WIST Quotations

Adams, John Quincy -- Letter (1809-06-22) to William Eustis

Dave — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:17:15 +0000

I have, and must have, confidence in the possible virtue of human nature; and although in entertaining this idea, a man must, and will sometimes, be disappointed, yet if it is coupled with a sound judgment and close observations, I believe he could make fewer great mistakes, than one whose principle is the universal rascality of the species.

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
Letter (1809-06-22) to William Eustis
(Source)

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1994-01-27)

Dave — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 20:48:07 +0000

CALVIN: As you can see, I have memorized this utterly useless piece of information long enough to pass a test question. I now intend to forget it forever. You’ve taught me nothing except how to cynically manipulate the system. Congratulations.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1994-01-27)
(Source)

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1995-01-19)

Dave — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 20:30:26 +0000

CALVIN: I’m thinking of starting my own talk radio show. I’ll spout simplistic opinions for hours on end, ridicule anyone who disagrees with me, and generally foster divisiveness, cynicism, and a lower level of public dialogue!

HOBBES: It would seem you were born for the job.

CALVIN: Imagine getting paid to act like a six-year-old!

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1995-01-19)
(Source)

Hoover, Herbert -- Speech (1951-08-30), “Concerning Honor in Public Life,” Iowa Centennial Celebration, Des Moines, Iowa (radio broadcast)

Dave — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 16:37:30 +0000

Our greatest danger is not from invasion by foreign armies. Our dangers are that we may commit suicide from within by complaisance with evil. Or by public tolerance of scandalous behavior. Or by cynical acceptance of dishonor. These evils have defeated nations many times in human history.

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) American engineer, bureaucrat, US President (1929-33)
Speech (1951-08-30), “Concerning Honor in Public Life,” Iowa Centennial Celebration, Des Moines, Iowa (radio broadcast)
(Source)

Ivins, Molly -- Essay (1973-01), “Pitfalls of Reporting in the Lone Star State,” Houston Journalism Review

Dave — Wed, 07 May 2025 21:03:09 +0000

Being a cynic is so contemptibly easy. If you let yourself think that nothing you’re working on is ever going to make any difference, why bust your tail over it? Why care? If you’re a cynic, you don’t have to invest anything in your work. No effort, no pride, no compassion, no sense of excellence, nothing.

Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1973-01), “Pitfalls of Reporting in the Lone Star State,” Houston Journalism Review
(Source)

Collected in Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? (1991).

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1739 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 01 May 2025 15:35:30 +0000

Blessed is he that expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1739 ed.)
(Source)

The earliest recorded usage of this phrase is actually Alexander Pope (1727), though Pope says he had devised it many years earlier. Modeled after the Beatitudes in the New Testament.

Orwell, George -- Essay (1946-09), “Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver’s Travels,” Polemic, No. 5

Dave — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 15:05:42 +0000

Swift falsifies his picture of the world by refusing to see anything in human life except dirt, folly and wickedness, but the part which he abstracts from the whole does exist, and it is something which we all know about while shrinking from mentioning it. Part of our minds — in any normal person it is the dominant part — believes that man is a noble animal and life is worth living: but there is also a sort of inner self which at least intermittently stands aghast at the horror of existence.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1946-09), “Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver’s Travels,” Polemic, No. 5
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris

Dave — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 18:24:39 +0000

The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of the great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder.

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
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris

Dave — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 18:41:17 +0000

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.

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris

Dave — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 22:36:01 +0000

There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes second to achievement.

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris

Dave — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 19:25:35 +0000

Let the man of learning, the man of lettered leisure, beware of that queer and cheap temptation to pose to himself and to others as the cynic, as the man who has outgrown emotions and beliefs, the man to whom good and evil are as one. The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer.

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Don Juan, Canto 7, st. 2 (1823)

Dave — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 16:23:32 +0000

But ne’ertheless I hope it is no crime
To laugh at all things — for I wish to know
What, after all, are all things — but a show?

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, Canto 7, st. 2 (1823)
(Source)

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionnée], Part 2 “Characters and Anecdotes [Caractères et Anecdotes],” ch. 5 (frag. 863) (1795) [tr. Dusinberre (1992)]

Dave — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 15:58:30 +0000

You should swallow a toad every morning, when going out into high society, so as to encounter nothing more disgusting during the day.

[Faudrait avaler un crapaud tous les matins, pour ne trouver plus rien de dégoûtant le reste de la journée, quand on devait la passer dans le monde.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionnée], Part 2 “Characters and Anecdotes [Caractères et Anecdotes],” ch. 5 (frag. 863) (1795) [tr. Dusinberre (1992)]
(Source)

Though usually attributed directly to Chamfort, he credits the phrase to a M. de Lassay.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

It would be necessary to swallow a toad every morning, in order not to find anything disgusting the rest of the day, when one has to spend it in the world.
[tr. Matthews (1877)]

One must swallow a toad every morning, when one has to go out in the world, so as not to find anything more disgusting during the day.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

Swallow a toad in the morning and you will encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day.
[Source]

Fry, Stephen -- The Hippopotamus, ch. 4, sec. 3 [Ted] (2014)

Dave — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 20:16:32 +0000

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)
(Source)

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 3, ¶ 198 (1795) [tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]

Dave — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 18:14:42 +0000

Sometimes when a person sees the roguery of poor people and the thievery of people in high positions, he is tempted to regard society as a forest full of robbers, the most dangerous of which are the policemen that are set up to stop the others.

[En voyant quelquefois les friponneries des petits et les brigandages des hommes en place, on est tenté de regarder la société comme un bois rempli de voleurs, dont les plus dangereux sont les archers, préposés pour arrêter les autres.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 3, ¶ 198 (1795) [tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Seeing the rogueries of little men and the extortions of the great in office, one is tempted to look upon Society as a wood infested by robbers, the most dangerous being the constables sent to arrest the others.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]

At times, seeing the petty thieveries of the petty, and the robberies of those in office, one is tempted to regard society as a wood full of thieves, of which the most dangerous are the officers set there to arrest the others.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

Sometimes, when one observes the rogueries perpetuated by petty people and the graft committed by men in office, one is tempted to think of society as a wood infested by thieves, of which the most dangerous are the archers, posted to prevent the others from escaping.
[tr. Pearson (1973)]

There are times when, seeing the nasty tricks people get up to, the gross frauds of high officers, you're tempted to think that you're in a wood infested by thieves, amongst whom the most dangerous are the police, whose purpose is supposed to be that of arresting them.
[tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 152]

Stoppard, Tom -- Where Are They Now? [Gale] (1970)

Dave — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 19:27:59 +0000

Maturity is a high price to pay for growing up.

Tom Stoppard (1937-2025) Czech-English playwright and screenwriter
Where Are They Now? [Gale] (1970)
(Source)

The line in the play -- originally broadcast on BBC Radio 3 -- was based on an answer Stoppard himself gave in an interview by Peter Evans, reprinted in David Bailey and Peter Evans, Goodbye Baby and Amen: A Saraband for the Sixties (1969):

It is a very immature thing to worry about one’s stinking youth, but I don’t care: I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

Austen, Jane -- Pride and Prejudice, ch. 24 [Elizabeth] (1813)

Dave — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 17:10:02 +0000

There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) English author
Pride and Prejudice, ch. 24 [Elizabeth] (1813)
(Source)

Child, Lydia Maria -- Letter to Lucy Osgood (1865)

Dave — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 15:26:32 +0000

To everything there is a bright side and a dark side; and I hold it to be unwise, unphilosophic, unkind to others, and unhealthy for one’s own soul, to form the habit of looking on the dark side.

Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) American abolitionist, activist, journalist, suffragist
Letter to Lucy Osgood (1865)
(Source)

Pope, Alexander -- Letter (1727-10-16) to John Gay

Dave — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 18:13:27 +0000

Blessed is he who expects nothing for he shall never be disappointed.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
Letter (1727-10-16) to John Gay
(Source)

Pope referred to this, in the letter, as "The Ninth Beatitude." He may have used the phrase the previous year in a letter to William Fortescue (the letter is not given a date, but is grouped with a letter from John Gay to Fortescue of 23 Sep 1725). In both letters, Pope indicates he devised the saying many years previously.

Repeated by Benjamin Franklin, without attribution, in Poor Richard's Almanack for May 1739.

Clark, Kenneth -- Civilization: A Personal View, ch. 13 “Heroic Materialism” (1969)

Dave — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 18:15:05 +0000

It is lack of confidence, more than anything else, that kills a civilization. We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs.

Kenneth Clark (1903-1983) British art historian, museum director, broadcaster
Civilization: A Personal View, ch. 13 “Heroic Materialism” (1969)
(Source)

McCloy, Helen -- A Question of Time, ch. 6 (1971)

Dave — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 00:41:11 +0000

Civilization is a fiction which becomes a fact only as long as everyone can believe in it. It is the cynic, rather than the rebel, who pulls down the whole flimsy structure periodically throughout history.

Helen McCloy (1904-1994) American writer [pseud. Helen Clarkson]
A Question of Time, ch. 6 (1971)
(Source)

See Clark.

Obama, Barack -- Speech, University of Illinois (7 Sep 2018)

Dave — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 15:58:07 +0000

The biggest threat to our democracy is indifference. The biggest threat to our democracy is cynicism — a cynicism that’s led too many people to turn away from politics and stay home on election day. […] So if you don’t like what’s going on right now — and you shouldn’t — do not complain. Don’t hashtag. Don’t get anxious. Don’t retreat. Don’t binge on whatever it is you’re bingeing on. Don’t lose yourself in ironic detachment. Don’t put your head in the sand. Don’t boo. Vote. You’ve got to vote.

Barack Obama (b. 1961) American politician, US President (2009-2017)
Speech, University of Illinois (7 Sep 2018)
(Source)

Carlin, George -- Interview (2001-07) by Marc Cooper, The Progressive

Dave — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 22:46:19 +0000

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
(Source)

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."

Senge, Peter -- The Fifth Discipline, Part 3, ch. 8 (1990)

Dave — Thu, 19 May 2022 17:58:05 +0000

Scratch the surface of most cynics and you find a frustrated idealist — someone who made the mistake of converting his ideals into expectations.

Peter Senge (b. 1947) American systems scientist, lecturer, academic
The Fifth Discipline, Part 3, ch. 8 (1990)
(Source)

Shain, Merle -- Hearts That We Broke Long Ago, ch. 11 (1983)

Dave — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 17:01:55 +0000

Cynicism is a form of cowardice, a failure of courage to hope.

Merle Shain (1935-1989) Canadian journalist and author
Hearts That We Broke Long Ago, ch. 11 (1983)
(Source)

Wallace, David Foster -- McCain’s Promise (2006)

Dave — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 15:50:44 +0000

If you are bored and disgusted by politics and don’t bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched Establishments of the two major parties, who please rest assured are not dumb, and who are keenly aware that it is in their interests to keep you disgusted and bored and cynical and to give you every possible psychological reason to stay at home doing one-hitters and watching MTV on primary day. By all means stay home if you want, but don’t bullshit yourself that you’re not voting. In reality, there is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard’s vote.

David Foster Wallace (1962-2008) American author, academic
McCain’s Promise (2006)
(Source)

Harris, John F. -- “‘He Is Our O.J.'” Politico (9 Jan 2020)

Dave — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 18:05:28 +0000

People may see hypocrisy and cynicism all around them, but in my experience, almost without exception, they believe their own views and actions — even when contradictory, even when private motivations differ from public explanations — are righteous and principled.

John F. Harris (b. c. 1963) American political journalist, editor
“‘He Is Our O.J.'” Politico (9 Jan 2020)
(Source)

Snyder, Timothy -- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, ch. 10 (2017)

Dave — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 14:31:02 +0000

“What is truth?” Sometimes people ask this question because they wish to do nothing. Generic cynicism makes us feel hip and alternative even as we slip along with our fellow citizens into a morass of indifference. It is your ability to discern facts that makes you an individual, and our collective trust in common knowledge that makes us a society.

Timothy Snyder (b. 1969) American historian, author
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, ch. 10 (2017)
(Source)

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 8, Guards! Guards! (1989)

Dave — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:11:55 +0000

If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn’t as cynical as real life.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 8, Guards! Guards! (1989)
(Source)

Vimes, reflecting.

Nash, Ogden -- “Good-bye, Old Year, You Oaf, or Why Don’t They Pay the Bonus?” (1935)

Dave — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 15:33:25 +0000

Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn’t it, of a long line of proven criminals?

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“Good-bye, Old Year, You Oaf, or Why Don’t They Pay the Bonus?” (1935)
(Source)

Eisenberg, Leon -- “The Human Nature of Human Nature,” Science (14 Apr 1972)

Dave — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 21:59:15 +0000

Pessimism about man serves to maintain the status quo. It is a luxury for the affluent, a sop to the guilt of the politically inactive, a comfort to those who continue to enjoy the amenities of privilege.

Leon Eisenberg (1922-2009) American psychiatrist and medical educator
“The Human Nature of Human Nature,” Science (14 Apr 1972)
(Source)

Based on an address at Faculty of Medicine Day, McGill University Sesquicentennial Celebration, Montreal, Canada (1 Oct 1971).

McCarthy, Mary -- “American Realist Playwrights,” On the Contrary (1961)

Dave — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 22:24:41 +0000

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)
(Source)

Arendt, Hannah -- The Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 11 “The Totalitarian Movement,” sec. 2 (1951)

Dave — Wed, 27 May 2020 14:57:50 +0000

A mixture of gullibility and cynicism had been an outstanding characteristic of mob mentality before it became an everyday phenomenon of masses. In an ever-changing, incomprehensible, world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything is possible and that nothing was true. The mixture in itself was remarkable enough, because it spelled the end of the illusion that gullibility was a weakness of unsuspecting primitive souls and cynicism the vice of superior and refined minds.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
The Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 11 “The Totalitarian Movement,” sec. 2 (1951)
(Source)

Arendt, Hannah -- The Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 11 “The Totalitarian Movement,” sec. 2 (1951)

Dave — Tue, 19 May 2020 16:09:29 +0000

Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
The Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 11 “The Totalitarian Movement,” sec. 2 (1951)
(Source)

Kempton, Murray -- Column on the 1960 Republican National Convention, Chicago (28 Jul 1960)

Dave — Fri, 15 May 2020 19:56:22 +0000

A political convention is just not a place where you come away with any trace of faith in human nature.

Murray Kempton (1917-1997) American journalist.
Column on the 1960 Republican National Convention, Chicago (28 Jul 1960)
(Source)

Lynn, Jonathan -- Yes Minister, 03×04 “The Moral Dimension” (BBC2 Television) (1982-12-02) [with Antony Jay]

Dave — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 20:53:56 +0000

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]

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Maxims], #312 (1665-1678)

Dave — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 23:35:21 +0000

The world oftener rewards the appearances of merit than merit itself.

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Maxims], #312 (1665-1678)
(Source)

Wharton, Edith -- French Ways and Their Meaning, ch. 4 “Intellectual Honesty” (1919)

Dave — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:49:22 +0000

What Mr. Howells said of the American theater is true of the whole American attitude toward life. “A tragedy with a happy ending” is exactly what the child wants before he goes to sleep: the reassurance that “all’s well with the world” as he lies in his cozy nursery. It is a good thing that the child should receive this reassurance; but as long as he needs it he remains a child, and the world he lives in is a nursery-world. Things are not always and everywhere well with the world, and each man has to find it out as he grows up. It is the finding out that makes him grow, and until he has faced the fact and digested the lesson he is not grown up — he is still in the nursery.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) American novelist
French Ways and Their Meaning, ch. 4 “Intellectual Honesty” (1919)
(Source)

Commenting on William Dean Howells' comment to her on American taste in theater and drama: "What the American public wants is a tragedy with a happy ending."

De Botton, Alain -- Status Anxiety, “Philosophy” 1.5 (2004)

Dave — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 03:39:30 +0000

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

Alain de Botton (b. 1969) Swiss-British author
Status Anxiety, “Philosophy” 1.5 (2004)
(Source)

Rucka, Greg -- Lazarus: X+66 #3, letter column (Sep 2017)

Dave — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 16:01:54 +0000

I’m not sure why it happened, and I’m not certain at all when it happened, but at some point, wanting a happy ending became uncool. Maybe it’s the relentless (and again, highly flawed) criticism that “such things aren’t realistic.” To which my response is, so the fuck what? It’s call fiction. If you want real, step outside.

Greg Rucka (b. 1969) American comic book writer and novelist
Lazarus: X+66 #3, letter column (Sep 2017)

Taylor, Henry -- The Statesman: An Ironical Treatise on the Art of Succeeding, ch. 17 (1836)

Dave — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 01:50:02 +0000

Considering the temptations under which politicians are placed, of changing their opinions, or rather their professions of opinion, from motives of self interest, the world will not give them credit for motives of honest conviction, unless when the change shall be to their manifest loss and disadvantage.

Henry Taylor (1800-1886) English dramatist, poet, bureaucrat, man of letters
The Statesman: An Ironical Treatise on the Art of Succeeding, ch. 17 (1836)
(Source)

Lovecraft, H. P. -- Letter to August W. Derleth (Jan 1928)

Dave — Tue, 11 Apr 2017 20:22:03 +0000

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.

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionnée], Part 2 “Characters and Anecdotes [Caractères et Anecdotes],” ch. 3 (frag. 771) (1795) [tr. Finod (1880)]

Dave — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 01:22:02 +0000

The world either breaks or hardens the heart.

[En vivant et en voyant les hommes, il faut que le cœur se briese ou se bronze.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionnée], Part 2 “Characters and Anecdotes [Caractères et Anecdotes],” ch. 3 (frag. 771) (1795) [tr. Finod (1880)]
(Source)

(Source (French))

Attributed by Chamfort as a statement in a philosophical debate, made by "M. D---". Finod's translation is very much a paraphrase, as is:

Contact with the world either breaks or hardens the heart.
[ed. Ballou (1882)]

More literal translations:

Living among men and observing them, the heart must either break or turn to bronze.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

In living and in seeing men, the heart must break or be bronzed.
[Source]

Though attributed by Chamfort to "M. D----," he also used the phrase himself, and it is usually attributed to him. Toward the end of his life, he wrote:

Je m'en vais enfin, de ce monde où il faut que le cœur se briese ou se bronze.

[I am leaving at last from this world where the heart must break or become bronze.]

Beecher, Henry Ward -- Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit (1870)

Dave — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 01:40:17 +0000

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.

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American clergyman and orator
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit (1870)

Bacon, Francis -- De Augmentis Scientiarum [Advancement of Learning], Book 2, ch. 21, #9 (1605)

Dave — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 02:16:16 +0000

We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
De Augmentis Scientiarum [Advancement of Learning], Book 2, ch. 21, #9 (1605)

Brooks, Phillips -- “Unspotted from the World,” sermon

Dave — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 00:25:32 +0000

When a man comes not merely to tolerate, but to boast of the stains that the world has flung upon him; when he wears his spots as if they were jewels; when he flaunts his unscrupulousness, and his cynicism and his disbelief and his hard-heartedness in your face as the signs and badges of his superiority; when to be innocent and unsuspicious and sensitive seems to be ridiculous and weak; when it is reputable to show that we are men of the world by exhibiting the stains that the world has left upon our reputation, our conduct, and our heart, then we understand how flagrant is the danger; then we see how hard it must be to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.

Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) American clergyman, hymnist
“Unspotted from the World,” sermon
(Source)

Shakespeare, William -- Macbeth, Act 4, sc. 2, l. 81ff (4.2.81-85) (1606)

Dave — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 13:17:58 +0000

LADY MACBETH: Whither should I fly?
I have done no harm. But I remember now
I am in this earthly world; where to do harm
Is often laudable, to do good sometime
Accounted dangerous folly.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 4, sc. 2, l. 81ff (4.2.81-85) (1606)
(Source)

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 5021 (1732)

Dave — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 14:50:28 +0000

Those see nothing but Faults that seek for nothing else.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 5021 (1732)
(Source)

Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #128 (9 Oct 1747)

Dave — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 16:35:18 +0000

As I have often told you, politeness and good beeding are absolutely necessary to adorn any, or all other good qualities or talents. Without them, no knowledge, no perfection whatever, is seen in its best light. The scholar, without good breeding, is a pedant; the philosopher, a cynic; the soldier, a brute; and every man disagreeable.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #128 (9 Oct 1747)
(Source)

Richardson, James -- Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001) # 16

Dave — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 16:15:11 +0000

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

Goldman, William -- The Princess Bride (1973)

Dave — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 14:11:48 +0000

Cynics are simply thwarted romantics.

William Goldman (1931-2018) American screenwriter, novelist
The Princess Bride (1973)

Miller, Henry -- Letter to Anaïs Nin (24 May 1933)

Dave — Tue, 26 May 2015 13:19:10 +0000

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)

Obama, Barack -- Speech, Purchase, New York (29 Aug 2014)

Dave — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 15:08:29 +0000

There has been a certain cynical genius to what some of these folks have done in Washington. What they’ve realized is, if we don’t get anything done, then people are going to get cynical about government and its possibilities of doing good for everybody. And since they don’t believe in government, that’s a pretty good thing. And the more cynical people get, the less they vote. And if turnout is low and people don’t vote, that pretty much benefits those who benefit from the status quo.

Barack Obama (b. 1961) American politician, US President (2009-2017)
Speech, Purchase, New York (29 Aug 2014)
(Source)

Russell, Bertrand -- Sceptical Essays, ch. 11 (1928)

Dave — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:36:51 +0000

We must be skeptical even of our skepticism.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Sceptical Essays, ch. 11 (1928)

Dickens, Charles -- American Notes, ch. 18 (1842)

Dave — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:08:04 +0000

It is an essential part of every national character to pique itself mightily upon its faults, and to deduce tokens of its virtue or its wisdom from their very exaggeration. One great blemish in the popular mind of America, and the prolific parent of an innumerable brood of evils, is Universal Distrust. Yet the American citizen plumes himself upon this spirit, even when he is sufficiently dispassionate to perceive the ruin it works; and will often adduce it, in spite of his own reason, as an instance of the great sagacity and acuteness of the people, and their superior shrewdness and independence.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) English writer and social critic
American Notes, ch. 18 (1842)
(Source)

Hoffer, Eric -- True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 13, § 62 (1951)

Dave — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 13:38:11 +0000

The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 13, § 62 (1951)
(Source)

Johnson, Samuel -- Comment (1783)

Dave — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 14:31:56 +0000

As I know more of mankind, I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (1783)

In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2

Dave — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:40:27 +0000

All men in whose character there is not an element of hardened baseness must admit the need in our public life of those qualities which we somewhat vaguely group together when we speak of “reform,” and all men of sound mind must also admit the need of efficiency.
There are, of course, men of such low moral type, or of such ingrained cynicism, that they do not believe in the possibility of making anything better, or do not care to see things better. There are also men who are slightly disordered mentally, or who are cursed with a moral twist which makes them champion reforms less from a desire to do good to others than as a kind of tribute to their own righteousness, for the sake of emphasizing their own superiority. From neither of these classes can we get any real help in the unending struggle for righteousness.
There remains the great body of the people, including the entire body of those through whom the salvation of the people must ultimately be worked out. All these men combine or seek to combine in varying degrees the quality of striving after the ideal, that is, the quality which makes men reformers, and the quality of so striving through practical methods — the quality which makes men efficient. Both qualities are absolutely essential. The absence of either makes the presence of the other worthless or worse.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2
(Source)

Collected in Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (1902).

Twain, Mark -- Mark Twain’s Notebook, 22 Dec 1903 [ed. Paine (1935)]

Dave — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:29:22 +0000

There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist, except an old optimist.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Mark Twain’s Notebook, 22 Dec 1903 [ed. Paine (1935)]

Twain, Mark -- Letter, San Francisco Alta California (15 Mar 1867)

Dave — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:32:03 +0000

They do say that when a man starts down hill everybody is ready to help him with a kick, and I suppose it is so.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Letter, San Francisco Alta California (15 Mar 1867)

Steel, Ronald -- “The Vanishing Campaign Biography,” New York Times (5 Aug 1984)

Dave — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:32:28 +0000

We are not a cynical people. The will to believe lingers on. We like to think that heroes can emerge from obscurity, as they sometimes do; that elections do matter, even though the process is at least part hokum; that through politics we can change our society and maybe even find a cause to believe in.

Ronald Steel (b. 1931) American writer, historian, and professor
“The Vanishing Campaign Biography,” New York Times (5 Aug 1984)

Mencken, H. L. -- A Little Book in C Major, ch. 5, § 23 (1916)

Dave — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:25:55 +0000

It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
A Little Book in C Major, ch. 5, § 23 (1916)
(Source)

Variants:

EVIL. That which one believes of others. It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
A Book of Burlesques, "The Jazz Webster" (1924)

Evil is that which one believes of others. It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
Chrestomathy, ch. 30 "Sententiae" (1949)

Stewart, Jon -- Commencement Address, College of William & Mary (2004-05-20)

Dave — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:40:26 +0000

I have not found this generation to be cynical or apathetic or selfish. They are as strong and as decent as any people that I have met. And I will say this, on my way down here I stopped at Bethesda Naval, and when you talk to the young kids that are there that have just been back from Iraq and Afghanistan, you don’t have the worry about the future that you hear from so many that are not a part of this generation but judging it from above.

Jon Stewart (b. 1962) American satirist, comedian, and television host. [b. Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz]
Commencement Address, College of William & Mary (2004-05-20)
(Source)

Frederick II (the Great) -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:19:33 +0000

The more I see of people, the more I love my dog.

[Je mehr ich von den Menschen sehe, um so lieber habe ich meinen Hund.]

Frederick II (1712-1786) King of Prussia (Frederick the Great, Friedrich der Große)
(Attributed)

This quote is widely attributed to Frederick, but I cannot find a primary or contemporary citation. The earliest attribution to Frederick I find is in a comment attributed to Otto von Bismarck in French historian Constantin de Grünwald, Bismarck (1949):

«Je suis comme Frederic II», dit-il à Radowitz: «Plus j'apprends à connaitre les hommes, plus je me mets à aimer les chiens.»

["I am like Frederick II," he told Radowitz: "The more I get to know men, the more I start to love dogs."]
[Google Translate]

As the earliest (unattributed) versions of this quote predate Bismark's adulthood, it is unlikely the formulation is originally his.

The quote is often misattributed to Charles de Gaulle, based on an article (1967-12-08), "Some General Comments, Entre Nous," Time Magazine, on political writer Jean-Raymond Tournoux's best-seller, La Tragédie du Général (1967). The article mistakes a use of the French phrase (translated as "The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs") as an attribution to De Gaulle, which, in context, it is a reference to the Bismarck quote above (and is in fact footnoted to de Grünwald's Bismarck):

Dans le petit parc, la ronde familière continue. Au passage, le chien «Vincam», berger allemand au pédigrée rare, tire sa longue, longue chaine: «Une chose me torture», dit de Gaulle... «Cet animal enchainé ... C’est impossible ... Je ne peux plus le voir ... Donnez-le à l’amiral Ortoli.»
Sur ce terrain, il se sent de plain-pied avec Frederic II, avec Bismarck: «Plus j'apprends à connaitre les hommes, plus je me mets à aimer les chiens.»

[In the small park, the familiar round continues. As we pass, the dog "Vincam," a German shepherd with a rare pedigree, pulls on his long, long chain: "One thing is torturing me," says de Gaulle ... "This chained animal ... It's impossible ... I can't stand it anymore ... Give it to Admiral Ortoli."
On this ground, he feels on the same level as Frederick II, from Bismarck: "The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs."]
[Google Translate]

The same quote is also attribute to Blaise Pascal ("Plus je vois les hommes, plus j'aime mon chien"). I cannot find a primary source of his saying it, but it is attributed to him in an inscription in the Cimetière des Chiennes in Asnières on the Ile de la Recetre on the Seinne (1, 2, 3).

Similarly, it is often attributed to Madame Germaine de Staël ("The more I know men, the more I love dogs"). Again, I can find only attributions, not a primary souce (1, 2, 3) .

For additional discussion about this quotation and its origins, see:

Wagner, Jane -- The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, Part 1 (1985) [perf. Lily Tomlin]

Dave — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:55:35 +0000

LILY: I worry no matter how cynical you become,
it’s never enough to keep up.

Jane Wagner (b. 1935) American humorist, writer, director
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, Part 1 (1985) [perf. Lily Tomlin]
(Source)

Variant: "No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1824-12-10)

Dave — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 20:39:36 +0000

I confess I am a little cynical on some topics, and when a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1824-12-10)
(Source)