The Daily Optimist  /  Workshop
Signed in as Editor ADMIN Reader → Sign out
📖 Introduction ✍️ Entries 🌟 Optimists 🗂 Framework 📱 Widget 📚 Resources 👥 Readers 🔬 Research 🏠 12 Rooms 📅 Planner 🌟 Endorsements 📬 Waitlist 📚 Books 💬 Quotes
January
Curiosity · Optimism
4
Why Did My Mom Let the Leprechauns Take the Credit…
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Why Stephen King Moved His Desk to the Corner
Stephen King
Borges's Paradise
Jorge Luis Borges
Jefferson's Confession
Thomas Jefferson
February
Love · Kindness
13
You Are a Child of the Universe
Max Ehrmann
Begin Anywhere
John Cage
Always Make New Mistakes
Esther Dyson
Make the Days Count
Muhammad Ali
Life Comes With a Mother
Unknown
My Favorite Day
A.A. Milne
Begin Anywhere
John Cage
Always Make New Mistakes
Esther Dyson
A Misty Morning
Unknown
Like Stars
Unknown
Home Is Where the Dog Greets You
Unknown
An Angel by Your Side
Blessing
Your Only Obligation Is to Yourself
Richard Bach
March
Courage · Courage
34
What's the One Thing the Nazis Could Never Take fr…
Viktor Frankl
What Movie Did MLK Love?
Martin Luther King Jr.
Did Amelia Earhart Like Coffee or Tea?
Amelia Earhart
How Did Jimmy Stewart Make Johnny Carson Cry?
Jimmy Stewart
What Did Carl Sagan and the Dalai Lama Talk About?
Dalai Lama
How Was John Lennon as a Dad?
John Lennon
What Did Gandhi and Franklin Have in Common?
Mahatma Gandhi
The Wall He Built Ten Years Before Anyone Called
Did Gandhi Really Starve Himself to Stop a War?
Mahatma Gandhi
Why Did Maya Angelou Stop Speaking for Five Years?
Maya Angelou
Why Did Lincoln Keep a File of Death Threats in Hi…
Abraham Lincoln
What Did Teddy Roosevelt Do After Getting Shot in …
Theodore Roosevelt
Why Did Harriet Tubman Carry a Gun on the Undergro…
Harriet Tubman
How Many Times Was Walt Disney Told He Lacked Imag…
Walt Disney
Why Did Oprah Get Fired from Her First TV Job for …
Oprah Winfrey
What Did Jane Goodall Do When Scientists Told Her …
Jane Goodall
What Did Anne Frank's Father Remove from Her Diary…
Anne Frank
Why Did Jim Valvano's Father Pack His Bags Before …
Jim Valvano
What Did the Young Lincoln Say the First Time He S…
Abraham Lincoln
What Is the Difference Between a Leader and a Mana…
Seth Godin
What Is the Difference Between Religion and Faith?
Seth Godin
What Did Robin Williams Do When Christopher Reeve …
Christopher Reeve
What Happened When Mister Rogers Asked a Senator t…
Fred Rogers
What Did Bobby Kennedy Say to a Crowd That Didn't …
Robert F. Kennedy, quoting Aeschylus — April 4, 1968, Indianapolis
What Did John Adams Say on the Last Day of His Lif…
John Adams, July 4, 1826 — his last words
What Did Eleanor Roosevelt Do When They Said No?
Eleanor Roosevelt
Who Told Martin Luther King to Tell Them About the…
Mahalia Jackson, August 28, 1963
What Did the Celebrity Chef Do When Puerto Rico Ha…
José Andrés
Well-Behaved Women
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
You've Got This
Contemporary saying
It Is Brave to Be Alive
Anne Sexton
Happiness Starts in a Place the World Cannot Reach
George Washington
Drifting Is Also a Decision
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Cost of Inaction Is Usually Hidden at First
Harry S. Truman
April
Gratitude · Happiness
9
Why Did Mr. Rogers Stop His Speech and Watch His W…
Fred Rogers
What Was Franklin Roosevelt Doing the Day Before P…
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Why Did Dr. Seuss Say There's No One Youer Than Yo…
Dr. Seuss
What Did Neil Pasricha Start Counting After the Wo…
Neil Pasricha
What Did Emerson Write on His Heart That Every Opt…
Ralph Waldo Emerson
What Did Covey Mean When He Said Appreciation Appr…
Stephen R. Covey
Warm Words, Full Moon, Smooth Road
Irish Blessing
Love and Light
Contemporary saying
The World Is Better With You
Unknown
May
Purpose · Kindness
11
What's the Simplest Rule for How to Treat Every Pe…
Travis Hellstrom
The Woman on the Bus in Costa Rica
Chase Adam
Where Your Heart Is
Irish Proverb
You Make Everything Beautiful
Katharine Susannah Prichard
Set the World on Fire
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Your Feet Follow Your Heart
Irish Proverb
Your Actions Make a Difference
William James
The Most Sacred Thing You Own Cannot Be Seen
James Madison
Protect the Small Fire Inside You
George Washington
The Ego Can Hide Inside Virtue Too
Benjamin Franklin
June
Creativity · Optimism
7
What Concert Would Tolkien Go To?
Why Did Carl Sagan Put Naked Humans on a Spacecraf…
Neil deGrasse Tyson, often attributed to Carl Sagan
Who Was the Woman in the Magic Shop Who Changed a …
Ruth, as quoted by James Doty MD
Why Was the Stethoscope Invented Because a Doctor …
Isaac Newton
What Does a Dream Have in Common with a Letter Lef…
Mongolian Proverb
What Happens the Day Before a Breakthrough?
Peter Diamandis
The World Is Your Canvas
Henry David Thoreau
July
Perseverance · Courage
10
What Did Conan O'Brien Say the Night He Lost Every…
Conan O'Brien
Beautiful People Do Not Just Happen
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Brave to Keep Going
Bianca Sparacino
Learn to Dance in the Rain
Vivian Greene
Life Is Tough, But So Are You
Stephanie Bennett-Henry
Dance in the Rain
Vivian Greene
Life Is Tough, But So Are You
Stephanie Bennett-Henry
She Spent 76 Years Proving One Man Told the Truth
Sue Eakin
When Talent Is Uneven, Effort Still Counts
James A. Garfield
Good Intentions Are Not Strong Enough
Benjamin Franklin
August
Simplicity · Simplicity
14
What Did Robert Frost Learn from an Entire Lifetim…
Robert Frost
What One Word Did Warren Buffett and Bill Gates Bo…
Warren Buffett
Did Gandhi Bite His Nails?
Mahatma Gandhi
What Did the Most Powerful Man in the World Write …
Marcus Aurelius
What Did Lincoln Do With His Angriest Letters?
Abraham Lincoln
What Did Gandhi Admit That No One Expected?
Mahatma Gandhi
What Did Derek Sivers Do With $22 Million?
Derek Sivers
What Did Leo Babauta Change First?
Leo Babauta
What Did Derek Sivers Say Was the Number One Most …
Derek Sivers
What Did Joseph Heller Say He Had That the Billion…
Joseph Heller (as told by Derek Sivers in Anything You Want)
Why Do Really Successful People Say No to Almost E…
Warren Buffett
The Little Things
Robert Brault
Delight in the Little Things
John Ruskin
Don't Postpone Joy
Unknown
September
Connection · Simplicity
5
What's the Difference Between Saving Someone and B…
Travis Hellstrom
The Only Cement
Woodrow Wilson
My Favorite Day
A.A. Milne
Hard to Find, Lucky to Have
Irish Proverb
It Is Better to Be Alone Than Poorly Accompanied
George Washington
October
Kindness · Kindness
20
Why Did Kurt Vonnegut Say There's Only One Rule?
Kurt Vonnegut
Why Did a Gorilla Ask for a Kitten?
Jane Goodall
What Did the Young Lincoln Do When He Saw Boys Bur…
Abraham Lincoln
How Was Mister Rogers as a Neighbor?
Fred Rogers
Did Mother Teresa Have a Cat?
Mother Teresa
What Did Robin Williams Do That Made Superman Want…
Robin Williams
Why Did Nelson Mandela Learn the Language of His O…
Paraphrase of Mandela's reasoning
Why Did Fred Rogers Weigh Exactly 143 Pounds His E…
Fred Rogers
Why Did C.S. Lewis Write Back to Every Child Who S…
C.S. Lewis
Why Did Charles Schwab Refuse to Criticize Anyone …
Charles Schwab
How Did Teddy Roosevelt Know Every Single Person's…
Theodore Roosevelt
What Did Jeff Bezos's Grandfather Tell Him When He…
Jeff Bezos's grandfather, Lawrence Preston Gise
Why Did Darwin Actually Mean 'Survival of the Kind…
Commonly attributed to Charles Darwin (paraphrase of Darwin's ideas; exact phrasing is Leon Megginson's 1963 interpretation)
What Was Abraham Lincoln's First Essay About?
Abraham Lincoln
Why Did Jesus Make the Enemy the Hero?
Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 10:36)
Why Did Mister Rogers Say the Same Thing at the En…
Fred Rogers
What Did the World's Most Famous Musician Do for F…
John Lennon
What Did Marilyn Monroe Do When Ella Fitzgerald Co…
Ella Fitzgerald
What Did a Broke Entertainer Promise a Saint He Wo…
Danny Thomas
What Did Rachel Naomi Remen Learn from Her Dying P…
Rachel Naomi Remen
November
Hope · Optimism
35
What Did Gandhi Actually Say About Changing the Wo…
Mahatma Gandhi
Why Did MLK Keep Quoting a Man Who Never Saw His D…
Martin Luther King Jr.
Why Did Steve Jobs Thank Apple for Firing Him?
Steve Jobs
He Probably Never Said It. It's Still True.
Albert Einstein
Changed. Not Reduced.
Maya Angelou
What Question Did Henry Ford Say Changes Everythin…
Henry Ford (attributed)
You Cannot Get Through a Single Day Without Making…
Jane Goodall
How Did Franklin Spend His Thursday Nights?
Benjamin Franklin
How Did Mark Twain Know the Exact Year He Would Di…
Mark Twain
Why Did Benjamin Franklin Write His Own Gravestone…
Benjamin Franklin
What Did Seth Godin Say Is the Secret of Leadershi…
Seth Godin
Who Talked C.S. Lewis Into Believing in God?
C.S. Lewis
What Happened When the World's Smartest Man Met th…
Albert Einstein to Charlie Chaplin (attributed)
The Lesson Thoreau Hid in a Butterfly
Henry David Thoreau
The Buddha's Answer to 'I Want Happiness'
Traditional Buddhist teaching
Two Friends Who Had Never Met
Travis Hellstrom
Walk With the Dreamers
Wilferd A. Peterson
Born With Wings
Rumi
The Magic of Beginnings
Eckhart Tolle
Go Confidently
Henry David Thoreau
The Best Is Yet to Be
Robert Browning
Wildly Capable
Unknown
Spring Is Sure to Follow
Guinean Proverb
She Believed She Could
R.S. Grey
The Biggest Adventure
Oprah Winfrey
The Best Is Yet to Be
Robert Browning
To Infinity and Beyond
Buzz Lightyear
Believe There Is Good
Unknown
What Abraham Maslow Wanted Us to Understand About …
Abraham Maslow
Jon Kabat-Zinn on the Quiet Power of Being Truly S…
Jon Kabat-Zinn
What Did Elvis Do When the Grand Ole Opry Told Him…
Elvis Presley
Why Did Walt Disney Invent Mickey Mouse on a Train…
Walt Disney
What Robert F. Kennedy Said to Students Living Und…
Robert F. Kennedy
Why Did Lincoln Fill His Cabinet With Men Who Had …
Library of Congress summary of Lincoln's cabinet
Why Did Kennedy Call Eisenhower on the Day of the …
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library chronology / Miller Center recording summary
December
Joy · Happiness
4
What Did Dr. Seuss Mean by 'Today I Shall Behave'?
Dr. Seuss (attributed)
Find Joy in Each Day
Unknown
Hold On to Happiness
Unknown
Life Is Either Daring or Nothing
Helen Keller
Unassigned
No month set
0