Cynicism is easy. Mimicry is easy. Optimistic contrarians are the rarest breed.

A lot of these activists weren’t even registered voters.

It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.

If you’re always worried about crushing the ants beneath you… you won’t be able to walk.

I am discovering that I can live far better without cynicism than I can without trust.

What good is ye world when ye canst not livest hither.

Birth, n.: The first and direst of all disasters.

It makes me feel tired about how guarded we are the whole time. Without even trying we’re ready to make a joke of everything, serving up the day with big dollops of irony and derision...

I had a dream about you. You shot me with a shooting star, but I was impervious because I was wearing a suit of armor made out of cynicism.

I spit on your happiness! I spit on your idea of life–that life that must go on, come what may. You are all like dogs that lick everything they smell. You with your promise of...

Possibly, some cynic, at once merry and bitter, had desired to signify, in this pantomimic scene, that we mortals, whatever our business or amusement–however serious, however trifling–all dance to one identical tune, and, in spite...

Loving humanity means as much, and as little, as loving raindrops, or loving the Milky Way. You say that you love humanity? Are you sure you aren’t treating yourself to easy self-congratulation, seeking approval, making...

Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt...

Didn’t Chains tell you about the Golden Theological Principle?””The what?””The single congruent aspect of every known religion. The one shared, universal assumption about the human condition.””What is it?””He said that life boils down to standing...

If cynicism and love lie at opposite ends of a spectrum, do we not sometimes fall in love in order to escape the debilitating cynicism to which we are prone? Is there not in every...

So basically you’re sticking around to watch us all fuck up ?””Yes. It’s one of life’s few guaranteed constants.

Humans are moving into a new phase, one based on the knowledge that talking about their feelings has never got them anywhere.

Ah, those foolish days, those foolish days when we were unselfish and pure-minded; those foolish days when our simple hearts were full of truth, and faith, and reverence! Ah, those foolish days of noble longings...

Indulge me, John. Cynicism and foul language are the only vices I’m presently capable of. Everything else takes energy or money.

Scratch the surface of any cynic, and you will find a wounded idealist underneath. Because of previous pain or disappointment, cynics make their conclusions about life before the questions have even been asked. This means...

Cynicism makes you feel smart, I know it, even when you aren’t smart.

His age was indeterminate. But in cynicism and general world weariness, which is a sort of carbon dating of the personality, he was about seven thousand years old.

Constantly exposing yourself to popular culture and the mass media will ultimately shape your reality tunnel in ways that are not necessarily conducive to achieving your Soul Purpose and Life Calling. Modern society has generally...

I find that the critics of voluntary service are all too often those who are prepared to accept such services when they require them but deride them with cynicism and scepticism when they see others...

You have shit upon your shoulder.

Say as little as possible, hope some of the undecideds like your teeth better than the other guy’s—that’s usually the way this business works.

In Paris, where raillery is so quick to throw emotion out the window, silence, in a roomful of clever people after a story, is the most flattering of all marks of success

Haven’t you heard of privacy, or were you raised by a tribe of hedonistic Vikings?

I work hard to stay cynical enough! I keep my expectations of our culture and our leaders low, low, low, and I do it so I don’t have to be let down. And yet again...

As my father always used to tell me, ‘You see, son, there’s always someone in the world worse off than you.’ And I always used to think, ‘So?

Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself.

Amory: I love you.Rosalind: I love you- now.

The genius of cynicism is that it is a voice in your ear it does not usually hang around long enough to be interviewed. It is usually expressed in innuendos, passing remarks, moods, cartoons, hints,...

To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.

The real inferiority of women to men is shown by their hate of paederasty, which they regard as unfair competition. Men on the other hand rather approve of Sapphism, as saving them trouble & expense.—Aleister...

Show me somebody who is always smiling, always cheerful, always optimistic, and I will show you somebody who hasn’t the faintest idea what the heck is really going on.

I dreamed about the future because that’s what people persuade you to do when you’re a kid, but that’s the biggest lie of all–that you can plan. Reality is, you have no fucking clue what’s...

When you succumb to cynicism, darkness, pessimism and sarcasm you are amplifying imbalance and negativity.

You say that people are shallow and ignorant until they go out and see the world? Well I, on the other hand, went out and in comparison realized I was in pretty good standing.

Voltaire expected that within fifty years of his lifetime there would not be one Bible in the world. His house is now a distribution centre for Bibles in many languages.

I think this goes more to the idea of ‘relentless irony’ than ‘divine providence.

Everyone is a little bitter. We’re born bitter. The personality itself is really just a very complex defense mechanism. A reaction to the first time someone said, “No you can’t.

Tomorrow’s world can not exist without morals, without faith and memory. Cynicism, narrow interests and cowardice must not occupy our lives.

To be cynical is to be distant. While offering a false intimacy of being “in the know,” cynicism actually destroys intimacy. It leads to a creeping bitterness that can deaden and even destroy the spirit…A...

… drink levels all mankind. It is the ultimate democrat

Better not to find out whether or not the rumorsare true, I say. Better find the other bastard and skinhim.

Stir not the bitterness in the cup that I mixed for myself,’ said Denethor. ‘Have I not tasted it now many nights upon my tongue, foreboding that worse lay in the dregs?

I can’t bear the thought that a man of lofty mind and heart begins with the ideal of the Madonna and ends with the ideal of Sodom.

Life is serious but art is fun!

The world keeps ending but new people too dumb to know it keep showing up as if the fun’s just started.