quotations about cynicism
The cynic is to the world what the confirmed bachelor is to mankind.
E. P. DAY
attributed, Day's Collacon
Those who are too weak to make a stand against reality have no choice but to obliterate themselves by identifying with it. They are never rationally reconciled to civilization. Instead, they bow to it, secretly accepting the identity of reason and domination, of civilization and the ideal, however much they may shrug their shoulders. Well-informed cynicism is only another mode of conformity. These people willingly embrace or force themselves to accept the rule of the stronger as the eternal norm.
MAX HORKHEIMER
Eclipse of Reason
A cynic is a person searching for an honest man, with a stolen lantern.
EDGAR A. SHOAFF
attributed, Bathroom Almanac
Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
CHARLIE CHAPLIN
The Great Dictator
A cheap and easy cynicism rails at everything. The master of the art accomplishes the formidable task of discrimination.
AMBROSE BIERCE
"Epigrams of a Cynic"
I hate cynicism a great deal worse than I do the devil; unless, perhaps, the two were the same thing?
R.L. STEVENSON
An Inland Voyage
Cynic, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are not as they ought to be.
AMBROSE BIERCE
The Devil's Dictionary
Cynicism--the intellectual cripple's substitute for intelligence.
RUSSELL LYNES
attributed, The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Toasts & Quotes
The cynic, a parasite of civilisation, lives by denying it, for the very reason that he is convinced that it will not fail. What would become of the cynic among a savage people where everyone, naturally and quite seriously, fulfils what the cynic farcically considers to be his personal role?
JOSE ORTEGA Y GASSET
The Revolt of the Masses
Cynicism, like gullibility, is a symptom of underdeveloped critical faculties.
JAMIE WHYTE
Crimes Against Logic
Cynicism is only intellectual sloth.
HENRY ROLLINS
"Riff on life's journey blends humor, hope", Columbus Dispatch, April 2, 2010
When ... the central places of your heart are covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then are you grown old, indeed!
SAMUEL ULLMAN
From the Summit of Years
Cynicism is intellectual treason.
NORMAN COUSINS
Human Options
A cynic sees little to admire in the world, while the world sees even less to admire in him.
EVAN ESAR
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