Cynicism Quotes - Page 14

• A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.

  Gore Vidal

  Sarcastic, Sarcasm, Narcissist

  FaceBook post by Gore Vidal from Dec 08, 2011

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• For me, being in shape means, like, not having cynicism out-weigh optimism on a daily basis.

  Carrie Brownstein

  Mean, Optimism, Shapes

  "How to Be a Better Person in 2015, According to the Creators of Portlandia". Interview with Eric Spitznagel, www.menshealth.com. January 8, 2015.

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• Here is the mistake of the cut-and-dried man of culture. He goes about with the secret of having learned to appreciate the "grandstyle." He has lived in Homer till he can recall the roll of that many-sounding sea. He has pored over the lofty and pictorial thought of Plato till he begins to pique himself upon its grandeur. His fancy has been fed on the quaint old-world genius of Herodotus, his judgment on the melancholy wisdom of Tacitus and the complacent cynicism of Gibbon--and of all this he is conscious and proud.

  Richard Holt Hutton

  Plato, Mistake, Cutting

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• Blanket cynicism toward government has always existed.

  Adam McKay

  Government, Blanket

  Source: www.progressive.org

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• Cynicism is the other thing that goes with sentimentality.

  Margaret Mead

  Sentimentality

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• We have to use our discontentment to engage rather than disengage - our hope has to be more powerful than our cynicism.

  Shane Claiborne

  Powerful, Use, Discontentment

  "Plotting goodness together: An interview with Shane Claiborne". Interview with Jonathan Merritt, religionnews.com. May 22, 2013.

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• An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.

  Will Rogers

  Inspiration, Political Will, Justice

  "Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time". Book by Laurence J. Peter, p. 258, 1979.

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• Cynicism is kind of like folding your arms and stepping back and commenting on things, like the old guys in 'The Muppets,' just throwing out comments all the time, whereas there are other people on the ground really trying to affect things and improve their lives and the lives of other people. I think it's noble and I think it's cool.

  Josh Radnor

  Thinking, People, Guy

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory.

  William Shakespeare

  Vapour, Earth, Important Hamlet

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [316]

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• About California... "I thought it was an appalling place. Then I went through a period of being amused by it. Now it's sort of both. Californians don't have that marvelous British cynicism, but then the British can be so patronizing at times.

  Alex Kingston

  California, Alex, Amusement

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• The waste, the insane freaks of these money men, the cynicism and egotism of their life... I'll show that they are not brilliant, not romantic, not delightful, not intelligent.

  Christina Stead

  Art, Intelligent, Men

  Christina Stead (2012). “House of All Nations”, p.126, Open Road Media

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• Cynics always say no. Saying yes leads to knowledge. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.

  Stephen Colbert

  Long, Saying Yes

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• It is said that truth comes from the mouths of fools and children: I wish every good mind which feels an inclination for satire would reflect that the finest satirist always has something of both in him.

  Georg C. Lichtenberg

  Children, Sarcasm, Mind

  "Aphorisms". Book by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Notebook J 157, 1799.

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• I am skeptical in principle, gullible in practice.

  Mason Cooley

  Practice, Principles, Gullible

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• Medical science has oppressed us with a new huge burden of longevity. It is in that last undesired decade, when passion is cold, appetites feeble, curiosity dulled and experience has begotten cynicism, that accidia lies in wait as the final temptation to destruction.

  Evelyn Waugh

  Lying, Passion, Waiting

  Evelyn Waugh (1983). “The Essays, Articles and Reviews of Evelyn Waugh”, Methuen

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• It is always some illusion that creates disillusion, especially in the young, for whom the only alternative to perfection is cynicism.

  Jacques Barzun

  Perfection, Alternatives, Illusion

  Jacques Barzun (1954). “Teacher in America”

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• There's nothing like a hardship song to set my toes a-tappin.

  Roseanne Barr

  Song, Hardship, Toes

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• What arouses the indignation of the honest satirist is not, unless the man is a prig, the fact that people in positions of power or influence behave idiotically, or even that they behave wickedly. It is that they conspire successfully to impose upon the public a picture of themselves as so very sagacious, honest and well-intentioned.

  Claud Cockburn

  Men, Position Of Power, People

  Claud Cockburn (1961). “View from the West: Being the Third Volume of Autobiography”

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• 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.

  Emilio Estevez

  Media, People, Trying

  "Emilio Estevez On ‘The Way’: Actor Discusses New Movie, Life, Love, Faith And Micro-Farms" by Lauren Rosenblum, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 14, 2011.

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• Californians don't have that marvelous British cynicism, but then the British can be so patronizing at times.

  Alex Kingston

  Californians, British, Patronizing

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• I am a personal optimist but a skeptic about all else. What may sound to some like anger is really nothing more than sympathetic contempt. I view my species with a combination of wonder and pity, and I root for its destruction. And please don't confuse my point of view with cynicism; the real cynics are the ones who tell you everything's gonna be all right.

  George Carlin

  Real, Views, Roots

  George Carlin (2007). “The Best of Brain Droppings”, p.11, Peter Pauper Press, Inc.

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• 

  We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society, for nothing suffocates the promise of America more than unbounded cynicism and indifference.

  Joe Biden

  Fire, America, Promise

  "Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption". Book by Joe Biden, October 5, 2010.

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• Churches can become places of cynicism, resistance, and pessimism.

  John Ortberg

  Church, Resistance, Pessimism

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• I think violence, cynicism, brutality and fashion are the staples of our diet. I think in the grand history of story-telling, going back to people sitting around fires, the dark side of human nature has always been very important. Movies are part of that tradition.

  Eric Stoltz

  Fashion, Dark, Thinking

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• Cynicism is reality with an alternate spelling.

  Woody Allen

  Reality, Spelling, Cynic

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