For instance, people call me a pessimist; and if it is pessimism to think, with Sophocles, that's not to have been born is best,' then I do not reject the designation.
But the disease of feeling germed,And primal rightness took the tinct of wrong;Ere nescience shall be reaffirmedHow long, how long? Before Life and After (1909)
'I know people say I'm a pessimist; but I don't believe I am naturally; I like a lot of things so much; but I could never get over the idea that it would be better for us to be without both the pleasures and the pains; and that the best experience would be some sort of sleep. Thomas Hardy: Interviews and Recollections (1999)