“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year”

American columnist Bill Vaughan (1915-1977), writing in the column “Senator Soaper Says,” said this on December 31, 1963:
 
“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in; a pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”
   
The line has been frequently cited every New Year’s Eve. 
 
“I’m going to stay up on New Year’s Eve this year. Not to see the new year in, but to make sure this one leaves” was a saying during the years of the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
   
     
Wikipedia: William E. Vaughan
William E. (“Bill”) Vaughan (October 8, 1915 – February 25, 1977) was an American columnist and author. Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, he wrote a syndicated column for the Kansas City Star from 1946 until his death in 1977. He was published in Reader’s Digest and Better Homes and Gardens under the pseudonym Burton Hillis. He attended Washington University in St. Louis.
 
His folksy aphorisms (published in his “Starbeams” feature) are often collected in books and on Internet sites. Bill Vaughan died at age 61 of lung cancer.
 
Quotations
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. “An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”
 
31 December 1963, Evening World-Herald pg. 16, col. 2:
Senator Soaper Opines:
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in; a pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
 
1 December 1996, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), “The Funnybone,” pg. H5, col. 3:
Optimist stay up until midnight to see the New Year in; pessimists stay up to make sure the old year is gone.
—Joyce Mattinglu, Eddyville, Ky.
   
Google Books
Reader’s Digest Quotable Quotes:
Wit and Wisdom for All Occasions from America’s Most Popular Magazine
By Reader’s Digest Association
Pleasantville, NY: Reader’s Digest
1997
Pg. ?:
AN OPTIMIST STAYS UP UNTIL MIDNIGHT . . .
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. —BILL VAUGHAN in Kansas City Star
 
31 December 1997, The Tennessean (Nashville, TN), “Quote of the Day,” pg. 8D, col. 6:
“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”
—Bill Vaughn
 
Google Books
The 2,320 Funniest Quotes:
The Most Hilarious Quips and One-Liners from AllGreatQuotes.com
By Tom Corr
Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press
2011
Pg. 298:
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
—Bill Vaughan
 
Google Books
Forbes Book of Quotations:
10,000 Thoughts on the Business of Life
Edited by Ted Goodman
New York, NY: Hachette Books
2016
Pg. ?:
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
Bill Vaughn