Michael Chabon Quotes

If you can delude yourself by believing that there is some kind of Santa Claus out there who is going to bail you out in the end, then it will help you get through. Even if you are proven wrong in the end, you would have had a better life than a non-believer.

One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.

'I know this is going to end bad, but I'm going to pretend it's going to end good.' My life's philosophy.

It's a good place when all you have is hope and not expectations.

I want to have a sense of openness and optimism, even if that means being open to things that are potentially dark.

I'm trying to just take things as they come, not to try to expect too much, just do my job and hope things work out.

If your worst fear can come true, and everything can still be OK, then there's really not much to fear at all.

Things are constantly in flux and changing, and as crazy-making as that can be, it's also the thing that can get you through tough times - 'Well, things change.'

I guess a little bit of delusion can go a long way.

It takes certain kind of naiveté, or perhaps just stupidity, to know things will end and still hope otherwise.

So what if right now everything is wrong?

The truth was, I wasn't sure. But I wanted to keep believing people could change, and it was certainly easier to do so when you were in the midst of it.

People have a habit of inventing fictions they will believe wholeheartedly in order to ignore the truth they cannot accept.

I know I can do it," Todd Downey said, helping himself to another ear of corn from the steaming bowl. "I'm sure that in time her death will be a mystery, even to me.

I'm not a doom-and-gloom person. But I think there is a difference between transcendence and denial, and much of the Western world is in major denial today.

was it possible that i was, in the modern term, in denial?

We all need a bit of self-delusion. It gets us over the difficult spots.

People have managed to avert their eyes and hope for the best.

Well everybody in Casablanca has problems. Yours may work out.

Hope is one of those no-win-no-fee things, and although it needs some encouragement to survive, its existence doesn't necessarily prove anything.

A lot of people asked me if it was frustrating not having a clear specific diagnosis, but I didn't mind, I just chose the most optimistic diagnosis.

We must rediscover the distinction between hope and expectation.

You got to look on the bright side, even if there ain't one.

In this world you've just got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends.

I have plenty to look forward to, I'm sure.