positive assumptions Quotes

What is kinder--to believe the best of people and burden them with a nobility beyond their endurance--or to see them as they are, and accept it because it makes them comfortable?

You would be surprised at the lengths you will go to believe the best about someone if you truly love him

An unfamiliar city is a fine thing. That's the time and place when you can suppose that all the people you meet are nice. It's dream time.

If people are rude, that may be the end of the conversation, and maybe we won't have a subsequent conversation. But I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt and believing the best about the person.

Love overlooks a person’s faults. That’s not always easy, but love believes the best in every person. Anybody can return evil for evil, but God wants His people to help heal wounded hearts.

Etiquette requires the presumption of good until the contrary is proved.

I have always had extraordinarily good relations with very conservative colleagues. And that's not because I agree with any of them or fudge on my positions, but people feel I listen to them and give them the benefit of the doubt. I assume the best of people. And that, I think, is an attitude that is maybe rare in politics.

Assume that people are good until you actually and specifically learn differently. And even then, know that they have potential for change and that you can help them out.

The desire to believe the best of people is a prerequisite for intercourse with strangers; suspicion is reserved for friends.

The presumption of innocence is not just a legal concept. In commonplace terms, it rests on that generosity of spirit which assumes the best, not the worst, of the stranger.

The trouble with most coaches is that they start with the assumption that everybody is a turd. And that ain't right.

Fairness is actually not having presumptive negativity written about you and always assuming the worst about you.

Until he gives you a reason not to trust him, behave as though you trust him.