These remarks are taken from Standing For Something by Gordon B. Hinckley. The subtitle is: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts And Homes.
Optimism In The Face Of Cynicism
A sustained diet of negative point of view has 
serious repercussions. This spirit of negativism grows and begins to hang as a cloud over the land, providing a misleading portrait of the facts.
The snide remark, the sarcastic jibe, the cutting down of associates—these too often are the essence of our conversation.
We are creatures of our thinking. We can talk ourselves into defeat, or we can talk ourselves into victory. We must speak affirmatively and cultivate an attitude of confidence. We all have the capacity to do so. Our strength will give strength to others.
Too often we have a stronger inclination to emphasize each other’s faults than to talk of our respective virtues. Criticism and pessimism destroy families, undermine institutions of all kinds, defeat nearly everyone, and spread a shroud of gloom over entire nations.
Above and beyond the negative, the critical, the cynical, and the doubtful, we can and must learn to look to the positive and the affirmative.
