Cynicism Quotes - Page 20

• Everything is cyclical. Historical eras go through times of intense cynicism, broken by periods of intense idealism.

  Lauren Groff

  Broken, Historical, Eras

  Interview with Jason Skipper, therumpus.net. August 24, 2012.

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• Some reviewers have read this as cynicism but I don't see it that way. When I say "I am so sick / of pretending to be me," it's exhaustion at the everyday performance, in life, in art, even in our most intimate encounters.

  Randall Mann

  Art, Sick, Everyday

  Source: therumpus.net

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• The bleakness of what faces us is difficult to swallow. As long as we engage in happy platitudes and a false kind of vision of the possible, it may empower you over the short term, but it is eventually, because of the reality in front of us, going to lead to despair and cynicism and apathy. It's better to swallow hard the bitter pill of what we're up against.

  Chris Hedges

  Reality, Long, Empowering

  Interview with David Barsamian, www.sharedhost.progressive.org. July 14, 2011.

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• Never insult an alligator until after you have crossed the river.

  Cordell Hull

  Funny, Epic, Rivers

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• My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.

  Jean Rostand

  Funny, Pessimism, Sincerity

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• Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. 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. Cynics always say no. But saying “yes” begins things. Saying “yes” is how things grow. Saying “yes” leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say “yes'.

  Stephen Colbert

  Wise, Hurt, Optimistic

  Knox College Commencement Address, departments.knox.edu. June 03, 2006.

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• He didn't like very many people any more, or very many things either. He preferred not to be this way, but there it was, he was like that. His cynicism, a veteran's cynicism, was a thing that disturbed him all the time.

  David Guterson

  People, Way, Veteran

  David Guterson (2009). “Snow Falling on Cedars”, p.25, A&C Black

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• A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.

  A. A. Milne

  Inspirational, Friendship, Relationship

  A. A. Milne (2012). “Winnie-the-Pooh”, p.93, Egmont UK

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• One of the greatest gifts we receive from dogs is the tenderness they evoke in us. The disappointments of life, the injustices, the battering events that are beyond our control, and the betrayals we endure, from those we befriended and loved, can make us cynical and turn our hearts into flint – on which only the matches of anger and bitterness can be struck into flame. By their delight in being with us, the reliable sunniness of their disposition, the joy they bring to playtime, the curiosity with which they embrace each new experience, dogs can melt cynicism,and sweeten the bitter heart.

  Dean Koontz

  Dog, Disappointment, Betrayal

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• The cynics, they can only speak of the dark, of the obvious, and this is not hard. For all it’s supposed sophistication, it’s cynicism that’s simplistic. In a fallen world, how profound is to see the cracks? The sages and prophets, the disciples and revolutionaries, they are the ones up on the ramparts, up on the wall pointing to the dawn of the new Kingdom coming, pointing to the light that breaks through all things broken, pointing to redemption always rising and to the Blazing God who never sleeps.

  Ann Voskamp

  Wall, Sleep, Dark

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• There's no reason to assume that my idea of what's better would really be better. I resent it when other people try to inflict their ideas of betterness on me. I don't think they know. And I can't see any authority on the horizon that's got any answers that seem worthwhile. Most of the things that are suggested are probably detrimental to your mental health.

  Frank Zappa

  Thinking, Ideas, People

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• Cynic: an idealist whose rose-colored glasses have been removed, snapped in two and stomped into the ground, immediately improving his vision

  Rick Bayan

  Glasses, Two, Rose

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• Don't be a cynic and disconsolate preacher. Don't bewail and moan. Omit the negative propositions. Challenge us with incessant affirmatives.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Challenges, Negative, Incessant

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• Eating at a new, highly recommended restaurant is like a Very Important Blind Date, a contract with uncertainty you enter into with great expectation battling the cynicism of experience. You sit waiting, wondering about the upcoming moments of revelation. Somewhere in the back of your head is the dour warning that disappointment is inevitable but you don't really believe it or you wouldn't be there. The best eaters are always optimists.

  Stuart Stevens

  Disappointment, Believe, Food

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• It's like in most parts of America, where there was industry and there is no longer; there is cynicism mixed with sarcasm and some optimism. That's how my background influenced my comedy.

  Jim Gaffigan

  Sarcasm, America, Optimism

  "Gaffigan getting ready to bring 'Sexy' to the Keith". Interview with Ben Fields, www.herald-dispatch.com. September 27, 2008.

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• A cynic sees little to admire in the world, while the world sees even less to admire in him.

  Evan Esar

  World, Littles, Admire

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• Cynicism does not cause inaction.

  David Wong

  Doe, Causes, Inaction

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• I think growing up in Indiana prepares anyone for a life in comedy. I do feel like there is a certain kind of self-effacing cynicism among all Hoosiers.

  Jim Gaffigan

  Growing Up, Thinking, Self

  "Ask Jim Gaffigan". Live chat, www.washingtonpost.com. November 28, 2007.

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• A cheap and easy cynicism rails at everything. The master of the art accomplishes the formidable task of discrimination.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Art, Tasks, Discrimination

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8 Epigrams, On With the Dance, Negligible Tales”, p.250, tredition

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• We remain in the Romantic cycle initiated by Rousseau: liberal idealism canceled by violence, barbarism, disillusionment and cynicism.

  Camille Paglia

  Violence, Barbarism, Idealism

  Camille Paglia (1990). “Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson”, Vintage

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• We must face the bitter fact that we have forsaken our great dream of a life of, for, and by the people; that the burning passions and ideals of the American dream lie congealed by cold cynicism. Great parts of the masses of our people no longer believe that they have a voice or a hand in shaping the destiny of this nation. They have not forsaken democracy because of any desire or positive action of their own; they have been driven down into the depths of a great despair born of frustration, hopelessness, and apathy. A democracy lacking in popular participation dies of paralysis.

  Saul Alinsky

  Dream, Lying, Believe

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• What all this posturing and fake glamor results in is a vast detachment and cynicism on the part of the artists. Since it's impossible to have respect for an audience that'll take just about anything you care to dish out, and the impassive demeanor is so central to the role, a general numbnose is all that can be expected.

  Lester Bangs

  Artist, Fake, Roles

  Lester Bangs (2013). “Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: The Work of a Legendary Critic: Rock'N'Roll as Literature and Literature as Rock 'N'Roll”, p.110, Anchor

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• It is a testament to our naïveté about culture that we think that we can change it by simply declaring new values. Such declarations usually produce only cynicism.

  Peter Senge

  Thinking, Vets, Culture

  "The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook". Book by Peter Senge, 1994.

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• The idea of it was I was thinking about how when you're a kid you get this unconditional love and you spend the rest of your life trying to find that, but you can't because everyone's in it for their own thing. It's kind of cynical.

  Sam Endicott

  Kids, Unconditional Love, Thinking

  "Bravery Kick Off Tour, Plan Video With Animals" by Corey Moss, www.mtv.com. September 14, 2005.

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• There is no inevitable connection between Christianity and cynicism. Truth is not a salad, is it, that you must always dress it with vinegar?

  William Morley Punshon

  Connections, Dresses, Salad

  William Morley Punshon (1873). “Lectures and Sermons”, p.20, Adam, Stevenson

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