Optimist: The Glass Is Half Full. Pessimist: The Glass Is Half Empty

Josiah Stamp? Vivian F. Rausch? David Dodge? Hugh Overman? Ted Healy? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: Life impressions differ dramatically between people with sunny dispositions versus morose temperaments. This point is cleverly illustrated via the disparate reactions elicited by a container partially filled with liquid:

The optimist says the container is half full.
The pessimist says the container is half empty.

Variants of this saying refer to different containers, e.g., a bottle, a glass, and a gas tank. Josiah Stamp who was the director of the Bank of England has received credit for this expression, but I have not seen a solid citation. Would you please explore the provenance of this proverbial saying?

Quote Investigator: The earliest match found by QI appeared in “The Evening Sun” of Baltimore, Maryland in April 1929. The statement occurred in a filler item without attribution. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:^[1] 1929 April 9, The Evening Sun, (Filler item), Quote Page 1, Column 2, Baltimore, Maryland. (Newspapers_com)

If he says his gas tank is half-full he’s an optimist. If he says it’s half-empty he’s a pessimist.

Based on current evidence the originator remains anonymous.

Josiah Stamp helped to popularize this witty comparison by using it during a speech he gave in 1935, but the saying was already in circulation.

Below are selected citations in chronological order.

In 1908 a precursor appeared in a Minnesota newspaper with an acknowledgement to journalist David Dodge of “The New York World”. A fictional Professor of Mathematics named Nix used wordplay to generate a “curious paradox”. The joke hinged on the equivalence of “half full” and “half empty”. The words “pessimist” and “optimist” were not mentioned:^[2] 1908 December 23, The Minneapolis Journal, Professor Nix and Mathematics by David Dodge of New York World, Quote Page 20, Column 5, Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Newspapers_com)

“You see this glass of mine is half full; yours is half empty, but both contain the same amount of water. They are therefore equal. Now, equals multiplied by the same thing are still equal. Multiply each by 2. Half full multiplied by 2 equals quite full, and half empty multiplied by 2 equals quite empty. Therefore, a glass full of water is equal to a glass empty of water.”

On April 9, 1929 “The Evening Sun” of Maryland printed a match without attribution as mentioned previously:^[3] 1929 April 9, The Evening Sun, (Filler item), Quote Page 1, Column 2, Baltimore, Maryland. (Newspapers_com)

If he says his gas tank is half-full he’s an optimist. If he says it’s half-empty he’s a pessimist.

On April 12, 1929 a newspaper in Wilmington, California printed a joke based on the equivalence of “half full” and “half empty”:^[4] 1929 April 12, The Press, Dick-Tation, Section 2, Quote Page 15, Column 4, Wilmington, California. (Newspapers_com)

Hugh Overman thinks that someone ought to develop a decent gasoline gauge. “As it is now,” he says, “when the indicator points to one-half, you can’t tell whether it means half full or half empty.”

On August 3, 1929 “The Brooklyn Daily Eagle” of New York printed a similar joke:^[5] 1929 August 3, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Reverting to Type by Rian James, Quote Page 9, Column 1, Brooklyn, New York. (Newspapers_com)

. . . Ted Healy’s crack that he couldn’t tell whether the gas tank was half full, or half empty, because the needle pointed half way.

On September 5, 1929 the widely syndicated column “Office Cat” by Junius printed another similar jest:^[6] 1929 September 5, The Cambridge City Tribune, Office Cat by Junius, Quote Page 2, Column 4, Cambridge City, Indiana. (Newspapers_com)

How much gas do we have, Eddie. Egad, Johnnie, it points to half, but whether the darn thing means half-empty or half full, I don’t know.

In 1931 the “Daily Illustrated Times” of Chicago, Illinois printed a one-panel comic called “Art Funn’s Dollar Art”. The comic was inspired by a message sent to the cartoonist by a reader. The panel depicted two men discussing the contents of a bottle of alcohol:^[7] 1931 September 18, Daily Illustrated Times, Art Funn’s Dollar Art (One Panel Comic), Quote Page 10, Column 3, Chicago, Illinois. (GenealogyBank)

Optimist—This bottle is half full.
Pessimist—No, the bottle is half empty.
(Vivian F. Rausch, 2428 Aubert ave.)

In 1933 a column in “The Montreal Daily Star” of Canada printed an instance:
^[8] 1933 September 6, The Montreal Daily Star, The Passing Hour, Quote Page 10, Column 4, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Newspapers_com)

An optimist and a pessimist met one day and sat down at a table on which was a bottle half full of “cheer.”
The Optimist—Well, well; isn’t this fine? A bottle half full of good stuff.
The Pessimist—The thing’s half empty.

On April 4, 1935 “The Daily Telegraph” of London printed a quip delivered by Josiah Stamp during a speech the previous evening:^[9] 1935 April 4, The Daily Telegraph, The Optimist and the Pessimist, Quote Page 9, Column 4, London, England. (Newspapers_com)

Sir Josiah Stamp gave this definition of an optimist and a pessimist when he spoke at the dinner of the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors in London last night:

An optimist is the man who looks at his glass and says it is half full. The pessimist is he who looks at it and says it is half empty.

On April 4, 1935 “The Manchester Guardian” also reported on the Josiah Stamp’s speech. The phrasing of the joke ascribed to Stamp was slightly different:^[10] 1935 April 4, The Manchester Guardian, Future of the Accountant by Our London Staff, Quote Page 15, Column 3, Manchester, England. (Newspapers_com)

Sir Josiah Stamp made lively play with the accountants in proposing the toast of “Trade and Industry.” The optimist, he said, was one who described a glass as being half-full, and the pessimist one who said it was half-empty.

In October 1935 the “Taunton Courier” of England published a piece with many statements contrasting optimists and pessimists:^[11] 1935 October 2, Taunton Courier, Optimists & Pessimists, Quote Page 10, Column 6, Taunton, Somerset, England. (Newspapers_com)

An optimist finds an opportunity in every difficulty, while a pessimist finds a difficulty in every opportunity.

The optimist believes that absence make the heart grow fonder, while the pessimist sighs, “Out of sight, out of mind.”

The optimist is the man who says “Hurrah! My glass is still half full.” The pessimist says, “Alas! my glass is half empty.”

The pessimist grumbles because roses have thorns. The optimist is thankful that thorns have roses.

In November 1935 a letter to the editor published in “The New York Times” attributed the saying to Josiah Stamp:^[12]1935 November 13, New York Times, Section: Letters to the Editor, Letter title: Introducing the Perspectivist, Letter from: Gabriel Wells, Letter date: Nov. 11, 1935, Quote Page 20, Column 5, New … Continue reading

I came recently upon a graphic distinction drawn by Sir Josiah Stamp between an optimist and a pessimist: “A pessimist looks at his glass and says it is half empty; an optimist looks at it and says it is half full.”

In 1942 H. L. Mencken’s valuable tome “A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles” included a pertinent entry:^[13]1942, A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources, Selected and Edited by H. L. Mencken (Henry Louis Mencken), Section: Optimist, Quote Page 876, Alfred A. … Continue reading

An optimist is a man who says the bottle is half full when it’s half empty.
Author unidentified

In conclusion, the earliest instance discovered by QI appeared in April 1929. No attribution was specified; hence, the originator remains unknown. Josiah Stamp was an important locus of transmission. He used an instance during an address he delivered in 1935.

Image Notes: Public domain illustration of a water glass that is half empty or half full. A classic quandary of the optimist versus pessimist. Illustration from neotam at Pixabay. Image has been resized.

(Great thanks to _ynsc_ whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Also, thanks to previous researchers Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro. “The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs” contains a germane 1930 citation, and “The New Yale Book of Quotations” lists the November 13, 1935 attribution to Josiah Stamp in “The New York Times”.)