Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Optimism’

A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.
    —     Joseph Addison
What I always hated and detested and cursed above all things was this contentment, this healthiness and comfort, this carefully preserved optimism of the middle classes, this fat and prosperous brood of mediocrity.
    —     Hermann Hesse
.
On This Day In:
2021 In That Moment
Something A Little More Recent
A Request For Help (Indian Pop Music)
2020 Above Her Sink
In A Slower Lane Now
2019 #DullDonald
2018 And Start With Charity
2017 First Things First
2016 Why Would We Expect Truth From A Liar?
Unknown Fear
2015 Something Pagan
2014 A Note To Self
2013 Determining Our Degree Of Freedom
2012 Journalism And Fantasy
Known Knowns
Jerk, n.
2011 Love Questions

Read Full Post »

Perhaps most striking, though, is [Dr. Paul] Farmer’s insistence that his optimism is, in fact, logical.  “When you settle on a problem, devote the resources to it and have at least some ability to incorporate new information, every time, it gets better,” he says.  “I don’t have any experience, anywhere, where you just apply yourself, along with others, and then do not see progress.  My optimism has pretty honest roots.
“Although,” Farmer adds after a brief pause, “I would probably be an optimist even if not.”
    —    Jamie Ducharme
Interviewing Dr. Paul Farmer
In the “TheBrief Time with…”  article:  “Even the pandemic hasn’t made public health icon Paul Farmer lose hope
Appearing in:  “Time Magazine“,  dtd:  14 December 2020
.
On This Day In:
2020 I’m Persuaded
2019 Hungry For Trust
2018 Mutual Assistance
2017 The Toughest Job
2016 Congratulations!!
Better Yet, Read!
2015 Even If It Kills Us Slowly
2014 Fun To Play God
Of Anything
2013 Legal (Almost)
2012 Great Scots!
2011 The GI Bill – A Simple History Lesson
Breaking Even

Read Full Post »

Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism.  It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
    —    Václev Havel
[Happy Birthday, Mom!
You raised me with optimism, hope and faith…  Love, Kevin]
.
On This Day In:
2022 Guitar Music
Yesterday
2021 Maybe Faith Is Based On Hope
I Want To See You Smile
2020 Thank You (To Those Who Serve)
Hanging In There
2019 Her Job, Too
2018 Just Another Song I Like
Earlier Still
2017 Ten To Go
2016 Unstable Emergence
2015 88
2014 Some One-Liners Are Too Easy
2013 Greatness
2012 Memories Of Arlington
2011 Wake Up

Read Full Post »

The cynic says, ‘One man can’t do anything.’  I say, ‘Only one man can do anything.’
    —    John W. Gardner
.
On This Day In:
2019 More Likely Unsinging
What’s At Stake…
2018 But What Are You DOING About November?
Or His Elected Position
2017 Some Good
2016 Edges
Sums
2015 I Hope Not
2014 Study The Means Of Expressing Yourself
2013 That Stubborn Thing
2012 Like Mike
2011 Flawless Or Candid
2010 Browning…

Read Full Post »

No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn.
    —    Hal Borland
.
On This Day In:
2019 Touched?
2018 Chillin’ With My Bro
Inconvenient Adventure
2017 Genuine Tragedies
2016 Why I’m Scared Of November
2015 I Can Tell Too
2014 In Hand
2013 No Fear
2012 Comic Books
Keeping The Peace
2011 You Still Have To Pay For It

Read Full Post »

Unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.
    —    Noam Chomsky
.
On This Day In:
2019 Today’s Question
2018 A Moment Of Union
2016 Symptoms
2016 Tossers
2015 Hunger
2014 Outside Dependence
2013 Doing Right
2012 A Short Course In Human Relations
If Death Be My Future
Strive
Such A Fool
2011 I’m Working For A Living

Read Full Post »

I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.
    —    Charlotte Brontë
.
On This Day In:
2022 Putin’s War On Ukraine: Choosing Lies
2021 How Many Times
I’m Breaking My Silence
2020 When Looking Around
2019 Except Dying
2018 History Will Judge Him Favorably
2017 Are You Confused?
2016 The Golden Mean
2015 To Infinity And Beyond
2014 Taken Back
2013 Windows Or Doors
2012 All Rise
2011 Vote Weight

Read Full Post »

No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
    ―    Maya Angelou
.
On This Day In:
2021 Better To Lie, Get Rich And Destroy Your Country
Love Is All There Is
2020 You Remind Me Of Someone
When I Grow Up I Want To…
2019 Running History, But I Don’t Expect Many To Match It…
It’s Probably Easier When You Live Alone
2018 25 Days Until The November Election
Old And Young
2017 Universal Soul Sounds
2016 Not Rivals
2015 Dead Sure
2014 Are You Educated?
2013 For Myself
2012 And When I’m Gone…
2011 Complete Conviction

Read Full Post »

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children.  One of these is roots, the other, wings.
    —    Hodding Carter
.
On This Day In:
2021 In My Unending Story
Say You Will
2020 A Day With No Sun
A Beautiful Thing
A Moment To Rejoice
2019 Where And Why
Day 12: Pause Or Plateau?
Eating Later
2018 Here And Hope
2017 Choose
2016 All I Ever Wanted
2015 Compassionate Toward Yourself
2014 All And None
2013 Voices In The Dark
2012 Does Uncommonly Flexible = Flip-Flopping?
2011 A Modest Review Of A Modern Day Classic
Encouragement Is The Path To Immortality

Read Full Post »

The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day.  On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back.  He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest.  What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old?  Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth?  What reasons has he to envy a young person?  For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him?
‘No, thank you,’ he will think.  ‘Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered.  These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, although these are things which cannot inspire envy.’
    ―    Viktor E. Frankl
From his book:  “Man’s Search for Meaning
.
On This Day In:
2017 Did I See You In Chapter 13?
2016 As I Recall
2015 Less And More Irritation
2014 That Marvelous Feeling
2013 Exceptional
2012 A Wild And Crazy Believer
2011 A Lack Of Scarcity
The Joy Of Prevention

Read Full Post »

He who plants trees benefits another generation.
     —    Caecilius Statius as quoted by Marcus Tullius Cicero
.
On This Day In:
2022 A Little Epiphany
2021 Clear Global Standards
A Girl Like You
2020 Life’s Mysteries
2019 I Doubt I Ever Will
2018 Who Will Thank (If Not Remember) Me
2017 Reinforced Learning
2016 I Choose To Believe
2015 What They Don’t Teach You At School
2014 Still Trying To Die (5)
2013 Honest Doubt
2012 Choice
2011 Ownership Of Thought

Read Full Post »

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
     ―    Ralph Waldo Emerson
.
On This Day In:
2021 Small Curves
One For Me
2020 Like Belief In Truth And Facts
Hey #45, Are You Tired Of LOSING Law Suits Too?
2019 Many Forms
2018 Serenity Prayer
2017 But The Clock Says It’s Already Two Minutes 30 Seconds to Midnight
2016 Towards No Regret
2015 109 And Beyond
2014 Are You Waiting?
2013 Traditional Human Sacrifice
2012 A Division Of Men
2011 Miles, Legends and Superwoman
Got Tragedy?
2010 My Company For A Prince!!
On The Shoulders Of Titans

Read Full Post »

Bad things do happen;  how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life.  I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself.
     —    Walter Anderson
.
On This Day In:
2021 Of Course The Term “Value” Is Undefined
Waiting
2020 I Hadn’t Thought Of That
Keep Looking!
2019 Knocking On Impeachment’s Door
2018 Do You Remember?
2017 Choose Life
My Response To President Trump’s Threat To NBC
2016 We, Us, All
2015 No Less
2014 Life Advice (50)
Orange October (IV) – Giants Win Game 1 Of NLCS!
2013 Running To
2012 Suddenly
2011 Liberal Washington
2010 Giants Advance To NLCS!!

Read Full Post »

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
     —   Harriet Beecher Stowe
.
On This Day In:
2016 Dreamers
2015 Three Roars
2014 Be R-E-L-E-V-A-N-T
2013 Lacking
2012 So Small A Thing
2011 Is Your Time Valuable?

Read Full Post »

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true.
    —    James Branch Cabell
.
On This Day In:
2016 Timely Opinions On “The Donald”
Even Allowing For Coincidence
2015 First Things First
2014 Without The Other
2013 Earn This
Seeking A View
2012 Stumblin’ Along My Way
We’re Proud Of You, Jr!
Union Card
Two Philosophies
2011 Simply Unpredictable

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

%d bloggers like this: