look on the bright side of something—see a favorable or hopeful aspect of a bad or difficult situation:
- I was not the kind of kid who looked on the bright side of anything; I was never optimistic…
take a dim view of something—regard smth. with disapproval:
- During the course of your educational career you will meet many book lovers who will take a dim view of you marking books which are not your own.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase see in a mirror, dimly—(the Bible) is used to say that humans have a fundamentally clouded, fractured, and limited perception of reality (also: see through a glass darkly):
- When St Paul says that “we see in a mirror dimly” he is reminding us about our inability to see clearly, and truly, in the world.