A Quote by Harry S. Truman

An optimist is presented with a problem and sees an opportunity. A pessimist is presented with an opportunity and sees a problem.

Harry S. Truman

Quote Topics

Opportunity Optimist Pessimist Presented Problem Sees

Quote Author

Harry S. Truman
American - President
May 8, 1884 - December 26, 1972

Vision involves optimism and hope. The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. The pessimist tends to hold back people of vision from pushing ahead.

J. Oswald Sanders

The optimist sees a light at the end of the tunnel, the realist sees a train entering the tunnel, the pessimist sees a train speeding at him, hell for leather, and the machinist sees three idiots sitting on the rail track. "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist fears this is true."

James Branch Cabell

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

Winston Churchill

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Winston Churchill

Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole!

Oscar Wilde

An optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist sees the whole.

Navjot Singh Sidhu

The optimist sees the donut, the pessimist sees the hole.

Oscar Wilde

An optimist is a person who sees only the lights in the picture, whereas a pessimist sees only the shadows. An idealist, however, is one who sees the light and the shadows, but in addition sees something else: the possibility of changing the picture, of making the lights prevail over the shadows.

Felix Adler

Two people look at the same Exercise above: One sees "Opportunity Is Nowhere" and one sees "Opportunity Is Now Here."

Ernie J Zelinski

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight... the truly wise person is colorblind.

Albert Schweitzer

A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them.

Leonard Louis Levinson

The pessimist sees only the tunnel; the optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel; the realist sees the tunnel and the light - and the next tunnel.

Sydney J. Harris

Do not wait for an opportunity to be all that you want to be; when an opportunity to be more than you are now is presented and you feel impelled toward it, take it. It will be the first step toward a greater opportunity.