Balance Quote by Joyce Brothers

“A cynic is a frustrated idealist.”

— Al Ruksenas

Idealist: a cynic in the making.

— Irving Layton

Cynicism is the last refuge of those who don't want to do the work of creating a better society.

— Robert Reich

Only the broken-hearted idealist can become a cynic.

— Mark Clifton

“Although most people never overcome the habit of berating the world for their difficulties, those who are too weak to make a stand against…

— Max Horkheimer

Anyone can be an idealist. Anyone can be a cynic. The hard part lies somewhere in the middle.

— Anonymous

“A cynic is what an idealist calls a realist.”

— Susan Elia MacNeal

Cynics are - beneath it all - only idealists with awkwardly high standards.

— Alain de Botton

Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves.

— Robert Anton Wilson

“Cynics are, in the end, only idealists with awkwardly high standards.”

— Alain de Botton

Cynic' is the sentimentalist's name for the realist.

— Carolyn Heilbrun

A cynic should never marry an idealist. For the cynic, marriage represents the welcome end of romantic life, with all its agony and ecstasy.…

— Julie Burchill