"A pessimist? That's a person who has been intimately acquainted with an optimist"

This quote by Elbert Hubbard is an amusing way of explaining the difference in between an optimist and a pessimist. An optimist is someone who looks at the world with a favorable outlook, thinking that good ideas will occur which the future will be brilliant. A pessimist, on the other hand, is somebody who sees the world in a negative light, anticipating the worst and believing that bad things will take place. By saying that a pessimist is somebody who has been "intimately familiarized" with an optimist, Hubbard is suggesting that the pessimist has actually seen the optimist's positive outlook and has been unable to embrace it for themselves. This quote is a tip that it is important to stay positive and to look for the good in any circumstance.