Questions for Thinking People: Pessimism vs. Optimism

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Questions for Thinking People

Pessimism vs. Optimism

A pessimist is one who feels bad when he feels good for fear he'll feel worse when he feels better.

Anonymous

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Winston Churchill

Pessimism is, in brief, playing the sure game. You cannot lose at it; you may gain. It is the only view of life in which you can never be disappointed. Having reckoned what to do in the worst possible circumstances, when better arise, as they may, life becomes child's play

Thomas Hardy

I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin.

Leonard Cohen

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.

James Branch Cabell

Do I Tend to be an Optimist or a Pessimist

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Do I generally see the glass as half-full or half-empty?

Why?

Do I generally feel that the deck is stacked against me, that if something is going to go wrong, it will very likely go wrong for me, and look for evidence to prove that things are bad? [yes/no]

Why?

Do I generally choose to believe that everything is for the best, that obstacles I find on my path are designed to teach me something, and look for evidence to prove that things are looking up? [yes/no]

If so, do I have a religious or spiritual perspective that reinforces my tendency to be optimistic? [yes/no]

What specifically seems most important about my faith in this regard?

Would I agree that being a pessimist is safe because in the end we all die and bad things happen to people all the time? [yes/no]

Why?

Would I agree that being an optimist is risky because expectations can be easily frustrated? [yes/no]

Why?

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