I don't view it as optimism over pessimism. I view it as a perspective--things might not "work out" but even if they don't all will be well, or can be well, if one practices acceptance. Acceptance is a tricky word/concept. It doesn't have to mean that we think that something that violates our moral code, for example, is ok and that we don't wish it would change and that we won't work toward change. It can just mean that in the moment and from moment to moment, we realize what we can and cannot control and find inner serenity. I spoke to all that here two years ago: https://medium.com/p/86877724cd6b

(by the way, I love Moonstruck)

I liked the quote you led off with. Reminds me of the Robert Frost quote from me you liked the other day. I dug deeper into the Frost quote. It's more applicable to today than I had realized.

“In all your years and all your travels,” the interviewer asked, “what do you think is the most important thing you’ve learned about life?”

"[Frost] paused a moment, then with the twinkle sparkling under those brambly eyebrows he replied: “In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on. In all the confusions of today, with all our troubles . . . with politicians and people slinging the word fear around, all of us become discouraged . . . tempted to say this is the end, the finish. But life — it goes on. It always has. It always will. Don’t forget that." [ellipses in original]

So neither optimism nor pessimism. Pragmatism.