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I'm not a pessimist at all, but I'm not an optimist, either.

I'm not pessimistic about anything.

It's fashionable in some circles to be pessimistic about America, about conservative solutions, about the Republican Party. I utterly reject that pessimism.

I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.

I personally don't think of myself as either an optimist or a pessimist.

I am not a pessimist; to perceive evil where it exists is, in my opinion, a form of optimism.

My optimism is not based primarily on the successful march of democracy in recent times but rather is based on the experience of having lived in a fear society and studied the mechanics of tyranny that sustain such a society.

Vermonters often ask me whether I am pessimistic about the future of our country. My honest answer is that I am not.