Our Centers for Ethics:

Quotations: Hope, faith, idealism, optimism

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Optimism is the father that leads to achievement.
— Helen Keller, American social activist, public speaker and author (1880-1968)

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
— Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights leader (1929-1968), from his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech

What is important is not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens to us.
— Jean-Paul Sartre, French existentialist writer (1905-1980)

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.
— Martin Luther, German priest and scholar whose questioning of certain church practices led to the Protestant Reformation (1483-1546)

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
— Albert Einstein, Swiss mathematician, physicist and public philosopher (1879-1955)

I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on the way.
— Carl Sandburg, American poet and writer (1878-1967)

Great hopes make great men.
— Thomas Fuller, English divine and author (1608-1661)

The future belongs to those who believe in their dreams.
— Eleanor Roosevelt, American stateswoman, First Lady (1884-1962)

Idealism increases in direct proportion to ones distance from the problem.
— John Galsworthy, English novelist (1867-1933)

Ah, but a mans reach should exceed his grasp,
Or whats a heaven for?
— Robert Browning, English poet (1812-1889)

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.
— Herbert Hoover, American public servant, U.S. president ((1874-1964)

Those who believe they can do something are probably right — and so are those who believe they cant.
— Unknown

A pessimist is a man who has been compelled to live with an optimist.
— Elbert Hubbard, American entrepreneur and philosopher (founder of the Roycroft firm) (1856-1915)

A leader is a dealer in hope.
— Napoleon Bonaparte, French general and emperor (1769-1821)

If we were logical, the future would be bleak indeed. But we are more than logical. We are human beings, and we have faith and we have hope, and we can work.
— Jacques Cousteau, 20th-century French explorer, inventor, environmental activist and author

Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny.
— Carl Schurz, German-American politician (1829-1906)

There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
— John Ruskin, British critic and author (1819-1900)

Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.
— Horace Walpole, English author and man of letters (1717-1797)

Light tomorrow with today.
— Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (1806-1861)

He who has lost confidence can lose nothing more.
— Boiste

No great deed is done by falterers who ask for certainty.
— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), English novelist (1819-1880)

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