Quotes About Cynicism

Fuck you," whispers Slothrop. It's the only spell he knows, and a pretty good all-purpose one at that.

People want to believe bad things, I tell myself, glaring around at my classroom. They want to believe the most shocking story. They see you as the worst version of yourself.

Chuck had to come up to Johnnie's mark. He'd been playing with slouches for years, with the cheapest band in town, just going in and out with a briefcase. To a musician, playing below your mark is soul destroying, and he had been doing that for ages, to the point where he was completely cynical about the music.

I'd gotten used to lip-synching without blushing; that's the way it was done. Very few shows were live. We were getting a little bit cynical about the tripe market. You realized that you were really in one of the sleaziest businesses there is, without actually being a gangster. It was a business where the only time people laughed was when they'd screwed someone else over.

Miranda rolls her eyes. "Passing over," she says. "That's nice. Is that anything like kicking the bucket? Keeling over, taking a dirt nap, biting the big one?

Mrs. Vice turned to the weddings page. She liked to look at the smiling brides and imagine how miserable they would soon be.

I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we're lead to is a life not fully lived. Cynicism is fear, and it's worse than fear - it's active disengagement.

lot of the UN staff call themselves human rights experts but need a shoulder to cry on each time there's a killing. They belong in an office in Switzerland. Many of my French friends feign weary resignation whenever violence erupts, but that attitude was picked up on the cheap in some smoke-filled café. They haven't ever struggled and failed, haven't earned their cynicism. Ken's problem isn't cynicism, it's optimism out of control.

We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs.

Certainly, it seems true enough that there's a good deal of irony in the world... I mean, if you live in a world full of politicians and advertising, there's obviously a lot of deception.

I loathe and detest all this trivialisation of politics.

I have a grim outlook on the world, and in particular on humanity. Spent years denying it, but I am very misanthropic. And I live alone on a mountain for a reason.

I had never been able when there to fully elude the awareness that I was surrounded by thieves and killers, each of whom had a very good explanation for his or her acts but none of whom gave the impression of being willing to put up with questionable behavior from anyone else ever again.

It is hard to see how a great man can be an atheist. Without the sustaining influence of faith in a divine power we could have little faith in ourselves. We need to feel that behind us is intelligence and love. Doubters do not achieve; skeptics do not contribute; cynics do not create. Faith is the great motive power, and no man realizes his full possibilities unless he has the deep conviction that life is eternally important, and that his work, well done, is a part of an unending plan.

Give me six lines written by the most honorable of men, and I will find an excuse in them to hang him.

Hey. Sometimes life is a shit flavored Popsicle.

When people are trapped in this downward spiral for years, especially those who are downstream of Development, they often feel stuck in a system that pre-ordains failure and leaves them powerless to change the outcomes. This powerlessness is often followed by burnout, with the associated feelings of fatigue, cynicism, and even hopelessness and despair.

Every man over forty is a scoundrel.

Do you know what a pessimist is A man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it.

A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it.

That's why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.

I get asked a lot about getting into politics. I say, 'Take a look at politics. You tell me what seems appealing about that.'

Cultures live in one of three states. The first state is barbarism. Barbarians believe that the customs of their village are the laws of nature and that anyone who doesn't live the way they live is beneath contempt and requiring redemption or destruction. The third state is decadence. Decadents cynically believe that nothing is better than anything else. If they hold anyone in contempt, it is those who believe in anything. Nothing is worth fighting for.

I have seen much of human beings over a long period, and I have learnt how little good to expect from them.