Echoes

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.

While I breathe, I hope.

The quality I look for most is optimism: especially optimism in the face of reverses and apparent defeat.

Optimism is true moral courage.

Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does it appear that the happiest lot of terrestrial existence can set us above the want of this general blessing; or that life, when the gifts of nature and of fortune are accumulated upon it, would not still be wretched, were it not elevated and delighted by the expectation of some new possession, of some enjoyment yet behind, by which the wish shall at last be satisfied, and the heart filled up to its utmost extent.

There is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope.

They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

It isn't all over; everything has not been invented; the human adventure is just beginning.

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions, as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life.

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

There are two things that I want you to make up your minds to: first, that you are going to have a good time as long as you live – I have no use for the sour-faced man – and next, that you are going to do something worthwhile, that you are going to work hard and do the things you set out to do.

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

The sun is new each day.

Love is not consolation, it is light.

The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations.

Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?

Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.

Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms — you'll be able to use them better when you're older.