Cynicism Quotes - Page 6

• I have named the destroyers of nations: comfort, plenty, and security - out of which grow a bored and slothful cynicism, in which rebellion against the world as it is, and myself as I am, are submerged in listless self-satisfaction.

  John Steinbeck

  Self, Bored, Sloth

  John Steinbeck (2003). “America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction”, p.318, Penguin

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• I think utopianism and eschatology are really two sides of the same coin. They both assume that some massively transformative event is going to happen that's going to completely change the nature of society. They only disagree on whether we get a happy ending or all die horribly. And so utopianism is on the wane right now because at the moment most of the plausible candidates for huge historical transformation look like they're going to kill us.

  Phillip Sandifer

  Thinking, Two Sides, Historical

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• It is not OK in this culture to talk to friends about causes you believe in, much less to ask them to join in. It's OK to blast perfect strangers with crass messages every hour of the day, but it's a tinge embarrassing, it brings up some shyness, it seems an intrusion, it risks rejection to share real heartfelt commitments. It's easier to share our cynicism with strangers than our dreams with friends.

  Donella Meadows

  Friends, Dream, Real

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• Baseball, of all sports, and maybe of all human endeavors, has no room for cynicism.

  Howard Frank Mosher

  Sports, Baseball, Rooms

  Howard Frank Mosher (2014). “Waiting for Teddy Williams”, p.16, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• I think cynicism often disguises itself as humour.

  Michka Assayas

  Thinking, Humour, Disguise

  Michka Assayas (2006). “Bono”, p.108, Penguin

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• There's such a cynicism about the phrase 'I laughed all the way to the bank.' It's as though money is what you're doing, rather than playing music. If you're playing a money game, why not get into banking?

  Artie Shaw

  Games, Playing Music, Why Not

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• The artist who really loves people loves them so well the way they are he sees no need to disguise their characteristics-he loves them whole, without retouching. Yet the word used for this unqualifying affection is 'cynicism'.

  Dawn Powell

  Artist, People, Needs

  Dawn Powell (1998). “The Diaries of Dawn Powell: 1931-1965”, Zoland Books

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• Cynicism is no more mature than naïveté. You're no more mature, just more burned.

  Karl Marlantes

  Vets, Mature, Burned

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• Cynicism cripples our imagination and limits our ability to see faint possibilities amidst glaring problems.

  Cory Booker

  Wise, Imagination, Limits

  Twitter post from Aug 19, 2016

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• There are no letters in the mailbox
  And there are no grapes upon the vine
  And there are no chocolates in your boxes anymore
  And there are no diamonds in the mine

  Leonard Cohen

  Chocolate, Vines, Letters

  Song: Diamonds In The Mine, Album: Songs Of Love And Hate

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• The church seeks to help form people who can risk being peaceful in a violent world, risk being kind in a competitive world, risk being faithful in an age of cynicism, risk being gentle among those who admire the tough, risk love when it may not be returned, because we have the confidence that in Christ we have been reborn into a new reality.

  John Howard Yoder

  Reality, People, Peaceful

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• I exaggerate. I oversimplify. I generalize. But there’s no cynicism here. American poetry is a mess. Long live American poetry.

  David Biespiel

  Long, Mess, Poetry Is

  "David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: The Cynicism Of Mark Edmundson, Or Poetry Is Still Not Dead" by David Biespiel, therumpus.net. June 21, 2013.

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• The commonwealth of Athens is become a forest of beasts.

  William Shakespeare

  Athens, Politics, Forests

  William Shakespeare, Samuel Weller Singer, William Watkiss Lloyd, John Thompson, Thomas Stothard (1856). “Titus Andronicus. Romeo and Juliet. Timon of Athens. Julius Caesar”, p.354

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• If youre going to reach for it, reach all the way for it. Albums like Purple Rain and Thriller and those kind of records, you had to reach far above the din of cynicism and modern living to get to that place, against all the odds.

  Dave Sitek

  Rain, Odds, Purple

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• The worst thing about cynicism is its truth.

  Ethel Mumford

  Worst, Worst Things

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• Cynicism is a form of cowardice, a failure of courage to hope.

  Merle Shain

  Cowardice, Form

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• Italy is a country which is willing to submit itself to the worst governments. It is, as we know, a country ruled by disorder, cynicism, incompetence and confusion. Nevertheless we are aware of intelligence circulating in the streets like a vivid bloodstream.

  Natalia Ginzburg

  Country, Government, Confusion

  Natalia Ginzburg (2017). “The Little Virtues: Essays”, p.31, Skyhorse Publishing Inc.

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• I hate to create cynicism about politicians. We just need to invade. Regular people need to run for office and keep their balls and ovaries intact.

  Jane Fonda

  Running, Hate, People

  Interview with Lord Puttnam, www.theguardian.com. June 3, 2005.

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• Cynicism is a sure sign of youth.

  Ellen Glasgow

  Youth

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• An old body when it is loved becomes a sacred treasure; and sex itself must always, it seems to me, come to us as a sacrament and be so used or it is meaningless. The flesh is suffused by the spirit, and it is forgetting this in the act of love-making that creates cynicism and despair.

  May Sarton

  Sex, Despair, Treasure

  May Sarton (2014). “Recovering: A Journal”, p.95, Open Road Media

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• The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Way, Faces, Life Is

  Citizenship in a Republic - The Man in the Arena, delivered 23 April 1910, Le Sorbonne, University of Paris

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

  Anais Nin

  Coward, Surprise, Cynic

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• I think the most dangerous influence for a young writer is to be treated with cynicism or discouragement.

  Jane Gardam

  Thinking, Young Writers, Influence

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• On the other hand, with a sense of the sacred, one grows in understanding and
  truth. The Holy Spirit becomes his frequent and then constant companion.
  More and more he will stand in holy places and be entrusted with holy
  things. Just the opposite of cynicism and despair, his end is eternal
  life.

  D. Todd Christofferson

  Hands, Opposites, Understanding

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• Cynicism is more than a pose; it's also a handy time saver. By deflating your companion's enthusiasm, you can cut conversations in half.

  Lisa Birnbach

  Cutting, Half, Enthusiasm

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