optimism

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n.

1. A tendency to expect the best possible outcome or dwell on the most hopeful aspects of a situation: "There is a touch of optimism in every worry about one's own moral cleanliness" (Victoria Ocampo).
2. Philosophy.
   1. The doctrine, asserted by Leibniz, that this world is the best of all possible worlds.
   2. The belief that the universe is improving and that good will ultimately triumph over evil.

[French optimisme, from New Latin optimum, the greatest good. See optimum.]

noun

A tendency to expect a favorable outcome or to dwell on hopeful aspects: sanguineness, sanguinity. See hope/despair.

n

Definition: positive beliefs
Antonyms: doubt, gloom, hopelessness, pessimism

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What a programmer is full of after fixing the last bug and before discovering the next last bug. Fred Brooks's book The Mythical Man-Month (See Brooks's Law) contains the following paragraph that describes this extremely well:

See also Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology.

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n

The tendency to look on the bright or happy side of everything, to believe that there is good in everything.

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

The doctrine, or belief, that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong. It is held with greatest tenacity by those most accustomed to the mischance of falling into adversity, and is most acceptably expounded with the grin that apes a smile. Being a blind faith, it is inaccessible to the light of disproof -- an intellectual disorder, yielding to no treatment but death. It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.

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IN BRIEF: A belief that good will prevail over evil.

Seedsmen reckon that their stock in trade is not seeds at all . . . it's optimism. — Geoff Hamilton

Quotes:

"Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery." - Jane Austen

"Optimism. The doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly." - Ambrose Bierce

"An optimist is a proponent of the doctrine that black is white." - Ambrose Bierce

"The world is the best of all possible worlds, and everything in it is a necessary evil." - Francis H. Bradley

"My sun sets to rise again." - Robert Browning

"If Christianity is pessimistic as to man, it is optimistic as to human destiny. Well, I can say that, pessimistic as to human destiny, I am optimistic as to man." - Albert Camus

See more famous quotes about Optimism

Common misspelling(s) of optimism

• optomism

Dansk (Danish)
n. - optimisme

Nederlands (Dutch)
optimisme

Français (French)
n. - optimisme

Deutsch (German)
n. - Optimismus

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αισιοδοξία

Italiano (Italian)
ottimismo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - otimismo (m)

Русский (Russian)
оптимизм

Español (Spanish)
n. - optimismo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - optimism

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
乐观主义

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 樂觀主義

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 낙천주의

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 楽天主義

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) تفاؤل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אופטימיות‬

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