24 quotes about Cynics and Cynicism

The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man, and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game.

Beecher, Henry Ward

A cynic is a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, and not as they ought to be.

Bierce, Ambrose

The cynic never grows up, but commits intellectual suicide.

Brown, Dean Charles R.

I'm a hopeful cynic.

Chapman, Tracy

A cynic is just a man who found out when he was ten that there wasn't any Santa Claus, and he's still upset.

Cozzens, James G.

Don't be a cynic and disconsolate preacher. Don't bewail and moan. Omit the negative propositions. Challenge us with incessant affirmatives. Don't waste yourself in rejection, or bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

A cynic can chill and dishearten with a single word.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Cynicism is the only form in which base souls approach honesty.

Evil, Nietzche

The cynic, a parasite of civilization, lives by denying it, for the very reason that he is convinced that it will not fail.

Gasset, Jose Ortega Y

Cynicism is cheap -- you can buy it at any Monoprix store -- it's built into all poor-quality goods.

Greene, Graham

A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future.

Harris, Sidney J.

It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to.

Hurst, Fannie

Cynicism is the intellectual cripple's substitute for intelligence.

Lynes, Russell

A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.

Mencken, H. L.

The cynics are right nine times out of ten.

Mencken, H. L.

Cynicism is intellectual dandyism.

Meredith, George

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.

Shaw, George Bernard

The only deadly sin I know is cynicism.

Stimson, Henry Lewis

Cynicism is the humor of hatred.

Tree, Sir Herbert Beerbohm

CYNIC: One who not only reads bitter lessons from the past, but who is prematurely disappointed with the future.

Unknown, Source

A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.

Unknown, Source

A cynic is a man who looks at the world with a monocle in his mind's eye.

Wells, Carolyn

Cynicism is humor in ill health.

Wells, H.G.

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Wilde, Oscar