Leadership Quote by Chauncey Depew

Depew’s line lands like a parlor joke with a razor in it: a neat little syllogism that pretends to praise optimism while actually winking at misogyny. The “pessimist” isn’t wrong because he judges harshly; he’s wrong because he lacks appetite. The “optimist,” meanwhile, isn’t hopeful about women’s goodness but about their “badness” being available, enjoyable, and presumably consequence-free. It’s the old gentleman’s trick of dressing desire up as philosophy, turning a sexual double standard into a witty taxonomy of temperaments.

The intent is social, not analytical. Depew was a Gilded Age political celebrity known for after-dinner speaking, and this reads like clubroom entertainment: safe naughtiness for men who wanted to feel worldly without saying anything too explicit. The joke depends on an audience primed to treat “women” as a category to be rated, distrusted, and traded in stories. It flatters male cynicism while offering a loophole: you can keep your suspicion and still call yourself an “optimist,” as long as you’re hoping for scandal.

Subtextually, the quote polices gender and power. “Bad” isn’t defined; it’s a flexible label that can mean sexual autonomy, moral looseness, or simply noncompliance. By making the punchline hinge on hoping women are “bad,” it reasserts a worldview where women’s value is bound to male fantasy and male judgment. The brilliance, such as it is, lies in its efficiency: one sentence that converts prejudice into a laugh line, and laughter into permission.