I have been judged to be a pessimist but what abyss of ignorance and low egoism is not hidden in one who thinks that Man is the god of himself and that his future can only be triumphant?
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The man who can centre his thoughts and hopes upon something transcending self can find a certain peace in the ordinary troubles of life, which is impossible to the pure egoist.
Self-will in the man who does not reckon wisely is by itself the weakest of all things.
A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will's freedom after it.
From compassion springs humility. The ego is verily a gateway to hell. The person who is egoistic is far from being religious.
A pessimist is a man who tells the truth prematurely.
I am not a pessimist; to perceive evil where it exists is, in my opinion, a form of optimism.
It is in his knowledge that man has found his greatness and his happiness, the high superiority which he holds over the other animals who inhabit the earth with him, and consequently no ignorance is probably without loss to him, no error without evil.
A pessimist is a person who has had to listen to too many optimists.
That man is prudent who neither hopes nor fears anything from the uncertain events of the future.
The person you consider ignorant and insignificant is the one who came from God, that he might learn bliss from grief and knowledge from gloom.