“Don't let yourself become cynical. Cynicism is a cheap emotion, a craven substitute for thought and action. Cynicism corrodes the will, dulls the conscience, blunts your sense of right and wrong… Stay alert to fine distinctions: become a pessimist like me.”
Hayduke Lives (1990)
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Edward Abbey146
American author and essayist 1927–1989Related quotes
“When you don’t love yourself, you become cynical(bitter) and negative towards life.”
Nithyananda (1978) Indian guru
Living Enlightenment
“I think the major problem in growing up is to become sophisticated without becoming cynical.”
Robert A. Heinlein book I Will Fear No Evil
Source: I Will Fear No Evil (1970), Chapter 27, p. 473
“No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.”
Lily Tomlin (1939) American actress, comedian, writer, and producer
As Lily
Unsourced variant: No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up.
Contributions of Jane Wagner, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1985)
“No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.”
Jane Wagner (1935) Playwright, actress
Lily
Unsourced variant: No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up.
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1985)
“Cynicism is easy. An optimist is a braver cynic.”
Colum McCann book TransAtlantic
Source: TransAtlantic
“Never, never let action become a substitute for thought.”
Brian W. Aldiss (1925–2017) British science fiction author
“Basis for Negotiations” p. 121 (originally published in New Worlds Science Fiction #114, January 1962)
Short fiction, Who Can Replace a Man? (1965)
Friedrich Nietzsche Untimely Meditations
§ 2.1, cited in Peter Sloterdijk, Critique of Cynical Reason (1987), p. ix
Untimely Meditations (1876)
“Intellectuals are cynical and cynics have never built a cathedral.”
Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) United States Secretary of State
As quoted in Sketchbook 1966-1971 (1971) by Max Frisch, p. 230
1970s