John Stuart Mill Quotes

I am of the opinion, and even more so the older I get, that it is more difficult to have hope than it is to despair. And I mean this in the sense that in order to have hope you must acknowledge the despair and then you have to get beyond it. Taken from a radio interview given on BBC Radio 4's Open Book

When things are at their blackest, I say to myself, 'Cheer up, things could be worse.' And sure enough, they get worse.

The only deadly sin I know is cynicism.

The reason I never give up hope is because everything is so basically hopeless.

I have a lot of friends that take that position of extreme cynicism, and I just can't let myself go to that place. It's just too easy, and it's just too defeatist.

If one truly has lost hope, one would not be on hand to say so.

The world is cynical and sarcastic, but that doesn't mean that that's always the truth.

I'd like to say things are bound to get better, but I don't really believe it.

I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you...And you...And you...Gotta give em hope.

Any system which says, This is a rotten world, wait for the next, give up, do nothing, succumb--that may be the basic Lie and if we participate in believing it and acting (or rather not acting) on it we involve ourselves in the Lie and suffer dreadfully... which only reinforces that particular Lie.

Optimism....is neither weak nor naive. It can be tough and pure and earned just as clearly as any brooding existential despair.

If there is a chronic infirmity by which every teacher ought to be afflicted, it is, indeed, hope.

He who despairs is wrong.

Yet it is necessary to hope, though hope should always be deluded; for hope itself is happiness, and its frustrations, however frequent, are yet less dreadsul than its extinction.

She wondered that hope was so much harder then despair.

He thought there was no hope for him. Me? I can't imagine a world without hope.

Life, that can shower you with so much splendour, is unremittingly cruel to those who have given up.

Cynicism is tough. A cynic's point of view is really pitiful. I derive pleasure out of a lot of things in life. As long as I'm fairly healthy, it's hard to stay dismal for very long.

I think I hate cynicism more than anything else. It's the curse of our age, and I want to avoid it at all costs.

With optimism, you look upon the sunny side of things. People say, 'Studs, you're an optimist.' I never said I was an optimist. I have hope because what's the alternative to hope? Despair? If you have despair, you might as well put your head in the oven.

It has never been, and never will be easy work! But the road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.

I'm capable of looking on the bright side. I just don't do it very often.

An optimist is a fellow who believes what's going to be will be postponed.

It takes a lot to wound a man without illusions.

Hope is the raw material of losers.