Quotes and Sayings about Cynic

"I'm not the type of guy who enjoys one-night stands. It leaves me feeling very empty and cynical. It's not even fun sexually. I need to feel something for the woman and entertain the vain hope that it may lead to a relationship."
- Ben Affleck
(Related: Hope, Feeling, Fun, May, Woman)

"There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing."
- Maya Angelou
(Related: Cynic, Nothing)

"I read some of my stories recently and thought, 'How in the hell did I get away with that?' I had some really raw cynicism in some of them."
- Carl Barks
(Related: Thought, Cynicism, Hell)

"It's often been said that I'm an extremely depressing, cynical writer. I've never known what to make of that."
- Ann Beattie
(Related: Writer)

"Remember, beneath every cynic there lies a romantic, and probably an injured one."
- Glenn Beck
(Related: Cynic, Lies, Romantic)

"Cynicism is the humour of hatred."
- Herbert Beerbohm
(Related: Cynicism, Hatred)

"It's not that the Irish are cynical. It's rather that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody."
- Brendan Behan
(Related: Irish, Respect)

"I'm very used to playing the tomboy or the sarcastic cynic. That's my go-to. Playing the vulnerable of a real girl that's in real womanlike situations, where it's romanticized, I'm a little nervous about it."
- Kristen Bell
(Related: Cynic, Sarcastic)

"The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget."
- John Berger
(Related: God, Burden, Forget, Memory, Order)

"Anything that has cynicism to it and that's jaded is smutty."
- Sandra Bernhard
(Related: Cynicism, Jaded)

"Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be."
- Ambrose Bierce
(Related: Vision, Cynic)

"Students now arrive at the university ignorant and cynical about our political heritage, lacking the wherewithal to be either inspired by it or seriously critical of it."
- Allan Bloom
(Related: Now, Students, University)

"It's so easy to manipulate an audience, but it's nearly always clear that you are being manipulated. I think even people that are not critically attuned are aware of cynical manipulation in film."
- John Boorman
(Related: People, Being, Film, Manipulation)

"If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down."
- Ray Bradbury
(Related: Love, Time, Business, Friendship, Intellect, Nonsense)

"I'm sure some cynical people would point to that as the main reason for doing it for a lot of people."
- Jo Brand
(Related: People, Reason)

"Most cynics are really crushed romantics: they've been hurt, they're sensitive, and their cynicism is a shell that's protecting this tiny, dear part in them that's still alive."
- Jeff Bridges
(Related: Cynicism, Hurt)

"I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we're lead to is a life not fully lived. Cynicism is fear, and it's worse than fear - it's active disengagement."
- Ken Burns
(Related: Life, Fear, Choices, Cynicism, Safety)

"If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign."
- George W. Bush
(Related: Politics, Cynicism, Principles)

"Generally I don't like doing remakes, but I think that's more in the cynical world of Hollywood where normally remakes are purely for commercial reasons."
- Gerard Butler
(Related: Hollywood, World)

"Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist."
- George Carlin

"I'm not cynical about marriage or romance. I enjoyed being married. And although being single was fun for a while, there was always the risk of dating someone who'd owned a lunch box with my picture on it."
- Shaun Cassidy
(Related: Dating, Marriage, Romance, Being, Fun, Risk)

"I'm a hopeful cynic."
- Tracy Chapman
(Related: Cynic)

"We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs."
- Kenneth Clark
(Related: Bombs, Cynicism, Disillusion)

"I live a perfectly happy and comfortable life in Blair's Britain, but I can't work up much affection for the culture we've created for ourselves: it's too cynical, too knowing, too ironic, too empty of real value and meaning."
- Jonathan Coe
(Related: Life, Work, Affection, Culture, Meaning, Value)

"Cynicism is tough. A cynic's point of view is really pitiful. I derive pleasure out of a lot of things in life. As long as I'm fairly healthy, it's hard to stay dismal for very long."
- Shawn Colvin
(Related: Life, Cynic, Cynicism, Pleasure)

"Why should we strive, with cynic frown, to knock their fairy castles down?"
- Eliza Cook
(Related: Cynic)

"Hypocrisy is the outside of cynicism."
- Mason Cooley
(Related: Cynicism, Hypocrisy)

"Cynicism is full of naive disappointments."
- Mason Cooley
(Related: Cynicism, Disappointments)

"I am not a cynic."
- Kevin Costner
(Related: Cynic)

"I think there are good men and women in all decades. We've grown cynical. And look at what we do to all our heroes: Churchill, FDR, Kennedy, they all had affairs. But heroic things happen every day."
- Kevin Costner
(Related: Men, Women, Day)

"Cynicism is intellectual treason."
- Norman Cousins
(Related: Cynicism, Treason)

"I think a lot of cynicism has dropped away from my shoulders since I stopped drinking."
- Graham Coxon
(Related: Cynicism, Drinking)

"Just look at my face. Its an extraordinary experience. All of my friends who are grandparents have been saying, just wait, a bit cynically, but its just extraordinary. You feel like a child again yourself. Just walking on air."
- Blythe Danner
(Related: Experience, Friends, Grandparents, Saying, Walking)

"I don't think you can ever be ahead of your time with cynicism about that subject. No, I don't think it was ahead of its time. I think it was very much a product of its time."
- Joe Dante
(Related: Time, Cynicism)

"The Carrie in the plot was too much like the Carrie in the book. She smoked, she swore a lot, she was very hard, very cynical. I could never have pulled it off."
- Kristin Davis

"For a poet to depict a poet in poetry is a hazardous experiment; in regarding one's own trade a sense of humour and a little wholesome cynicism are not amiss."
- Edward Dowden
(Related: Poetry, Cynicism, Sense, Trade)

"I will never be cynical again about people."
- Dick Ebersol
(Related: People, Will)

"This isn't really a convention, This is really an infomercial. And every night we'll have a different infomercial and people view it with a certain level of cynicism."
- Susan Estrich
(Related: People, Cynicism, Night)

"The cynical part of the answer is that I expect to see a good deal more space opera, set far enough in the future as to be disconnected from contemporary issues."
- John M. Ford
(Related: Future, Opera, Space)

"I never thought I'd spend all my life with Gary. I suppose I was quite cynical about marriage. But with Jude, I knew right from the beginning: there was an electricity I'd never felt before. It was so easy, we talked for hours. It was a relief, really."
- Sadie Frost
(Related: Life, Marriage, Thought, Electricity, Right)

"I'm a bit cynical that it ever will be addressed properly. I think it is healthy to get some sort of copyright protection. But some of it has gone on forever."
- Peter Gabriel
(Related: Protection, Will)

"Men of integrity, by their very existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral squalor. We need that belief; a cynical community is a corrupt community."
- John W. Gardner
(Related: Men, People, Belief, Community, Existence, Integrity)

"The cynic says, "One man can't do anything." I say, "Only one man can do anything.""
- John W. Gardner
(Related: Cynic, Man)

"If the great Government of the United States were a private corporation no bank would take its name on a piece of paper, because it has cynically repudiated the words engraved upon its bonds."
- Garet Garrett
(Related: Government, Name, states, United, Words)

"The rich are not born sceptical or cynical. They are made that way by events, circumstances."
- Paul Getty
(Related: Circumstances, Events)

"I vehemently deny that I was born a cynic and a pessimist."
- Paul Getty
(Related: Cynic)

"We had a lot of riots. We came under attack from many of the police departments. It certainly wasn't some publicity thing. I was afraid for many years. We couldn't play in LA for many years. A lot of people got very cynical."
- Greg Ginn
(Related: People, Play, Police, Publicity, Years)

"I'm the most cynical person, and I know what that sounds like when you say, I don't drink and drive, and I don't. But I know people look at that with skepticism, and I understand."
- Tracey Gold
(Related: People, Skepticism)

"Nevertheless, I resist cynicism and continue to believe in the possibilities for genuine democracy."
- William Greider
(Related: Cynicism, Democracy, Possibilities)

"Global terrorism is extreme both in its lack of realistic goals and in its cynical exploitation of the vulnerability of complex systems."
- Jurgen Habermas
(Related: Goals, Exploitation, Extreme, Terrorism, Vulnerability)

"People were more interested in the phenomena than the art itself. This, combined with the growing interest in collecting art as an investment and the resultant boom in the art market, made it a difficult time for a young artist to remain sincere without becoming cynical."
- Keith Haring
(Related: Art, Time, People, Artist, Interest, Investment)

"An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run."
- Sydney J. Harris
(Related: Cynic)

"The nature of journalism has been the enemy of idealism and the source of cynicism among American reporters and editors throughout our history."
- Richard Harwood
(Related: History, Nature, American, Cynicism, Editors, Enemy, Idealism, Journalism)

"Morality and expediency coincide more than the cynics allow."
- Roy Hattersley
(Related: Morality, Expediency)

"If I was working hard, she bled into my personality. I became more cynical."
- Marg Helgenberger
(Related: Personality)

"Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth."
- Lillian Hellman
(Related: Truth, Cynicism, Saying)

"Walt had a marvelous intuition. And because he understood people very well, liked them and had great respect for people, there was nothing cynical about Walt."
- John Hench
(Related: People, Intuition, Nothing, Respect)

"Irony differentiates. Cynicism never does."
- Paul Horgan
(Related: Cynicism, Irony)

"It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to."
- Fannie Hurst
(Related: Cynic, Man)

"Cynical realism is the intelligent man's best excuse for doing nothing in an intolerable situation."
- Aldous Huxley
(Related: Man, Nothing, Realism)

"I don't think you lead by pessimism and cynicism. I think you lead by optimism and enthusiasm and energy."
- Patricia Ireland
(Related: Enthusiasm, Optimism, Pessimism, Cynicism, Energy)

"I felt slightly superior to student politics, for instance. I had no reason to think this, but I thought of myself as slightly more seasoned. I became quite cynical talking to my student friends."
- Kazuo Ishiguro
(Related: Politics, Thought, Friends, Reason, Talking)

"I think you can be cynical about religion on occasion, and certainly skeptical about the degree to which some people use religion to manipulate other people."
- Peter Jennings
(Related: Religion, People)

"The Cold War was waged in a particularly brutal and cynical way in Africa, and Africa seemed powerless to do anything to stop it."
- Ryszard Kapuscinski
(Related: War)

"Modern cynics and skeptics... see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing."
- John F. Kennedy
(Related: Care, Children, Harm, Wage)

"The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were."
- John F. Kennedy
(Related: Men, Dream, Obvious, Problems, World)

"I'm an old cynic."
- Margot Kidder
(Related: Cynic, Old)

"Bush promised a foreign policy of humility and a domestic policy of compassion. He has given us a foreign policy of arrogance and a domestic policy that is cynical, myopic and cruel."
- Joe Klein
(Related: Policy, Arrogance, Compassion, Foreign policy, Humility)

"My level of cynicism about the reasons that took us to war against Iraq remain just as well-developed as they were before I went."
- Ted Koppel
(Related: War, Cynicism, Iraq)

"When you play music with someone who has a heart rather than playing with someone who is just doing it for money or is cynical it makes all the difference."
- Greg Lake
(Related: Money, Music, Heart, Difference, Play)

"Idealist: a cynic in the making."
- Irving Layton
(Related: Cynic)

"The more cynical you become, the better off you'll be."
- Matt LeBlanc

"I think we have to believe we are here for some purpose, and I know there are many cynics who will deny it, but they don't live as if they deny it."
- Joshua Lederberg
(Related: Purpose, Will)

"Cynicism is the intellectual cripple's substitute for intelligence."
- Russell Lynes
(Related: Intelligence, Cynicism)

"I think the people who are making Christmas-themed movies today feel that people are more cynical about Christmas. There's more of an edge."
- Leonard Maltin
(Related: Movies, People, Christmas, Today)

"You know what the critics are. If you tell the truth they only say you're cynical and it does an author no good to get a reputation for cynicism."
- W. Somerset Maugham
(Related: Truth, Cynicism, Reputation)

"The cynics are right nine times out of ten."
- H. L. Mencken
(Related: Right)

"The worst government is often the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression."
- H. L. Mencken
(Related: Government, Fanatics, Oppression)

"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin."
- H. L. Mencken
(Related: Cynic, Flowers, Man)

"Cynicism is intellectual dandyism."
- George Meredith
(Related: Cynicism)

"The decline of manners, the cynical pursuit without shame or restraint of personal advantage and of money characterizes our times, not without exceptions, of course, but more than we ought to be comfortable with."
- J. Irwin Miller
(Related: Money, Manners, Pursuit, Restraint, Shame)

"Before children, even the most cynical people throw down their usual masks and become capable of feeling the purity and love which all human beings seek."
- Sun Myung Moon
(Related: Love, People, Children, Feeling, Purity)

"It's a good time to be making movies, despite the cynicism people have about Hollywood."
- Rob Morrow
(Related: Time, Movies, People, Cynicism, Hollywood)

"It is only the cynicism that is born of success that is penetrating and valid."
- George Jean Nathan
(Related: Success, Cynicism)

"I think there ought to be a club in which preachers and journalists could come together and have the sentimentalism of the one matched with the cynicism of the other. That ought to bring them pretty close to the truth."
- Reinhold Niebuhr
(Related: Truth, Cynicism, Pretty)

"I reject the cynical view that politics is a dirty business."
- Richard M. Nixon
(Related: Business, Politics)

"The worst cynicism: a belief in luck."
- Joyce Carol Oates
(Related: Belief, Luck)

"In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?"
- Barack Obama
(Related: Politics, Hope, Cynicism, End)

"The cynicism that you have is not your real soul."
- Yoko Ono
(Related: Soul, Cynicism)

"Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack."
- George S. Patton
(Related: People)

"Reforming public education, cutting property taxes, fixing adult and child protective services and funding our budget can all occur when Democrats and Republicans engage in consensus and cooperation - not cynicism and combat."
- Rick Perry
(Related: Education, Cooperation, Cynicism, Democrats, Property, Public, Republicans, Taxes)

"It's very easy to be cynical about the hall of fame. But on the other hand, it's really a beautiful thing for someone like me. I dedicated my entire life to this music."
- Tom Petty
(Related: Life, Music, Fame)

"A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will in time produce a people as base as itself."
- Joseph Pulitzer
(Related: Time, People, Press, Will)

"I am a cynical optimist. Big opening weekends are like cotton candy. The films you will remember over time are the films that stick in the consciousness of the audience in a good way."
- Robert Redford
(Related: Time, Consciousness, Will)

"People have moved beyond apathy, beyond skepticism into deep cynicism."
- Elliot Richardson
(Related: People, Apathy, Cynicism, Deep, Skepticism)

"I don't think my spirituality has affected my character. I feel like my character is much more cynical about his beliefs, and I think I have to kind of drop what I believe in order to play him."
- Jason Ritter
(Related: Character, Beliefs, Order, Play, Spirituality)

"I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
(Related: Thinking)

"Woman: the peg on which the wit hangs his jest, the preacher his text, the cynic his grouch and the sinner his justification."
- Helen Rowland
(Related: Cynic, Jest, Justification, Wit)

"I do get cynical, but what can you do? It doesn't make any difference."
- Kurt Russell
(Related: Difference)

"It's an indication of how cynical our society has become that any kind of love story with a sad theme is automatically ridiculed as sentimental junk."
- Winona Ryder
(Related: Love, Society)

"I am most proud of my integrity and least proud of my cynicism."
- Chloe Sevigny
(Related: Cynicism, Integrity)

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
- George Bernard Shaw
(Related: Power, Cynicism, Observation)

"I have no cynicism at all."
- Antony Sher
(Related: Cynicism)

"I think I've finally proven something to people who were cynical about me. Because they were cruel."
- Nancy Sinatra
(Related: People)

"That's probably when I get the most angry at American movies, when they just so cynically manipulate the audience without even trying to give a good story."
- Gene Siskel
(Related: Movies, American, Trying)

"But I'm trying not to be cynical - I don't want to be one of those people who has a cool opportunity and blows it. It's really amazing what's happening to me."
- Shannyn Sossamon
(Related: People, Opportunity, Trying, Want)

"Saying you have a political solution is like saying you can write a pop song that's going to stay at the top of the list forever. I don't have many illusions about this, but I'm not cynical about it."
- Bruce Sterling
(Related: Saying, Solution, Song)

"The only deadly sin I know is cynicism."
- Henry L. Stimson
(Related: Cynicism, Sin)

"I don't think I have one iota of cynicism about acting."
- Donald Sutherland
(Related: Acting, Cynicism)

"A lot of people think I'm cynical when I talk about acting. The truth of the matter is, I just don't want someone to get some lame advice that will send them in the wrong direction."
- Amber Tamblyn
(Related: Truth, People, Acting, Advice, Direction, Talk, Want, Will, Wrong)

"Cannes is a very strange place. I tried to show up as best I could and to try not to be cynical."
- Lili Taylor

"Another cause for the increase in alienation and cynicism is a feeling that too many policy decisions that affect individuals have been taken out of any system that has accountability or that they can influence."
- Robert Teeter
(Related: Policy, Alienation, Cause, Cynicism, Decisions, Feeling, Influence)

"We have for the past year and undoubtedly will be for the next year, dealing with an electorate that is more alienated and more cynical than at any point in modern time."
- Robert Teeter
(Related: Time, Past, Will)

"Optimism with some experience behind it is much more energizing than plain old experience with a certain degree of cynicism."
- Twyla Tharp
(Related: Experience, Optimism, Cynicism, Old)

"And introduce an element of cynicism and darkness into it and just realize that we're all vulnerable. We are humans. There is a finite end to this life and we're all going to face it and a little silliness can help."
- Alan Thicke
(Related: Life, Cynicism, Darkness, End, Help)

"No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up."
- Lily Tomlin

"We are at heart so profoundly anarchistic that the only form of state we can imagine living in is Utopian; and so cynical that the only Utopia we can believe in is authoritarian."
- Lionel Trilling
(Related: Heart, Living, State, Utopia)

"Life is not an easy matter... You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness."
- Leon Trotsky
(Related: Life, Idea, Cynicism, Frustration, Misery, Weakness)

"Working together during the past three years, we have confounded the skeptics and the cynics. We've shown that here in Virginia, Democrats and Republicans can come together, put politics aside, and make tough decisions when times demand it."
- Mark Warner
(Related: Politics, Decisions, Democrats, Past, Republicans, Years)

"In a cruel and evil world, being cynical can allow you to get some entertainment out of it."
- Daniel Waters
(Related: Being, Entertainment, Evil, World)

"A cynic is a man who looks at the world with a monocle in his mind's eye."
- Carolyn Wells
(Related: Cynic, Eye, Man, Mind, World)

"Cynicism is humor in ill health."
- H. G. Wells
(Related: Health, Humor, Cynicism)

"I think the future also will not belong to those who are cynical or those who stand on the sidelines."
- Paul Wellstone
(Related: Future, Will)

"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."
- Oscar Wilde
(Related: Cynic, Man, Nothing, Value)

"I may have grown cynical from long service, but this is a tendency I do not like, and I sometimes think I'd rather be a dog and bay at the moon than stay in the Senate another six years and listen to it."
- John Sharp Williams
(Related: May, Moon, Senate, Service, Years)

"Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves."
- Robert Anton Wilson

"You know, many people have called me, friends from the nationalist camp, revisionists and so on, from around the world, have called me over the years - and now again because of what happened - and they are all very cynical about the police and the authorities."
- Ernst Zundel
(Related: People, Friends, Now, Police, World, Years)