Nelson Algren Quotes

I'm an optimist about humanity in general, I suppose.

I'm very much an optimist. I don't think I could do my work if I didn't believe there was some kind of hope for humanity.

I believe in man. I believe in mankind, as the worst and the best that has happened to this world.

An extreme optimist is a man who believes that humanity will probably survive even if it doesn't take his advice.

The human race is a remarkable creature, one with great potential, and I hope that 'Star Trek' has helped to show us what we can be if we believe in ourselves and our abilities.

If I don't watch the news in a day, I think the potential for humanity is incredible. But anytime I look at the news, I'm like, 'We're in really big trouble.'

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

I just have a different impression of the human race. I think we're really resilient. I think there are a lot of cynical people out there right now, and probably for good reason. But I think that ever cynic is really a damaged romantic, and they really, really, really want things to be good. And if that's the case, I don't need to tell a story that says, "Humanity, look what you've done. Now you can't go out. There's no sun. Look how you've wrecked the world." That's not me. That's not my job.

I am an optimist. I believe the future is bright. I think people who see life painted in dark colors are the ones who do not take ownership.

Do you know what the world will be saved by? I'll tell you. It'll be saved by the human spirit. And by the human spirit, I don't mean anything divine, I don't mean anything supernatural - certainly not coming from this skeptic.

I have to be an optimist and say that it might get better.

It's a heartening fact about the human race that utopian fiction precedes dystopian fiction in the evolution of literature.

I'm not pessimistic about much of anything.

I'm completely optimistic - I know the end is coming!

I vehemently deny that I was born a cynic and a pessimist.

The only deadly sin I know is cynicism.

I'm naturally an optimist, but my basis for hope is rooted in my understanding of human nature.

Well, I'm an optimist.

Optimism doesn't wait on facts. It deals with prospects. Pessimism is a waste of time.

I was an optimist, a great champion of the human spirit. And I lost that for a time. I feel like I've regained a bit of that in the last few years but there was a period of my life in which I had a very low opinion of people in general.

The good ole days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems.

There is only one optimist. He has been here since man has been on this earth, and that is man himself. If we hadn't had such a magnificent optimism to carry us through all these things, we wouldn't be here. We have survived it on our optimism.

We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.

I think it's realistic to have hope. One can be a perverse idealist and say the easiest thing: 'I despair. The world's no good.' That's a perverse idealist. It's practical to hope, because the hope is for us to survive as a human species. That's very realistic.

I will never be cynical again about people.