A Quote by Jacques Barzun

I have always been - I think any student of history almost inevitably is - a cheerful pessimist. — © Jacques Barzun
I have always been - I think any student of history almost inevitably is - a cheerful pessimist.
I always look on the black side of life. That way, you won't be disappointed and I'm cheerful if it doesn't work out. I'm a cheerful pessimist.
I am of the opinion, and have been for a long time, that any kind of big technological move is almost always positive in the short term but inevitably somewhat negative in the long term. And I think there are many examples of this in every possible context.
The arc of American history almost inevitably moves toward freedom. Whether it's Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, the expansion of women's rights or, now, gay rights, I think there is an almost-inevitable march toward greater civil liberties.
Is there such thing as a cheerful pessimist? That's what I am.
From my student days I found him a compelling and fascinating, though often puzzling, figure. It's a lifelong fascination now and I don't expect that to stop! His vision of God, God's faithfulness, God's purposes and so on is so much bigger and richer than almost any subsequent Christian thinker has ever managed. In addition, I have always loved ancient history, especially the history of the early Roman empire, and of course Paul fits right into that.
As a student studying acting, I was always broke, so going to see any live theater was almost impossible.
I've always been - as a teacher, as graduate student, as a student, and I think, really, as a child - I've been interested in poems, but not so much for what the take home pay is, what you might sum up from them in moral or intellectual terms or whatever, but what's in the certain lines and how lines relates to other lines.
History has shown that challenging an incumbent president in the primary almost inevitably leads to defeat in the general election.
I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin.
I always had a great history of comics. I've been buying them since I was six years old. I was a student of the craft.
Every pessimist who ever lived has been buried in an unmarked grave. Tomorrow has always been better than today, and it always will be.
Can you suppose there's any harm in looking as cheerful and being as cheerful as our poor circumstances will permit?
Man is brilliant at solving problems; but solving them only makes him the victim of his own childishness and laziness. It is this recognition that has made almost every major philosopher in history a pessimist.
Imagine it's 1981. You're an artist, in love with art, smitten with art history. You're also a woman, with almost no mentors to look to; art history just isn't that into you. Any woman approaching art history in the early eighties was attempting to enter an almost foreign country, a restricted and exclusionary domain that spoke a private language.
Do you know the difference between an optimist and a pessimist? A pessimist says ‘Oh dear, things can’t possibly get any worse.’ And an optimist says, ‘Don’t be so sad. Things can always get worse.
Nothing of any importance has ever been accomplished by a pessimist.
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