Feeling 'philosophical' this week, I have been ruminating on the subject of optimists and pessimists.
Someone described an optimist as 'a person looking for lodgings, with a violin under one arm and a trombone under the other'.
James Cabell put it better when he said
"The optimists proclaim that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimists fear that this is true."
Schopenhauer observed that so much of human unhappiness was due to our unrealistic expectations.
As Alexander Pope said:
"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he will never be disappointed".
I have heard people say:
 "I was really looking forward to that party, but it was such a let-down.  The next day I was dragged, unwillingly, by a friend to a party and it was great!"
I think, to a greater or lesser degree, we are all a bit optimistic and a bit pessimistic.  'Fear cannot exist without hope, nor hope without fear'.
There is one meaningful joke on this issue that is worth repeating:


A young man, travelling on foot in a rural area, sees a farmer in a field.  He asks the farmer where he is and the farmer replies "Smallovia".
"Do you have a government ?" the traveller asks.
"Yes, we have a two party system - the Optimists and the Pessimists," the farmer says.
"What are their policies?"
"Well, the Optimists believe that in ten years' time we're all going to be eating shit."
"Then what do the Pessimists believe?"
"They believe that there's not going to be enough to go round."