The Dilbert Blog: Optimistic Cynic

The Dilbert Blog: Optimistic Cynic:

"People are often surprised to learn that I consider myself an optimist, albeit an optimist with cynical tendencies and a dark side that Lucifer himself would find a little creepy.

...I’m optimistic about myself and about humanity in general. My problem is with the average asshole who I often assume is a self-destructive miscreant, already circling the drain and trying to take me with him. This view is no more “true” than my irrational optimism, but I find it useful to think that way. It keeps me on my toes so I can recognize the most dangerous scams and traps before it’s too late. And of course it helps me write comics.

Despite my dismal view of many individuals, as a matter of preference I give people my trust before they earn it, so long as the downside of doing so isn’t too deadly. But that has less to do with those other people and more to do with who I want to be. I find that trust changes people. They become what you tell them you expect. Likewise, you become what you expect of yourself.

As a human being, you are a collection of many things: skin, bones, brains, experience and emotion. But more than all of that, you are your expectations. That’s why I choose to be an optimist."