Phyllis McGinley Quotes

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

He that hopes not for good, feares not evill.

We always hope, and in all things it is better to hope than to despair.

Pessimism of the spirit; optimism of the will.

The trouble with traditional American conservatism is that it lacks a naturally cheerful, optimistic disposition. Not only does it lack one, it regards signs of one as evidence of unsoundness, irresponsibility.

I am guilty of the great crime of optimism.

Optimism is true moral courage.

The moment you start thinking it's hopeless, then it is. [But], if you think it's gonna get better, it really does. Life is a test.

One may as well be optimistic. The road to catastrophe will be rougher if it's paved with dread.

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

Better to be an optimist who gets disappointed than a pessimist who has no hope.

The temper of mind that sees tragedy in life has not for its opposite the temper that sees joy. The opposite pole to the tragic view of life is the sordid view.

I might not be able to use the word "hope," but I could certainly use the word "optimism." I'm very optimistic. I don't feel that it helps to be pessimistic. At some point in my life I made a conscious decision that I would try to be optimistic - not blind to anything at all - but to always hear the way that had the best chance for happiness.

Am I like the optimist who, while falling ten stories from a building, says at each story, I'm all right so far?

It is important to possess a short-term pessimism and a long-term optimism.

I'm not an optimist. I'm hopeful.

Don't take counsel of your fears or naysayers.

I hate how many people think "glass half-empty" when their glass is really four-fifths full. I'm grateful when I have one drop in the glass because I know exactly what to do with it.

Optimism is the true moral courage

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.

It's a lot better to hope than not to.

And I am an optimistic person. I guess if you want to try to find something to be pessimistic about, you can find it, no matter how hard you look, you know?

Pessimists fear becoming the dupes of Hope. Optimists enjoy Hope's company, and consider being duped no great matter.

I'm an eternal optimist with a small degree of cynicism.

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.