
Every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it, while every pessimist would keep the world at a standstill. The consequence of pessimism in the life of a nation is the same as in the life of the individual. Pessimism kills the instinct that urges men to struggle against poverty, ignorance and crime, and dries up all the fountains of joy in the world.
quote by Helen Keller

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Related quotes
Closer to Happiness
What do you get when you run away from
a predator? You get exactly what I'm
writing about: something chasing after
you. Not letting you go.
Walk around the house,
It's sunny outside.
It's nice,
Warm,
Pretty.
Then I hear the first of the
Trucks and I know
It's not going to end well.
No matter how far I get,
It always catches up to me.
I keep running.
Running away from all the hurt,
All the pain,
All the pessimism and all the suffering.
I keep running.
Running away from all the death,
All the heartbreak,
All the cancer and all the disease.
Trying to get farther from all that,
Closer to happiness.
He was a truck driver,
We saw him every once in a while.
It was nice,
Something we could rely on,
Then his cancer acted up again,
The chemo and radiation started,
And being a pessimist really sucked.
Being a realist sucks even more.
No matter how far I get,
It always catches up with me.
I keep running.
Running away from all the hurt,
All the pain,
All the pessimism and all the suffering.
I keep running.
Running away from all the death,
All the heartbreak,
All the cancer and all the disease.
Trying to get farther from all that,
Closer to happiness.
Nowadays, I have my friends.
I have my good days where I'm just a normal
realist.
I have my bad days, where I fight back the
pessimism that threatens to take over.
Here comes realism.
And.
No matter how far I get,
It always catches up to me.
I keep running.
Running away from all the hurt,
All the pain,
All the pessimism and all the suffering.
I keep running.
Running away from all the death,
All the heartbreak,
All the cancer and all the disease.
Trying to get farther from all that,
Closer to happiness.
I keep running.
Running away from all the hurt,
All the pain,
All the pessimism and all the suffering.
I keep running.
Running away from all the death,
All the heartbreak,
All the cancer and all the disease.
Trying to get farther from all that,
Closer to happiness.
Passing on my knowledge
as a realist is amazing.
Many don't know what really goes
on out there,
In this world we live in.
But once,
just once,
Can I please stay
Closer to happiness?
I keep running.
Running away from all the hurt,
All the pain,
All the pessimism and all the suffering.
I keep running.
Running away from all the death,
All the heartbreak,
All the cancer and all the disease.
Trying to get farther from all that,
Closer to happiness.
poem by Raven Lightner

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Rhythm Nation
with music by our side
to break the color lines
let's work together
to improve our way of life
join voices in protest
to social injustice
ageneration full of courage
come forth with me
people of the world today
are we lookink for a better way of life(sing)
we are a part of the rhythm nation
people of the world unite
strength in numbers we can get it right(sing it)
we are a part of the rhythm nation
this is the test
no struggle no progress
lend a hand to help
your brother do his best
thinds are getting worse
we have to make them better
it's time to give a damn
let's work together...come on...
people of the world today
are we lookink for a better way of life(sing)
we are a part of the rhythm nation(people)
people of the world unite
strength in numbers we can get it right(sing it)
we are a part of the rhythm nation
people of the world today
are we lookink for a better way of life(sing it)
we are a part of the rhythm nation
people of the world unite
strength in numbers we can get it right
we are a part of the rhythm nation
say it people
say it to me
say it to me if you want a better way of life
say it people
say it to me
say it to me if you want a better way of life
people of the world today
are we lookink for a better way of life(sing)
we are a part of the rhythm nation
people of the world unite
strength in numbers we can get it right
we are a part of the rhythm nation
people of the world today
are we lookink for a better way of life(sing)
we are a part of the rhythm nation
people of the world unite
strength in numbers we can get it right
we are a part of the rhythm nation
people of the world today
are we lookink for a better way of life(sing)
we are a part of the rhythm nation
people of the world unite
strength in numbers we can get it right
we are a part of the rhythm nation
(rhythm nation) yeah
song performed by by Janet Jackson from Rhythm Nation 1814

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I am an optimist, unrepentant and militant. After all, in order not to be a fool an optimist must know how sad a place the world can be. It is only the pessimist who finds this out anew every day.
quote by Peter Ustinov

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Don't ever become a pessimist... a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.
quote by Robert A. Heinlein

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The difference between an optimist and a pessimist? An optimist laughs to forget, but a pessimist forgets to laugh.
quote by Tom Bodett

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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35
Some are not really causes
But just symptoms
And we misdiagnose
A sickness
For a symptom
Of the real sickness
The cause
And the effect
Are often interchanged
For instance
Is poverty the cause
Of crime
Or is poverty
Only the symptom
Of it?
For instance
Is ignorance
The cause of poverty
Or is it simply
An effect of poverty?
Or is poverty
Nothing but an effect
Of ignorance?
Or is poverty
Just an effect
Of an oppression
Of the rich
Taking much
From the poor
Who gets poorer
Everyday
Because there
Are no reforms
Coming
To solve
His poverty
His ignorance
His having to commit a crime
To survive
His poverty
His ignorance
His being a crime
Of
Society itself
who never cared
And wanted him
Who never
Instituted the much
Promised reforms?
And so you doubt
The cause and effect
The effect from cause
And if you did not mind so
Well
They may always be
Interchanged
And mistaken
For the symptoms
The conditions
That always
Are
there deceiving.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Cause and effect
Some are not really causes
But just symptoms
And we misdiagnose
A sickness
For a symptom
Of the real sickness
The cause
And the effect
Are often interchanged
For instance
Is poverty the cause
Of crime
Or is poverty
Only the symptom
Of it?
For instance
Is ignorance
The cause of poverty
Or is it simply
An effect of poverty?
Or is poverty
Nothing but an effect
Of ignorance?
Or is poverty
Just an effect
Of an oppression
Of the rich
Taking much
From the poor
Who gets poorer
Everyday
Because there
Are no reforms
Coming
To solve
His poverty
His ignorance
His having to commit a crime
To survive
His poverty
His ignorance
His being a crime
Of
Society itself
who never cared
And wanted him
Who never
Instituted the much
Promised reforms?
And so you doubt
The cause and effect
The effect from cause
And if you did not mind so
Well
They may always be
Interchanged
And mistaken
For the symptoms
The conditions
That always
Are
there deceiving.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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About The Cause And The Effect
Some are not really causes
But just symptoms
And we misdiagnose
A sickness
For a symptom
Of the real sickness
The cause
And the effect
Are often interchanged
For instance
Is poverty the cause
Of crime
Or is poverty
Only the symptom
Of it?
For instance
Is ignorance
The cause of poverty
Or is it simply
An effect of poverty?
Or is poverty
Nothing but an effect
Of ignorance?
Or is poverty
Just an effect
Of an oppression
Of the rich
Taking much
From the poor
Who gets poorer
Everyday
Because there
Are no reforms
Coming
To solve
His poverty
His ignorance
His having to commit a crime
To survive
His poverty
His ignorance
His being a crime
Of
Society itself
who never cared
And wanted him
Who never
Instituted the much
Promised reforms?
And so you doubt
The cause and effect
The effect from cause
And if you did not mind so
Well
They may always be
Interchanged
And mistaken
For the symptoms
The conditions
That always
Are
there deceiving.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life. If it be true that optimism compels the world forward, and pessimism retards it, then it is dangerous to propagate a pessimistic philosophy.
quote by Helen Keller

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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On Life Choices
Only one can be president and only one can be pope
And for every millionaire many struggle to cope
With the business of living, poor people are not rare
There are billions of them in the big World out there.
For many life is a battle uphill all of the way
The people who do survive from day to day
To stay out of jail for them a remarkable feat
For many the road to prison starts on Poverty Street.
In the refugee camps of the World thirty million mostly war refugees
And in drought ravaged Countries people dying of hunger and disease
We do have life choices some are known to say
Those who look at life in a simplistic way.
To some people life choices only apply
Most born into poverty though hard they try
Will never be wealthy or know of happiness
Their crime to be born at the wrong address.
poem by Francis Duggan

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The pessimism is a rational tendency in an irrational world.
aphorism by George Budoi from Aphorisms (2013), translated by Dan Costinaş

Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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In A Fair World
I cannot empathize with the poor since I'm not in poverty
And I can only imagine how miserable life must be
For those who go to sleep hungry they live with death each day
In a fair World this would not be it would be fair to say.
In a fair World this would not be but all in life's not fair
And thousands are in poverty for every millionaire
In third World Countries every year millions of hunger die
The crops don't grow in rain starved lands, the parched earth far too dry.
In a fair World there would be enough food to go around
And not one hungry person in the whole World to be found
But there is only hunger where poverty reside
And the gap between the haves and have nots has never been so wide.
In a fair World there would not be want and need and very little crime
But the social gap keeps widening despite the march of time
And I who have never lived in the slums or in a third World Land
What it feels like to be really poor could never understand.
poem by Francis Duggan

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Welcome To The World
Welcome to the world
A world of many worlds
A world of no sympathy
Neither do it has empathy
A world of much struggle
Without which there is no survival.
A world of wine and spirit'
Destroys mind and spirit.
Addiction and self control
Either etiquette or respect
A world of oscillations, from bars,
To behind bars.
A world of sexual immorality
Enjoyment that never last
The effect of body lust
Irresponsible reproductions
Murders through abortions
Spread of killer diseases
A grave to many youths.
World of idleness
Indolent behavior
A friend to many losers
The mother to poverty
Crime and disrespect to everyone
Claiming early retirement
From the world of struggle
To a world unknown to the living
A world of hard work and determination
The way to a better destination
A world of world class recognition
A world desired by all generation'
A world of realizing dreams and visions.
poem by Marbet Daniel

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Changing The Angle Of The Sight Of My Eyes
the fatty side of the eye
bugs shall be removed
and the tiny tumors just
below my eyelids shall
be extricated
it is another day for a
clearer vision of the
world
another kind of view for
my life
embracing something
bright and beautiful
less the haze
less the pessimism of
the tumor
less the obstruction of
the fat
set the angle towards
beauty and goodness
and truth
now it is moving towards
the goal of
perfection
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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In securing the future of the planet, we secure happiness for ourselves. One of the aims of the Greens is to turn around the tide of pessimism amongst the young people of the world.

A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun - and neither can stop the march of events.
quote by Robert Heinlein

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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If Life In The Human World We Live In
If life in the Human World we live in is in any way fair
None would have to grow poorer for every new millionaire
And none would have to live friendless and homeless and enough food for all to eat
And no such a place known as Poverty Street
In a fair World peace between former enemies would last
And war and it's bad memories a thing of the past
And former terrorists any excuse could not find
To wilfully maim and murder their fellow kind
Without terrorism and war, hunger, homelessness and poverty
What a beautiful World to live in it would be
But due to human greed mistrust exists everywhere
And no such a thing as a fair go for billions in the big World out there
A World free of extreme poverty that leads to crime
But that at least will not be in my lifetime.
poem by Francis Duggan

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Why Tell Me About It I know All Too Well
Why tell me about It I know all too well
That many are living in their Earthly Hell
The hungry the homeless the poor and downtrod
They must be the children of some Lesser God.
Why tell me about it I know for the have nots life must seem unfair
So many grow poorer for every new millionaire
The scourge of poverty rife in every Race
In a fair Human World this would not be the case.
Even in so called wealthy Nations poverty does abound
Not too far from where the rich live the homeless to be found
The streets of the poor suburb a breeding ground for crime
Where many don't live to enjoy their life's prime.
Why tell me about it of course I'm aware
That the poor of the World have never been rare
And millions are living in dire poverty
In a fair Human World this would never be.
poem by Francis Duggan

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Poverty In The 21st Century
It’s the 21st century
The media displays it day and night,
Poverty.
Poverty across the globe lies
Poverty cries out from the belly of little boys
Little girls, parents too
Desperately searching for food,
Shelter, clothing, for love,
Companion, for attention
Those with plenty, refuse
To amend, a world haunted by
Poverty.
Is poverty affecting the rich?
Are their poverty the same
As the poor in financial constrains?
For they, too, poverty of love
I see poverty in the learned
I see poverty in those whose
Selfish acts are destroying society.
I see poverty in all level of humanity
The world is still an imperfect place
Yet life is still beautiful, the wind
Blows, we see it not, give thanks
For what you possess, now go,
Help if you can along the way,
Help to eradicate poverty
In your surrounding, widen
Your boundary across your
Country, to nations of the world.
Help to fight poverty, now!
poem by Winston Harding

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It is only by following your deepest instinct that you can lead a rich life, and if you let your fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct, then your life will be safe, expedient and thin.
quote by Katharine Butler Hathaway

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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