These cynic quotes will inspire you. Cynic, a person who has negative opinions about other people and about the things people do.
Below you will find a collection of motivating, happy, and encouraging cynic quotes, cynic sayings, and cynic proverbs.
Best Cynic Quotes
- “If you’re regularly willing to give a critique, but not willing to take one, you’re not a leader, you’re a cynic.” ~ Ed Stetzer
- “Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.” ~ George Carlin
- “What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” ~ Oscar Wilde
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“The cynic puts all human actions into two classes – openly bad and secretly bad.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher
- “Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt… Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves.” ~ Robert Anton Wilson
- “Never be a cynic, even a gentle one. Never help out a sneer, even at the devil.” ~ Vachel Lindsay
- “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
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“Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.” ~ Lillian Hellman
- “Don’t waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “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
- “It’s hard to argue against cynics – they always sound smarter than optimists because they have so much evidence on their side.” ~ Molly Ivins
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“No man in his heart is quite so cynical as a well-bred woman.” ~ W. Somerset Maugham
- “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
- “What is the use of straining after an amiable view of things, when a cynical view is most likely to be the true one?.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “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
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“A cynic is a man who looks at the world with a monocle in his mind’s eye.” ~ Carolyn Wells
- “It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to.” ~ Fannie Hurst
- “The cynic says, “One man can’t do anything”. I say, “Only one man can do anything.”” ~ John W. Gardner
- “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 us or disappoint us.” ~ Stephen Colbert
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“A cynic can chill and dishearten with a single word.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Pasteboard pies and paper flowers are being banished from the stage by the growth of that power of accurate observation which is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it…” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- “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
- “There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.” ~ Maya Angelou
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“Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.” ~ Ambrose Bierce
- “A cynic is just a man who found out when he was ten that there wasn’t any Santa Claus, and he’s still upset.” ~ James Gould Cozzens
- “The wise screen writer is he who wears his second-best suit, artistically speaking, and doesn’t take things too much to heart. He should have a touch of cynicism, but only a touch. The complete cynic is as useless to Hollywood as he is to himself. He should do the best he can without straining at it. He should be scrupulously honest about his work, but he should not expect scrupulous honesty in return. He won’t get it. And when he has had enough, he should say goodbye with a smile, because for all he knows he may want to go back.” ~ Raymond Chandler
- “People like Bill Maher, who brags about being a cynic, it sickens me. I am the least cynical person I know, and I am very, very skeptical.” ~ Penn Jillette
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“Remember, beneath every cynic there lies a romantic, and probably an injured one.” ~ Glenn Beck
- “Essentially, the [New York] Philharmonic is just like any other orchestra-they all have the spirit of kids, and if you scratch away a little of the fatigue and cynicism, out comes a 17-year-old music student again, full of wonder, exuberance and a tremendous love of music.” ~ Zubin Mehta , Cynic quotes about love
- “Don’t hang a dismal picture on the wall, and do not daub with sables and glooms in your conversation. Don’t be a cynic and disconsolate preacher. Don’t bewail and bemoan. Omit the negative propositions. Nerve us with incessant affirmatives. Don’t waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good. When that is spoken which has a right to be spoken, the chatter and the criticism will stop. Set down nothing that will not help somebody.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Nothing ever guarantees you anything-that’s my rule. My other rule is never believe anything that anyone tells you, and then you’ll never be fooled. It’s not as cynical as it sounds; it’s just that people always say something for a reason-maybe a nice reason, maybe a devious reason-so on that level, you can’t take things at face value.” ~ David Hyde Pierce
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“Idealist: a cynic in the making.” ~ Irving Layton
- “There’s something I believe wholeheartedly: Cynicism is the true refuge of the pseudo-intellectual, .. Cynicism is easy. Joy is an extremely advanced spiritual and intellectual tenet.” ~ Craig Ferguson
- “Cynicism is not realistic and tough. It’s unrealistic and kind of cowardly because it means you don’t have to try. —in Good Housekeeping” ~ Peggy Noonan
- “Scratch any cynic and you will find a disappointed idealist.” ~ George Carlin
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“A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.” ~ H. L. Mencken
- “The cynics are right nine times out of ten.” ~ H. L. Mencken
- “It is cynicism, and not idealism, that is generally the mark of youthful immaturity, or rather it is the cynic who is generally the most foolish romantic.” ~ Andrew Sarris
- “Cynic: an idealist whose rose-colored glasses have been removed, snapped in two and stomped into the ground, immediately improving his vision” ~ Rick Bayan
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“The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.” ~ Joyce Carol Oates
- “A cynic might suggest as the motto of modern life this simple legend-“just as good as the real.” ~ Charles Dudley Warner
- “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
- “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
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“Cynicism is reality with an alternate spelling.” ~ Woody Allen
- “The cynic, a parasite of civilization, lives by denying it, for the very reason that he is convinced that it will not fail.” ~ Jose Ortega y Gasset
- “Don’t be a cynic and disconsolate preacher. Don’t bewail and moan. Omit the negative propositions. Challenge us with incessant affirmatives.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “A cynic should never marry an idealist. For the cynic, marriage represents the welcome end of romantic life, with all its agony and ecstasy. But for the idealist, it is only the beginning.” ~ Julie Burchill
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“Cynicism is cheap – you can buy it at any Monoprix store – it’s built into all poor-quality goods.” ~ Graham Greene
- “I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting . . . it was the start of a new Arab world.. The Berlin Wall has fallen.” ~ Walid Jumblatt
- “My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.” ~ Jean Rostand
- “I never think I feel cynical in general. Cynical is reality with an alternate spelling. I feel there’s a gigantic amount of injustice and overt crime every day in the world, from emotional crimes to international crimes, and it often carries rewards.” ~ Woody Allen
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“I hate cynicism – it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere.” ~ Conan O’Brien
- “In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism, skepticism and humbug, and we shall want to live more musically.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh
- “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.” ~ Conan O’Brien
- “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
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“An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.” ~ H. L. Mencken
- “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
- “All I ask is one thing, and I’m asking this particularly of young people: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism, for the record, it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.” ~ Conan O’Brien
- “Progress is more of a challenge for the cynic but also more important and urgent, since for the optimist things aren’t that bad and are bound to get better anyway.” ~ Julian Baggini
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“The cynic sees only cynicism, the depressive can taint creation with one glance” ~ Anna Funder
- “The truth is, I pretend to be a cynic, but I am really a dreamer who is terrified of wanting something she may never get.” ~ Joanna Hoffman
- “Let me live in my house by the side of the road, Where the race of men go by; They are good, they are bad; they are weak, they are strong, Wise, foolish,–so am I; Then why should I sit in the scorner’s seat, Or hurl the cynic’s ban? Let me live in my house by the side of the road, And be a friend to man.” ~ Sam Walter Foss
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“The cynic is a coward. He foresees all barrenness so that barrenness can never surprise him.” ~ Anais Nin
- “Don’t be a cynic, and bewail and bemoan. Omit the negative propositions. Don’t waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good. Set down nothing that will help somebody.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Falling in love is very real, but I used to shake my head when people talked about soul mates, poor deluded individuals grasping at some supernatural ideal not intended for mortals but sounded pretty in a poetry book. Then, we met, and everything changed, the cynic has become the converted, the skeptic, an ardent zealot.” ~ E. A. Bucchianeri
