#cynicism

Cynic, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are not as they ought to be. ↗

— Ambrose Bierce

#definition #honesty #vision

Cynicism, like gullibility, is a symptom of underdeveloped critical faculties. ↗

— Jamie Whyte

#cynicism #logic #journalist

What were you like," I asked her. "we're you happy? Or were you smiling because they told you to? ↗

— Gabrielle Zevin

#memoir

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 praying life is just the opposite. It engaged evil. It doesn't take no for an answer. The psalmist was in God's face, hoping, dreaming, asking. Prayer is feisty. Cynicism, on the other hand, merely critiques. It is passive, cocooning itself from the passions of the great cosmic battle we are engaged in. It is without hope. ↗

— Paul E. Miller

#prayer #dreams

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

#based #choices #cynicism #disengagement #fear

Life is such unutterable hell, solely because it is sometimes beautiful. If we could only be miserable all the time, if there could be no such things as love or beauty or faith or hope, if I could be absolutely certain that my love would never be returned: how much more simple life would be. One could plod through the Siberian salt mines of existence without being bothered about happiness. ↗

— T.H. White

#dichotomy #happiness #pain #stoicism #beauty

Nevertheless, I resist cynicism and continue to believe in the possibilities for genuine democracy. ↗

— William Greider

#continue #cynicism #democracy #genuine #i

I understand the concept of optimism. But I think with me what you get is a lack of cynicism. ↗

— Tom Hanks

#cynicism #get #i #i think #lack

The press is still investing itself, it seems to me, in a sort of cynicism. It comes out better for them if they can predict hard times, bogging down, sniping, attrition. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#better #comes #cynicism #down #hard

If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign. ↗

— George W. Bush

#come #cynicism #join #politics #polls