A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities — all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain think, of superiority, but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part manfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affectation of contempt for the achievements of others, to hide from others and from themselves their own weakness.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris
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Quotations about:
cynic
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Cynical is the name we give those we fear may be laughing at us.
Stephen Fry (b. 1957) British actor, writer, comedian
The Hippopotamus, ch. 4, sec. 3 [Ted] (2014)
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If you’ll scratch a cynic, you’ll find a disappointed idealist.
George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Interview (2001-07) by Marc Cooper, The Progressive
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A documented case of a trademark phrase Carlin frequently used, though not necessarily original with him.
Often quoted as "Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist."
A politician or political thinker who calls himself a political realist is usually boasting that he sees politics, so to speak, in the raw; he is generally a proclaimed cynic and pessimist who makes it his business to look behind words and fine speeches for the motive. This motive is always low.
Mary McCarthy (1912-1989) American author, critic, political activist
“American Realist Playwrights,” On the Contrary (1961)
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SIR HUMPHREY: A cynic is what an idealist calls a realist.
Jonathan Lynn (b. 1943) English actor, comedy writer, director
Yes Minister, 03×04 “The Moral Dimension” (BBC2 Television) (1982-12-02) [with Antony Jay]
Cynics are, in the end, only idealists with awkwardly high standards.
That sort of thing wears thin — for when one’s cynicism becomes perfect and absolute, there’s no longer anything amusing in the stupidity and hypocrisy of the herd. It is all to be expected — what else could human nature produce? — so irony annuls itself by means of its own victories!
H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) American fabulist [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
Letter to August W. Derleth (Jan 1928)
Regarding Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary.
A man prone to suspect evil is most looking for in his neighbor what he sees in himself.
Julius Hare (1795-1855) English cleric, theologian
Guesses at Truth: First Series (1827) [with A. W. Hare]
The cynic suffers the form of faith without love. Incredulity is his piety.
James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001) # 16
Cynics are simply thwarted romantics.
William Goldman (1931-2018) American screenwriter, novelist
The Princess Bride (1973)
I don’t want to be bitter about life — about love and friendship and all the human emotional entanglements. I’ve had more than my share of human disappointments, deprivations, disillusionment. I want to love people and life above all; I want to be able to say always, “if you feel bitter or disillusioned, there is something wrong with yourself, not with people, not with life.”
Henry Miller (1891-1980) American novelist
Letter to Anaïs Nin (24 May 1933)
Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it’s no worse than it is.
Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949) American author and journalist.
Gone with the Wind, ch. 53 [Ashley] (1936)
CECIL GRAHAM: What is a cynic?
LORD DARLINGTON: A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things the way they are, and not as they ought to be.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Cynic,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
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Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911).
Originally appeared in his "The Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1881-10-28).
In his "Town Crier" column in the News Letter (1872-03-09), he wrapped up his personal philosophy so: "And, finally, most important of all, endeavor to see things as they are, not as they ought to be."
