Studs Terkel Quotes

Every new invention is like a baby. You think it may cure cancer or become the president, but in the end, you're happy it just stays out of jail.

My father used to say, 'Well, Ann, maybe the best thing you'll ever do, you haven't even thought of yet.'

While it is important for people to see your promise you must also remember that hope is the keeper of both happiness and disappointment, the father of both progress and failure.

If today was half as good as tomorrow is supposed to be, it would probably be twice as good as yesterday was.

Every pessimist who ever lived has been buried in an unmarked grave. Tomorrow has always been better than today, and it always will be.

From where I sit now, I like the looks of tomorrow.

If today were half as good as tomorrow is supposed to be, it would probably be twice as good as yesterday was.

I don't know if bliss is possible and I've always thought that my best times will be later in life.

Americans deserve a better tomorrow, today.

Every pessimist who ever lived has been buried in an unmarked grave. Tomorrow has always been better than today, and it always will be.

There was a time in my 40s where I thought, oh, it's all over - not just work, but I'm never going to feel young again, I'm always going to feel like I know what's going to happen, I'll know what to expect. Looking back I don't know if that was a midlife crisis, I don't know - but I don't feel that now. There's possibilities. It gets better.

I'm very hopeful. I am very optimistic about the future.

In a phrase: I always hope it keeps getting better.

I don't know about the future; no one really does. I'm excited about the possibilities of what can happen, and I feel good about it.

Tomorrow will be better.

Whenever you looked forward to anything pleasant you were sure to be more or less disappointed . . . perhaps that is true. But there is a good side to it too. The bad things don't always come up to your expectations either . . . they nearly always turn out ever so much better than you think.

I believe in tomorrow and I will be part of it.

Just when you think it can't get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can't get any better, it can.

Keep expectation alive. Keep stirring it up. Let much promise more, and great deeds herald greater.

What I like most about change is that it's a synonym for 'hope'. If you're taking a risk, what you are really saying is, 'I believe in tomorrow and I will be the part of it.

I'm not as optimistic as Gene Roddenberry was. I fall somewhere in the middle. But as a romantic, I like to think things are going to get bigger rather than worse.

My only wish is that we leave room for hope. There is good and bad in all things. We find what we expect to find. We see what we expect to see. I have learned that if I tilt my head just right and squint, the world outside is beautiful. The future is bright. There are good things to come.

Because we don't know that much about what has happened before, it's useful. But either we will recover and progress, or the alternative is that it's all downhill from here. So I would just as soon believe, in my optimistic Midwestern American way, that we will recover and maybe even make lemonade out of the lemons that we are faced with.

If things look badly to-day they may look better tomorrow.