Cynicism famous quotes
Last updated: Sep 5, 2024
-
Cynicism is often the shamefaced product of inexperience.
-- A. J. Liebling -
I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.
-- Adolf Hitler -
The temptation shared by all forms of intelligence: cynicism.
-- Albert Camus -
Californians don't have that marvelous British cynicism, but then the British can be so patronizing at times.
-- Alex Kingston -
Cynicism is that blackguard defect of vision which compels us to see the world as it is, instead of as it should be.
-- Ambrose Bierce -
the cynic is a coward. He foresees all barrenness so that barrenness can never surprise him.
-- Anais Nin -
The simplest act of surrealism is to walk out into the street, gun in hand, and shoot at random.
-- Andre Breton -
It is cynicism, and not idealism, that is generally the mark of youthful immaturity, or rather it is the cynic who is generally the most foolish romantic.
-- Andrew Sarris -
After making several tragic movies in a row, I was looking to do a comedy, and one without cynicism.
-- Ang Lee -
The cynic sees only cynicism, the depressive can taint creation with one glance
-- Anna Funder -
We need to create a society in which civility rules over cynicism and apathy.
-- Antanas Mockus -
In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?
-- Barack Obama -
I never know how much of what I say is true.
-- Bette Midler -
Be positive, be positive. It's rough out there, but don't succumb. Don't succumb to the cynicism in the world.
-- Cameron Crowe -
We remain in the Romantic cycle initiated by Rousseau: liberal idealism canceled by violence, barbarism, disillusionment and cynicism.
-- Camille Paglia -
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.
-- Carl Barks -
in rejecting secrecy I had also rejected the road to cynicism.
-- Catherine Marshall -
I am most proud of my integrity and least proud of my cynicism.
-- Chloe Sevigny -
Whatever is not nailed down is mine. What I can pry loose is not nailed down.
-- Collis Potter Huntington -
It's all about the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism.
-- Craig Ferguson -
I exaggerate. I oversimplify. I generalize. But there’s no cynicism here. American poetry is a mess. Long live American poetry.
-- David Biespiel -
Despite the unrivaled empirical success of quantum theory, the very suggestion that it may be literally true as a description of nature is still greeted with cynicism, incomprehension, and even anger.
-- David Deutsch -
It is part of the business of marketing to muddy the distinction between altruism and cynicism.
-- Don Watson -
I don't think I have one iota of cynicism about acting.
-- Donald Sutherland -
Live to learn, learn to live, then teach others.
-- Douglas Horton -
The art of giving is perfected through anonymity.
-- Douglas Horton -
The key to heaven's gate cannot be duplicated.
-- Douglas Horton -
Be your own hero, it's cheaper than a movie ticket.
-- Douglas Horton -
Christianity not only saves you from sin, but from cynicism.
-- E. Stanley Jones -
For a poet to depict a poet in poetry is a hazardous experiment; in regarding one's own trade a sense of humour and a little wholesome cynicism are not amiss.
-- Edward Dowden -
Oh, Teddy, darling, thank you, thank you, for restoring my cynicism. I was too young to lose it.
-- Elaine Dundy -
An enemy is anyone who tells the truth about you.
-- Elbert Hubbard -
The worst thing about cynicism is its truth.
-- Ethel Mumford -
I find that the critics of voluntary service are all too often those who are prepared to accept such services when they require them but deride them with cynicism and scepticism when they see others helping and being helped.
-- Eva Hart -
A cynic sees little to admire in the world, while the world sees even less to admire in him.
-- Evan Esar -
Perhaps no philosopher is more correct than the cynic. The happiness of the animal, that thorough cynic, is the living proof of cynicism.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche -
Cynicism is the only form in which base souls approach honesty.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche -
[Christianity] neither enjoins the nastiness of the Cynic, nor the insensibility of the Stoic.
-- George Berkeley -
It is only the cynicism that is born of success that is penetrating and valid.
-- George Jean Nathan -
Every ounce of my cynicism is supported by historical precedent.
-- Glen Cook -
There have been times when a particularly heavy dose of such cynicism has caused me to reflect that surely this is the age and place of the gifted pickle sucker!
-- Gordon B. Hinckley -
A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.
-- Gore Vidal -
I think a lot of cynicism has dropped away from my shoulders since I stopped drinking.
-- Graham Coxon -
It is cynicism and fear that freeze life; it is faith that thaws it out, releases it, sets it free.
-- Harry Emerson Fosdick -
Cynicism, like gullibility, is a symptom of underdeveloped critical faculties.
-- Jamie Whyte -
I think the most dangerous influence for a young writer is to be treated with cynicism or discouragement.
-- Jane Gardam -
In this world, there is one terrible thing, and that is that everyone has his reasons.
-- Jean Renoir -
Scepticism is a necessary and vital part of the journalist's toolkit. But when scepticism becomes cynicism it can close off thought and block the search for truth.
-- Jeremy Paxman -
The cure for cynicism is simply to engage honestly.
-- Jeremy Paxman -
Optimisn is a choice. Cynicism isnt smarter - it's just safer.
-- Jewel -
Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre.
-- Joe Klein -
For me, a really radical position for journalism to take is to stop being cynical. Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre.
-- Joe Klein -
Refuse to be cynical. Refuse to think that things can never change.
-- John Callaway -
... but a dream is nothing more than reality shorn of cynicism.
-- Joseph Girzone -
A cynic should never marry an idealist. For the cynic, marriage represents the welcome end of romantic life, with all its agony and ecstasy. But for the idealist, it is only the beginning.
-- Julie Burchill -
Cynicism is no more mature than naïveté. You're no more mature, just more burned.
-- Karl Marlantes -
Cynicism is intelectual dandyism, but graciousness in speech is an aphrodisiac. (Andy Spade)
-- Kate Spade -
cynicism ... is the trade-mark of failure ...
-- Katherine Cecil Thurston -
It was lovely to see cynicism in one so young. It positively restored his faith in human nature.
-- Lauren Willig -
Both religions and musicals work best with energetic and committed believers. Cynicism or detachment would have destroyed the magic - something true of religion, too.
-- Lisa Randall -
Cynicism is the other thing that goes with sentimentality ...
-- Margaret Mead -
I don't necessarily agree with everything I say.
-- Marshall McLuhan -
The ultimate cynicism is to suspend judgment so that you are not judged.
-- Marya Mannes -
The more cynical you become, the better off you'll be.
-- Matt LeBlanc -
You can tell a lot about what a man lacks by watching what he is cynical about, and many of us are cynical about love.
-- Merle Shain -
Cynicism is a form of cowardice, a failure of courage to hope.
-- Merle Shain -
I think cynicism often disguises itself as humour.
-- Michka Assayas -
As our self-interests differ, so do our feelings.
-- Pierre Corneille -
I prefer credulity to skepticism and cynicism for there is more promise in almost anything than in nothing at all.
-- Ralph Barton Perry -
A cynic can chill and dishearten with a single word.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson -
Anything that has cynicism to it and that's jaded is smutty.
-- Sandra Bernhard -
I'm an eternal optimist with a small degree of cynicism.
-- Sarah McLachlan -
Cynics always say no. Saying yes leads to knowledge. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.
-- Stephen Colbert -
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
-- Terry Pratchett -
Be polite to all, but intimate with few.
-- Thomas Jefferson -
among a coward's weapons, cynicism is the nastiest of all
-- Tracy Kidder -
Doubt is the middle position between knowledge and ignorance. It encompasses cynicism but also genuine questioning.
-- Vera Farmiga -
I hate cynicism - it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere.
-- Conan O'Brien -
I'm at a place of deep cynicism about American politics.
-- Grace Dunham -
They were fast-moving opportunists encased in cynicism and proud of it.
-- Jay Carr -
All lies are told with a straight face. It is truth that's said with a dismissive giggle.
-- P. J. O'Rourke -
I've done four records now, and your idea of what it's going to be for that record is never what it ends up being, so there's cynicism in my outlook but there's also some positive outlook in it, like, "I can't really control anything outside of what it is that I do, so I'm going to do my very best and put my best foot forward in everything that I do." The music and whatever else comes outside of that, if something great comes out of it, awesome, if not, I'm going to make another record and another one after that. That's really all I can do.
-- Sarah Jaffe -
I am discovering that I can live far better without cynicism than I can without trust.
-- Steve Goodier
