The Pollyanna/Quotes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


"Lemon, what happened in your childhood to make you believe people are good?"
Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock
"In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."
Anne Frank

I believe the morning sun
Always gonna shine again and
I believe a pot of gold
Waits at every rainbow's end, oh
I believe in roses kissed with dew
Why shouldn't I believe the same in you?
...
You may say I'm a fool
Feelin' the way that I do
You can call me Pollyanna
Say I'm crazy as a loon
I believe in silver linings
And that's why I believe in you

Kafuka Fuura: The world is filled with hope! Like I said, nobody would ever try to die on such a beautiful day.
Nozomu Itoshiki: There's one right here, next to you.
Kafuka: Nobody at all!
Nozomu: Okay... Then what was I doing just a moment ago?
Kafuka: Oh, *that* was... You were trying to make yourself taller, right?
Nozomu: ...Eh?
Kafuka: I just remembered... My father often tried to make himself taller. Whenever times were hard, my father would try to make himself taller. When he got downsized, when the debt collectors came calling, when the company went out of business, he tried to make himself taller. My mother also tried to make herself taller that one time...

He remembered in Glinda's story that he had always been slow to see the negative, and it was comforting.

Narration of Zal thinking about himself, Chasing the Dragon

"Sometimes life puts you in difficult circumstances you didn't choose, but being happy or unhappy is a choice you make, and I've choosen to make the best of things that I can."

"What an impressive ability to overwrite his memory of losing his power and being forced to take the least wanted job in the Netherworld. This is another one of his formidable powers. He can convert any suffering he's been through into something positive."

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life!
Always look on the light side of life!

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

—"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," Monty Python's Life of Brian

Maghernus wanted to ask Andrej if he really was a stormtrooper. He settled for saying, "You're not exactly what I expected."
"Life," the soldier said, looking off to the side in what appeared to be distracted consideration, "is a series of very wonderful surprises, until a final bad one."

Helsreach