Quotes About Cynicism

A serious, honest mind understands—and can understand—nothing of history. History in return is marvelously suited to delight an erudite cynic.

Only a monster can allow himself the luxury of seeing things as they are.

The only thing the young should be taught is that there is virtually nothing to be hoped for from life. One dreams of a Catalogue of Disappointments which would include all the disillusionments reserved for each and every one of us to be posted in the schools.

The best of myself, that point of light which distances me from everything, I owe to my infrequent encounters with a few bitter fools, a few disconsolate bastards, who, victims of the rigor of their cynicism, could no longer attach themselves to any vice.

Toplum - bir kurtar?c?lar cehennemi! Diogenes'in elinde lambas?yla arad???, ilgisiz biriydi.

What a notion, to place a clown like Diogenes in so lofty a niche!

How many times, in their heart of hearts, must they not envy the doctrinal offhandedness of their enemies! The leftist's despair is to battle in the name of principles that forbid him cynicism.

It is not misfortune but happiness—insolent happiness, it is true—which leads to rancor and sarcasm.

To deliver blows none of which land, to attack everyone without anyone's noticing, to shoot arrows whose poison you alone receive!

If only media people would stop reaching for the low-hanging fruit, which is cynicism and pessimism, and stopped trying so hard to be hip and cool and have a swagger.

What could be more absurd than to assemble a crowd to witness a man and woman promising to love each other for the rest of their lives, when we know what human creatures are, — men so thoroughly selfish and unprincipled, women so vain and frivolous?

You made up the truth and then buried the real thing under so much garbage that people grew weary of trying to dig through it and instead just accepted what you offered. It was the easy way out and humans were programmed to always go that way.

That's the trouble with people like them, I suppose; whenever you think you're detecting the first signs of them starting to behave responsibly, it's just them being even more devious and underhand than usual.

In the end, ... that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope?

In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?

Beware the pull on your heartstrings -- it's often the pursestrings that are actually being reached for.

And isn't that what we all want deep down? To drop the cynicism and defensiveness, to give up the mathematics of hatred, to melt the hardness of another's heart and in the process melt our own walls too?

She's not buying [the lie], but there's nothing else on the shelves.

as the public grows more and more cynical, the politician feels less and less compelled to take his promises seriously.

A dirty joke is a sort of mental rebellion.

We will need to work hard to break the cynicism, talk straight and rebuild trust in politics.

I read some of my stories recently and thought, 'How in the hell did I get away with that?' I had some really raw cynicism in some of them.

It's almost impossible to reconcile the realities of how one feels during the day, hour by hour. But I approach things not cynically.

Since you knew they was goin' to cheat you anyway, I recorded under any name with all of 'em.