would say something more along the lines of, "Aaaaaa! My arm! My arm!"

I'm a pessimist about probabilities, I'm an optimist about possibilities.

The optimist regards the future as uncertain.

Keep your expectations tiny you'll go through life not so whiney.

Half full, half empty, what the hell difference does it make? If there's something in the damn glass, drink it.

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

Is there such thing as a cheerful pessimist? That's what I am.