Richard Bach Quotes

Progress is more of a challenge for the cynic but also more important and urgent, since for the optimist things aren't that bad and are bound to get better anyway.

An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?

Don't give in to cynicism. It is a toxic spiritual state.

I'm an optimistic person, and I tend to bury my cynicism in what I read and the movies I watch. My optimism holds that the good guys eventually come out on top.

It's not such a bad thing to bring some naive optimism to Washington.

When you wake up in the morning looking for the light, the light will come.

But you don’t have to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.” “You don’t have to assume the worst about everyone, either. The world isn’t always out to get you.

My mom says I have to be more positive, and I say life has to be more positive too or it's just not going to work.

Hope was an instinct only the reasoning human mind could kill. An animal never knew despair.

When I find myself having to share a meal with someone who simply wants to complain about the world, I almost feel myself wanting to crawl out of my skin and just sort of scurry away. But being able to pick up on that stuff and being able to easily identify the people walking towards the light instead of walking towards the darkness, that's a skill I'm very, very glad to see growing in myself.

So many people dwell on negativity and I've survived by ignoring it: it dims your light and it's harder each time to turn the power up again.

Keep a light, hopeful heart. But ­expect the worst.

One cannot afford to be a realist.

Not only do you become what you think about, but the world also becomes what you think about. Those who think that the world is a dark place are blind to the light that might illuminate their lives. Those who see the light of the world view the dark spots as merely potential light.

I have no interest in behaving or thinking cynically. But it's an easy trap to be cynical about anything, certainly when you're talking about politics or the media.

O, merry is the Optimist, With the troops of courage leaguing. But a dour trend In any friend Is somehow less fatiguing.

Hope cherishes no illusions, nor does it yield to cynicism.

Hope is a light diet, but very stimulating.

You know that the best you can expect is to avoid the worst.

The good news is hopeful doesn't mean dumb. The bad news is cynical doesn't mean smart.

If you believe in light, you'll be in light, you don't have to face darkness.

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.

Optimism is denial for chumps with no life experience". "What's pessimism?" I said. "Religion without God.

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.

My mom's response after seeing a sign that read 'Love God, People and Life': 'Well a lot of people don't like people.'