History is a Source of Optimism

Professor Tim Cummins, President, World Commerce and Contracting

"I am optimistic because of the past. Looking back over history, humanity has faced many challenges and taken many wrong turns, yet its progress in raising the quality of life has been nothing short of remarkable.”

President Barack Obama

 “We have to reject the notion that we’re suddenly gripped by forces that we cannot control. We’ve got to embrace the longer and more optimistic view of history and the part that we play in it. If you are sceptical of such optimism, I will say something that may sound controversial. I used to say this to my staff in the White House, young interns who would come in, any group of young people that I met with, and that is that by just about every measure, America is better, and the world is better, than it was 50 years ago, 30 years ago, or even 10 years ago.”

Ben Jealous, Director, Sierra Club

“I am optimistic ultimately because I choose to look at history in centuries and not in days or years or decades." 

John Stanhope, Chancellor, Deakin University

"History shows that while many problems seem insurmountable optimistic creative people make the difference. New jobs will be created, new industries will emerge and an exciting new future will continue to evolve.”

Pip Marlow, CEO of Salesforce.com ANZ

"History is still being written. Optimism is a strategy to make our history a better one."

Tenzing Lamsang

“Optimism? The broad sweep of history shows we are more prosperous, peaceful and equal than at any time in history. Yes, we have our issues (the biggest one is climate change) but humanity is getting better”

Leandro Prados de la Escosura, Emeritus Professor of Economic History at Universidad Carlos Iii De Madrid

"As an economic historian, I cannot be other thing than an optimist, because history is very optimistic."

John Salter, Disaster Resilience Consultant

"What makes me optimistic? That humans can exercise free will guided by purpose. History is threaded with struggles - at all levels, from individuals to global efforts - to achieve. That freedom often generates a struggle between opposites, but that is the dialectic we all move forward with."

Michael Stallard

“I believe people can work together to make the future brighter. Not everything is in our control, certainly, but time and again throughout history optimistic people have pulled together and persevered to overcome obstacles and achieve great ends."

Dush Wimal, General Manager at Weather Intelligence

"In times of adversity, I look back through history, and I look at what the human race has achieved, and that gives me hope and encourages me to stay optimistic and remain positive as well."

Wendy A Harris KC

"What makes me optimistic is the galvanising effect of significant adversity; history demonstrates it gives people the opportunity to show what they are truly made of and can bring out the best human qualities in all of us."

Raya Bidshahri, Founder & CEO of Awecademy

“There is nothing to be gained from blind optimism. But an optimistic mindset can be grounded in rationality and evidence. It may be hard to believe, but we are living in the most exciting time in human history. Despite all of our ongoing global challenges, humanity has never been better off. Not only are we living healthier, happier, and safer lives than ever before, but new technological tools are also opening up a universe of opportunities.”

Gil Troy, Historian and Writer

"I am an optimist because I'm an historian - and I compare all the good of today with all the bad of yesterday and know that tomorrow will be even better; and I'm an optimist because I am a Zionist, living the miracle of Jewish redemption after 2,000 years of wandering. Golda Meir supposedly said you can't be a Zionist and a pessimist, so I chose Zionism and optimism!"

Bonnie K. Goodman, Historian

 "I and we can all be optimistic that we see in history that society does learn from its mistakes and that is why history education is so important because it’s our best defense and also the best hope for the future."

Rabbi Laibl Wolf

"For mine I am an optimist by nature. My reading of history is that the world has always stepped back from the edge of disaster. Against all odds, here we are, alive and kicking."

David Rothkopf

"Optimism is realism. That may be a hard concept to embrace in the middle of a rapidly worsening global pandemic and a crushing economic crisis. But history shows it is the right one."

John Kolm

"The lesson of history and of all those who have led difficult lives is that you can simply decide, regardless of circumstance and evidence, that you’ll be positive, optimistic and energetic no matter how formidable the waves."

Bill Lang, Small Business Australia

“I'm an armchair amateur reader of history and what makes me optimistic and very confident about that future is the knowledge of how society and humans have collectively, over many, many thousands and tens of thousands of years, been able to improve their ability to survive and thrive in all number of conditions.

“While traditional media and the tsunami of social media looks to get the attention of everyone's amygdala and making them fearful, the historical knowledge of where we've been, where we've come from, the sorts of things that humans have been able to overcome, makes me incredibly optimistic about any number of things that in many cases we're told threaten our very survival.

“I'm optimistic that human beings together will continue, as they always have, to rise to the occasion and, through innovation, solve a number of these issues and have us all further evolve.”                   

Professor the Hon Gareth Evans AC QC

“However bad things may seem to be, they often don’t look quite so bad when looked at from a longer historical perspective – that’s true of conflict generally, mass atrocity crimes, civil violence, major human rights violations, and certainly of poverty – and there is usually at least some objective ground for thinking there may be a way of solving, or at least containing the problem in question.”

Teresa Engelhard

 “What makes me optimistic today? I like to zoom out and look at where we've come from, and it's really hard not to be optimistic when you do that. Particularly I think, being a female in our society, you just have to zoom out a little bit - a hundred years - and you can see a huge amount of progress. Zoom out even further, and you can see the progress of mankind, going from our violent, alpha primate programming to using our intellect to develop an ability to evolve ourselves. We, speaking broadly about mankind, have used our own thinking to design transcended capability, shifting our evolutionary path from biological molecules to thought processes. And so I think our challenge is continuing to shift in that positive direction and history has proven that it's at least possible, if not inevitable.”

Stephen P Fernando, CFO, Whitsunday Regional Council

"Human progress and development over the last 100,000 years or so (the age of the Homo Sapiens) has been driven by curiosity and necessity, supported by a healthy dose of optimism (can do spirit). Optimism has made a significant contribution to getting us to where we are today as a species and will continue to contribute to determining our future destinies."

Richard Siegersma, Executive Director, Swell Centre

"What makes me optimistic? As I ponder history and life itself, I live with the knowledge that Good wins in the long run. The life force cannot be suffocated to death. No matter what devastation or calamity our humanity inflicts on itself, the Good always wins in the long run. I trust in the Good always winning and do my best to be on the winning side. The life force makes sure there are many of us on the winning side!"

Lee Zimmerman, Freelance music writer

 "All throughout history, anything that’s ever been achieved has been the result of optimism, a belief that anything is possible through faith, effort and the ability to make something better, even when the odds are against it. Success doesn’t happen unless we first believe that indeed we can make it happen."

Craig Saphin

 "History shows us that people have an unending capability to morph and reinvent so that the people networks and the parameters around them are leveraged and used to create opportunities for success."

George Abraham, Chief Information Security Officer at the Novatti Group

"The history of the human race makes me optimistic. We have overcome so many challenges, made countless inventions, achieved so many incredible feats that I cannot help but be super optimistic. There is no challenge too big!"

Ashley Naylor, Yarra Valley Water

"What makes me optimistic? I look to the past. There are so many problems that humanity has triumphed over and many that I have overcome personally. This gives me confidence about the future."

Nick Nichola, Managing Partner, K&L Gates

“I think we should be optimistic about the months and years ahead. If history tells us anything, times of global hardship and tragedy are usually followed by a period of positivity and entrepreneurship."

Damian Wells, Managing Director of Coliban Water.

"Optimism, where would we be without it? Everything that's been worth doing in the history of humankind has, at its core, the key ingredient, optimism, the ability to see that there was a way through the particular challenge and that there was going to be a better result on the other side of that particular effort.

"I love working with other positive and optimistic people. I love seeing whatever a given challenge might be in working with the team to try to resolve and work our way through that, whether that's a team at work, across agencies, or a community team. They're the things that make me optimistic.

"Having experiences of positive outcomes and seeing the result of that optimism, things sometimes go better than expected or work out in a different way than expected but a positive way, nonetheless, and, and, you know, even when things don't go entirely to plan, we're always learning something, and that starts to build into future success. So something about optimism for me, we should trust our gut a little bit more than we do today. Our gut, some people think it sounds a bit agricultural, but I think our gut is, you know, bringing together a lot of experiences and knowledge and skills and forming a judgment. And I think sometimes our gut tells us that we can be successful in something, or it could be warning us against something else. Either way, I think you know, our gut has some real value to play in terms of us navigating some of these really significant challenges that we're all facing currently."

Kerry Anderson, Author of 'Entrepreneurship: It's Everybody's Business!'

 “There are only two choices in life. As long as you are prepared to get out of bed every day I believe that you are an optimist. At every point in history, there is 'hardship' of all different forms. It’s how you deal with it that matters. It is purely and simply up to us. No blaming anyone else!”

Gary Olson

"In terms of optimism of the will, Gramsci means that humans have the capacity to overcome new challenges, to courageously move forward and create a better world in the face of very long odds. We can’t predict the course of history but human agency is paramount and history is made by human will."

Read more of these inspiring quotable quotes in "Optimism: The How and Why" by Victor Perton, CEO of The Centre for Optimism.

Victor Perton

Generally, optimists attract other optimists, and those other optimists will boost your own optimism, joy and happiness. It can become a virtuous circle, but you first need to seek it out or set it up.

Project Optimism has produced "The Optimist's Gratitude Journal: 100 days to share and develop your gratitude" which is very helpful.

See https://www.amazon.com/Optimists-Gratitude-Journal-develop-gratitude/dp/B09MC5ZNPX