--- title: "3 Cynicism Quotes By Timothy Snyder" description: "3 Cynicism quotes by Timothy Snyder. Plus more from Timothy Snyder and more Cynicism sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/888/timothy-snyder-882_cynicism_generic-cynicism-makes-us-feel-hip-and-a_629998.jpg" --- > [“Generic cynicism makes us feel hip and alternative even as we slip along with our fellow citizens into a morass of indifference.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/generic-cynicism-makes-us-feel-hip-and-alternative-even-as-we-slip/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/888/timothy-snyder-882_cynicism_generic-cynicism-makes-us-feel-hip-and-a_629998.jpg) > [“What is truth?" Sometimes people ask this question because they wish to do nothing. Generic cynicism makes us feel hip and alternative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/what-is-truth-sometimes-people-ask-this-question-because-they-wish-to/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/005/timothy-snyder-882_pessimism_what-is-truth-sometimes-people-ask-this_2010927.jpg) > [“Generic cynicism makes us feel hip and alternative even as we slip along with our fellow citizens into a morass of indifference.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/generic-cynicism-makes-us-feel-hip-and-alternative-even-as-we-slip-2/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bf7/timothy-snyder-882_cynicism_generic-cynicism-makes-us-feel-hip-and-a_3010379.jpg) ## Other authors on Cynicism - [Wataru Watari 19 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cynicism/wataru-watari/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-barack-obama-16275.jpg) Barack Obama 13 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cynicism/barack-obama/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b017/author-mason-cooley-65303.jpg) Mason Cooley 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cynicism/mason-cooley/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-terry-pratchett-89528.jpg) Terry Pratchett 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cynicism/terry-pratchett/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-stephen-colbert-86965.jpg) Stephen Colbert 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cynicism/stephen-colbert/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-george-carlin-37578.jpg) George Carlin 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cynicism/george-carlin/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-oscar-wilde-72846.jpg) Oscar Wilde 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cynicism/oscar-wilde/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b004/author-ambrose-bierce-12239.jpg) Ambrose Bierce 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cynicism/ambrose-bierce/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-alain-de-botton-10218.jpg) Alain de Botton 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cynicism/alain-de-botton/) ## More by Timothy Snyder > [“Nationalism is relativist, since the only truth is the resentment we feel when we contemplate others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/nationalism-is-relativist-since-the-only-truth-is-the-resentment-we/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The time is out of joint. O cursed spite,/That ever I was born to set it right!” Thus Hamlet. Yet he concludes: “Nay, come,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-time-is-out-of-joint-o-cursed-spite-that-ever-i-was-born-to-set/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“the democracies that arose after the First World War (and the Second) often collapsed when a single party seized power in some combination of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-democracies-that-arose-after-the-first-world-war-and-the-second/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“salami tactics—slicing off layers of opposition one by one. Most people were distracted, some were imprisoned, and others were outmatched.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/salami-tactics-slicing-off-layers-of-opposition-one-by-one-most/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“We allowed ourselves to accept the politics of inevitability, the sense that history could move in only one direction: toward liberal democracy...We imbibed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/we-allowed-ourselves-to-accept-the-politics-of-inevitability-the/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The key to this translation of ideology to politics in both cases was an effective appeal to human experience at the crucial time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-key-to-this-translation-of-ideology-to-politics-in-both-cases-was/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Both of these positions, inevitability and eternity, are antihistorical. The only thing that stands between them is history itself. History allows us to see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/both-of-these-positions-inevitability-and-eternity-are-antihistorical/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The whole notion of disruption is adolescent: It assumes that after the teenagers make a mess, the adults will come and clean it up.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-whole-notion-of-disruption-is-adolescent-it-assumes-that-after/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“As she observed, “the first essential step on the road to total domination is to kill the juridical person in man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/as-she-observed-the-first-essential-step-on-the-road-to-total/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The first mode is the open hostility to verifiable reality, which takes the form of presenting inventions and lies as if they were facts.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-first-mode-is-the-open-hostility-to-verifiable-reality-which/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Once we subliminally accept that we are watching a reality show rather than thinking about real life, no image can actually hurt the president…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/once-we-subliminally-accept-that-we-are-watching-a-reality-show/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Confidence in duration is the antidote to panic and the tonic of demagogy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/confidence-in-duration-is-the-antidote-to-panic-and-the-tonic-of/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. Modern tyranny is terror management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians exploit such events in order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/be-calm-when-the-unthinkable-arrives-modern-tyranny-is-terror/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel, but because the world reacts to what you do. The minor choices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/life-is-political-not-because-the-world-cares-about-how-you-feel-but/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Extremism' certainly sounds bad, and governments often try to make it sound worse by using the word 'terrorism' in the same sentence. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/extremism-certainly-sounds-bad-and-governments-often-try-to-make-it/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cynicism/timothy-snyder/#itemlist", "name": "3 Cynicism Quotes By Timothy Snyder", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Generic cynicism makes us feel hip and alternative even as we slip along with our fellow citizens into a morass of indifference.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Timothy Snyder" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/generic-cynicism-makes-us-feel-hip-and-alternative-even-as-we-slip/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/888/timothy-snyder-882_cynicism_generic-cynicism-makes-us-feel-hip-and-a_629998.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/888/timothy-snyder-882_cynicism_generic-cynicism-makes-us-feel-hip-and-a_629998.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/888/timothy-snyder-882_cynicism_generic-cynicism-makes-us-feel-hip-and-a_629998.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Generic cynicism makes us feel hip and alternative even as we slip along with our fellow citizens into a…” — Timothy Snyder", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“What is truth?\" Sometimes people ask this question because they wish to do nothing. 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