"Look, any fair-minded boy with a professionally bonded smile on his face and a Carpenters song in his head can be an optimist. Being a pessimist - now that requires faith in one's convictions, a negative capability that would make Keats stand on tiptoes and above all else, creativity." Dave Itzkoff, Lads: A Memoir of Manhood, quoted in David Carr, This Lad's Life: Write, Ogle. Rewrite, Ogle. Drink, Ogle. Repeat., N.Y. Times (Sept. 14, 2004) (link).