My optimism is not based primarily on the successful march of democracy in recent times but rather is based on the experience of having lived in a fear society and studied the mechanics of tyranny that sustain such a society.

If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do not want to encourage blind faith.

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.

Even in a gleefully negative comic there is optimism although it's slightly hidden: It comes out through a comic character's sheer tenacity. He keeps going and trying to find some sort of fulfillment regardless of his perpetual failure record. That's a form of hope a form of optimism. Really hokey I know but it's true.

The failure of national economic policy is costing us more than jobs it has begun to weaken that uniquely American spirit of risk-taking large ambition and optimism about the future. We must rally them now to bold departures that rebuild our national morale as well as our material prosperity.

Optimism is a kind of heart stimulant - the digitalis of failure.

What's great about the geek spirit is that life never seems to stop us and they never seem to kill our enthusiasm our optimism and our hunger to experience the world. We keep our sense of humor we protect our dignity we talk to our friends about the experience and then we start again fresh the very next day.

Optimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism.

Optimism is the foundation of courage.