A Quote by Georg Brandes

Nietzsche inveighs against every sort of historical optimism; but he energetically repudiates the ordinary pessimism, which is the result of degenerate or enfeebled instincts of decadence. He preaches with youthful enthusiasm the triumph of a tragic culture, introduced by an intrepid rising generation, in which the spirit of ancient Greece might be born again. He rejects the pessimism of Schopenhauer, for he already abhors all renunciation; but he seeks a pessimism of healthiness, one derived from strength, from exuberant power, and he believes he has found it in the Greeks.

Georg Brandes

Quote Topics

Again Against Ancient Ancient Greece Believes Born Born Again Culture Decadence Degenerate Derived Enthusiasm Every Exuberant Found Generation Greece Greeks Historical Instincts Introduced Might Optimism Ordinary Pessimism Power Rejects Renunciation Result Rising Seeks Sort Spirit Strength Tragic Triumph Which Youthful

Quote Author

Georg Brandes
Danish - Critic
February 4, 1842 - February 19, 1927

I think I'm a realist. Which people who don't like me consider to be pessimism. It isn't pessimism at all. If I was a pessimist I wouldn't get up, I wouldn't shave, I wouldn't watch Batman at 7:30 a.m. Pessimists just don't do that sort of thing.

Steven Morrissey

Some people argue against both optimism and pessimism in favor of so-called realistic thinking. They distrust optimism on the grounds that it causes us to sugercoat problems, discount risks, and exaggerate the upside. Pessimism, on the other hand, is criticized as too downbeat, de-energizing, and generally damaging in its impact. This crown prefers realism as the neutral and objective middle ground.

Price Pritchett

Bull markets are born on pessimism, grown on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria. The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell.

John Templeton

Depression is not generalized pessimism, but pessimism specific to the effects of one's own skilled action.

Robert M. Sapolsky

The pessimism that protests and defends itself cannot be truly said to be pessimism.

Miguel de Unamuno

Every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it, while every pessimist would keep the worlds 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.

Helen Keller

Pessimism of the spirit; optimism of the will.

Antonio Gramsci

Let us never give in to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day. Do not give in to pessimism and discouragement. We have the firm certainty that the Holy Spirit gives the Church with His mighty breath, the courage to persevere and also to seek new methods of evangelization, to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Pope Francis

Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.

William James

the most common type of pessimism is neither philosophical nor religious: it is the pessimism of thwarted desire. ... It is the cynical sneer of the man who, seeking roses, finds only ashes.

Georgia Harkness

I believe in optimism of the will, pessimism of the intellect. But my hope is the people, the society, which is ahead of the government.

Elif Safak

Success is found balanced between optimism and realism, where it is unhindered by the weight of pessimism.

Wes Fesler

The most common cause of low prices is pessimism - some times pervasive, some times specific to a company or industry. We want to do business in such an environment, not because we like pessimism but because we like the prices it produces. It's optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer.