Cynicism Quotes

Hypocrisy is the outside of cynicism.

— Mason Cooley

A cynic is only a frustrated optimist.

— Anonymous

Irony differentiates. Cynicism never does.

— Paul Horgan

“Cynicism is the calling card of unhappy people.”

— Iimani David

Cynicism is reality with an alternate spelling.

— Woody Allen

“Never confuse cynicism for intelligence.”

— Ahmed Al-Sheikh

Cynicism does not cause inaction.

— David Wong

The cure for cynicism is simply to engage honestly.

— Jeremy Paxman

Caution and cynicism are safe, but soldiers don't want to follow cautious cynics.

— Stanley A. McChrystal

Cynicism is the easiest of all reactions, right? But it's also so disappointing and self-defeating.

— Chris Hadfield

Cynicism is what passes for insight when courage is lacking

— Anita Roddick

“If you're always worried about crushing the ants beneath you... you won't be able to walk.”

— Kentaro Miura

I'm an eternal optimist with a small degree of cynicism.

— Sarah McLachlan

They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."

— Yuri Orlov

All lies are told with a straight face. It is truth that's said with a dismissive giggle.

— P. J. O'Rourke

Cynicism is fear posing as confidence; joy is hope let off the leash.

— Bob Goff

“...[we] has left nothing durable to signalize his stay upon this planet. [we]eventually dies to the honest regret of [our] associates.”

— James Branch Cabell

Doubt is always accompanied by a pervasive cynicism that unconsciously puts a negative spin on whatever it touches.

— Adyashanti

“Just know that it is impossible to feel joy while you are feeling cynicism. It is like wearing tight shoes and trying…

— Suzanne Finnamore

Young people are cynical about love. Ultimately, cynicism is the great mask of the disappointed and betrayed heart.

— Bell Hooks

I always feel the cynicism is reality with maybe an alternate spelling or something because I feel that I have real perspective…

— Woody Allen

My level of cynicism about the reasons that took us to war against Iraq remain just as well-developed as they were before…

— Ted Koppel

What seems conceit, bad manners or cynicism is always a sign of things no ear have heard, no eyes have seen. You…

— Lucinda Williams

It is cynicism, and not idealism, that is generally the mark of youthful immaturity, or rather it is the cynic who is…

— Andrew Sarris

Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it...It really is worth fighting for, risking…

— Erica Jong

Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed…

— Stephen Colbert

Big Brother is not the only danger facing the country. Another is the rising tide of distrust, the corrosive spread of cynicism,…

— David Brooks

And introduce an element of cynicism and darkness into it and just realize that we're all vulnerable. We are humans. There is…

— Alan Thicke

Cynicism is the intellectual cripple's substitute for intelligence. It is the dishonest businessman's substitute for conscience. It is the communicator's substitute, whether…

— Russell Lynes

I think violence, cynicism, brutality and fashion are the staples of our diet. I think in the grand history of story-telling, going…

— Eric Stoltz

“I dreamed about the future because that's what people persuade you to do when you're a kid, but that's the biggest lie…

— Tammara Webber

“Now, there's this about cynicism, Sergeant. It's the universe's most supine moral position. Real comfortable. If nothing can be done, then you're…

— Lois McMaster Bujold

I think that for those of us who come from oppressed backgrounds and who do our work in marginalized communities, recovering our…

— Van Jones

“Their cynicism was complete and terrible: details, like the lying signs outside the underground chambers of the crematoriums that announced in seven…

— Miklós Nyiszli

Don't hang a dismal picture on the wall, and do not daub with sables and glooms in your conversation. Don't be a…

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

“But if all maximizing models are really arguing is that “people will always seek to maximize something,” then they obviously can’t predict…

— David Graeber

Every person has the power to make others happy. Some do it simply by entering a room others by leaving the room.…

— William Arthur Ward

“Dantes had entered the Chateau d’If with the round, open, smiling face of a young and happy man, with whom the early…

— Alexandre Dumas

I'm going to work with Dan Clowes. After Charlie Kaufman, it's hard to fill up the gap. It's hard to find somebody…

— Michel Gondry

“Those were the terms in which my parents, keen for me to grow up well grounded in cynicism, explained things to me.…

— David Mitchell