Cynic Quotes - Page 3

• The cynic says, "One man can't do anything". I say, "Only one man can do anything."

  John W. Gardner

  Business, Men, One Man

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• Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Vision, Cynicism, Ought

  Cynic's Word Book (1906) p. 63

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• It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to.

  Fannie Hurst

  Wise, Clever, Men

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• There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.

  Maya Angelou

  Life Lesson, Believe, Knowing Nothing

  "The Truth in Words". Book by Neal Zero, 2005.

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• Pasteboard pies and paper flowers are being banished from the stage by the growth of that power of accurate observation which is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it...

  George Bernard Shaw

  Power, Cynical, Belief

  "Music in London, 1890-94: Criticisms Contributed Week by Week to The World, Volume 27 (The World (18 July 1894))". Book by George Bernard Shaw, 1931.

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• Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us.

  Stephen Colbert

  Hurt, Optimistic, Self

  "Stephen Colbert Commencement Address". Transcript of remarks to graduating seniors at Knox College, departments.knox.edu. June 2006.

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• No man in his heart is quite so cynical as a well-bred woman.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Heart, Men, Cynical

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• The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.

  Eric Hoffer

  Religious, Atheist, Opposites

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• Progress is more of a challenge for the cynic but also more important and urgent, since for the optimist things aren't that bad and are bound to get better anyway.

  Julian Baggini

  Challenges, Get Better, Progress

  "In praise of cynicism" by Julian Baggini, www.theguardian.com. July 10, 2013.

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• The cynic sees only cynicism, the depressive can taint creation with one glance

  Anna Funder

  Cynicism, Creation, Glances

  Anna Funder (2011). “All That I Am”, p.111, Penguin UK

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• The truth is, I pretend to be a cynic, but I am really a dreamer who is terrified of wanting something she may never get.

  Joanna Hoffman

  Dreamer, May, Good Advice

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• Let me live in my house by the side of the road, Where the race of men go by; They are good, they are bad; they are weak, they are strong, Wise, foolish,--so am I; Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat, Or hurl the cynic's ban? Let me live in my house by the side of the road, And be a friend to man.

  Sam Walter Foss

  Wise, Strong, Men

  Sam Walter Foss, “The House By The Side Of The Road”

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• the cynic is a coward. He foresees all barrenness so that barrenness can never surprise him.

  Anais Nin

  Coward, Surprise, Cynicism

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• Falling in love is very real, but I used to shake my head when people talked about soul mates, poor deluded individuals grasping at some supernatural ideal not intended for mortals but sounded pretty in a poetry book. Then, we met, and everything changed, the cynic has become the converted, the sceptic, an ardent zealot.

  E. A. Bucchianeri

  True Love, Falling In Love, Real

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• Scratch the surface of any cynic, and you will find a wounded idealist underneath. Because of previous pain or disappointment, cynics make their conclusions about life before the questions have even been asked. This means that beyond just seeing what is wrong with the world, cynics lack the courage to do something about it. The dynamic beneath cynicism is a fear of accepting responsibility.

  John Ortberg

  Pain, Disappointment, Mean

  John Ortberg (2010). “Know Doubt: The Importance of Embracing Uncertainty in Your Faith (Large Print 16pt)”, p.148, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Don't be a cynic, and bewail and bemoan. Omit the negative propositions. Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good. Set down nothing that will help somebody.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Happiness, Beauty, Rejection

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1971). “The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Society and solitude”, p.157, Harvard University Press

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• The cynic makes fun of all earnestness; he makes fun of everything and everyone who feels that something can be done. . . . But in his heart of hearts he knows that he is a defeated man and that his cynicism is merely an expression of the fact that he has lost courage and is beaten.

  George Edgar Vincent

  Courage, Fun, Heart

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• A giant as we hoped, in truth, a dwarf; A barrel of slop that shines on Lethe's wharf', Which at first seemed a vessel with sweet wine For thirsty lips. So down the swift decline You went through sloven spirit, craven heart And cynic indolence. And here the art Of molding clay has caught you for the nonce And made your shame our shame ~ Your head in bronze!

  Edgar Lee Masters

  Sweet, Art, Wine

  Edgar Lee Masters, “On A Bust”

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• The cynic who twitted Aristippus by observing that the philosopher who could dine on herbs might despise the company of a king, was well replied to by Aristippus, when he remarked that the philosopher who could enjoy the company or a king might also despise a dinner of herbs.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Kings, Dinner, Might

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.134

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• Loss either teaches you to persist in the face of suffering, or hardens you into a bitter cynic. Sometimes, it does a little of both.

  Grace Slick

  Loss, Suffering, Littles

  "Somebody to Love? A Rock-and-Roll Memoir". Book by Grace Slick and Andrea Cagan, 1998.

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• [in the]..curious way that my idealism has been mixed with my fatalism, so that I can possess the soul of a dreamer and that of a cynic at the same time......I possess a power of magic...[to] destroy the balance of a well-designed destiny with my diabolical mind.

  Anais Nin

  Destiny, Soul, Dreamer

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• A cynic might conclude that the real purpose of the $500 million-a-year implant business is the implantation of fat in the bellies and rumps of underemployed plastic surgeons.

  Barbara Ehrenreich

  Real, Years, Purpose

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• Thrasyllus the Cynic begged a drachm of Antigonus. "That," said he, "is too little for a king to give." "Why, then," said the other, "give me a talent." "And that," said he, "is too much for a Cynic (or, for a dog) to receive."

  Plutarch

  Dog, Kings, Giving

  "Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders". 45 Antigonus I. "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th edition", 1919.

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• One can't write a weird story of real power without perfect psychological detachment from the human scene, and a magic prism of imagination which suffuses them and style alike with that grotesquerie and disquieting distortion characteristic of morbid vision. Only a cynic can create horror - for behind every masterpiece of the sort must reside a driving daemonic force that despises the human race and its illusions, and longs to pull them to pieces and mock them.

  H. P. Lovecraft

  Real, Writing, Race

  Letter to "Weird Tales" editor Edwin Baird, printed in "Weird Tales" 3, no. 3 (March 1924); Quoted in "Lord of a Visible World: An Autobiography in Letters" edited by S. T. Joshi, (p. 122), 2000.

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• In the philosophical dialect, a cynic takes an insult as a compliment since opposition is already his style.

  Criss Jami

  Philosophical, Style, Dialect

  Criss Jami (2015). “Killosophy”, p.129, Criss Jami

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