Darkly Comical Quotes on Optimism

There are times when Barack Obama needs to be pessimistic. There are times when Barack Obama must tell us the truth. And now is one of those times.

I can understand our president wanting to paint the picture of our economy as darkly as possible for two reasons:

1. To get the agenda he believes we need to be passed by the House of Representatives and our Senate.

2. To be re-elected in four years if our economy is still not humming on all cylinders.

Many of us alive today have talked with someone who lived through the great depression. Their stories and the behaviors the depression created were enough to convince us it was a time to fear.

If you listen to the media you will see this black despair coming. Coming inevitably like a sandstorm just on the horizon.

But stop and think for one moment about the following fact:
In the great depression our GDP dropped by a full 50%. Our GDP has dropped by approximately 3%.

If there are storm clouds it does not always portend the end of the world.

The truth is when everyone else is thinking of surviving, it is the perfect time to think of thriving.

Every crisis is a dangerous opportunity.

We, as Americans, need hope most when we deserve it the least. Now is that time.

Barack Obama is betting his presidency on the plan, he should have the right to paint a picture that looks bleak, but he must now focus on the positive and uplift the American Psyche.

How will he do that? By finding positive stories he can tell that will make us understand that we are Americans. We have grit. We can do this. We can work to pull the entire world out of a dangerous crisis.

And this can prove to be an opportunity for the world to think better of America and prove we can be a powerful force for good.

With that theme in mind, here are some darkly comical quotes on optimism:

The happy ending is our national belief.
– Mary McCarthy

Optimism doesn’t wait on facts. It deals with prospects. - Norman Cousins

The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser—in case you thought optimism was dead. - Robert Brault

I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.
- Antonio Gramsci

The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Twixt the optimist and pessimist
The difference is droll:
The optimist sees the doughnut
But the pessimist sees the hole - - McLandburgh Wilson