35 Cynical Quotes To Ponder

In our modern world, where optimism often takes center stage, there's something refreshingly grounding about a touch of cynicism. It provides a reality check, a counterbalance to overly idealistic views, and often a good laugh. Cynical quotes can be thought-provoking, offering sharp insights into the human condition and societal norms. Join us as we delve into a curated collection of the top 35 cynical quotes, each one selected to spark reflection and perhaps evoke a wry smile.

1. “Seeing ourselves as others see us would probably confirm our worst suspicions about them.” - Franklin P. Adams

2. “No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

3. “One cannot answer for his courage when he has never been in danger.” - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

4. “Nothing is more humbling than to look with a strong magnifying glass at an insect so tiny that the naked eye sees only the barest speck and to discover that nevertheless it is sculpted and articulated and striped with the same care and imagination as a zebra. Apparently it does not occur to nature whether or not a creature is within our range of vision, and the suspicion arises that even the zebra was not designed for our benefit.” - Rudolf Arnheim

5. “And if you're doing a deal with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing.” - William S. Burroughs

6. “They speak very well of you".- "They speak very well of everybody."- "That so bad?"- "Yes. It means you can´t trust them.” - Iain M. Banks

7. “The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank.” - Dante Gabriel Rossetti

8. “Being unhappy alone isn't all that much fun, but what's even tougher is playing one's part without forgetting one's lines, coping with other people's compassion, their comments, being there with the right line when they give the cue.” - Francois Maspero

9. “A lifetime spent in the study of the history of societies since the dawn of mankind presumably inclined him to skepticism and misgivings in regard to any great scheme, religious or political, that set out to create universal happiness in one fell swoop; what it was more likely to create, in his opinion, was universal misery; and his faith in heaven-sent saviors was hardly greater.” - Francois Maspero

10. “They can talk shit about each other behind the others' backs, but when it comes down to it, money is the one true race and everyone down here is the color of greenbacks and as tall as mountains.” - Richard Kadrey

11. “When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.” - Arthur C. Clarke

12. “Humans are part of nature, and nature is one great big wood chipper. Sooner or later, everything shoots out the other end in a spray of blood, bones, and hair.” - Douglas Coupland

13. “If you're too open-minded; your brains will fall out.” - Lawrence Ferlinghetti

14. “My congratulations to you, sir. Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good. ” - Samuel Johnson

15. “Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are economical in its use.” - Mark Twain

16. “Go to Old Delhi,and look at the way they keep chickens there in the market. Hundred of pale hens and brightly colored roosters, stuffed tightly into wire-mesh cages. They see the organs of their brothers lying around them.They know they are next, yet they cannot rebel. They do not try to get out of the coop. The very same thing is done with humans in this country.” - Aravind Adiga

17. “Catholics don't believe in divorce. We do believe in murder. There's always Confession, after all.--Brianna Fraser to Roger MacKenzie” - Diana Gabaldon

18. “There's nothing deeper than love. In fairy tales, the princesses kiss the frogs, and the frogs become princes. In real life,the princesses kiss princes, and the princes turn into frogs.” - Paulo Coelho

19. “A little bit of this town goes a very long way. After five days in Vegas you feel like you've been here for five years.” - Hunter S. Thompson

20. “The only activity a cynic will find contagious is yawning, that is, with other people, at other people.” - Criss Jami

21. “Life made you get your hands dirty; life was vengeful if you tried an easy route.” - Meghan Ciana Doidge

22. “It's weird, marriage. It's like this license that gives a person the legal right to control their spouse / their 'other half.” - Jess C. Scott

23. “The girls said she was too cynical about love, but how could you not be? On the surface, relations between men and women were all soft kisses and white gowns and hand-holding. But underneath they were a scary, complicated, ugly mess, just waiting to rise to the surface.” - J. Courtney Sullivan

24. “I have never fully unbosomed myself to any human being; I have never been encouraged to trust much in the sympathy of my fellow men. But we have all a chance of meeting with some pity, some tenderness, some charity, when we are dead: it is the living only who cannot be forgiven - the living only from whom men's indulgence and reverence are held off, like the rain by the hard east wind. While the heart beats, bruise it - it is your only opportunity; while the eye can still turn towards you with moist, timid entreaty, freeze it with an icy unanswering gaze; while the ear, that delicate messenger to the inmost sanctuary of the soul, can still take in the tones of kindness, put it off with hard civility, or sneering compliment, or envious affectation of indifference; while the creative brain can still throb with the sense of injustice, with the yearning for brotherly recognition - make haste - oppress it with your ill-considered judgements, your trivial comparisons, your careless misrepresentations. The heart will by and by be still - ubi saeoa indignatio ulterius cor lacerate nequit; the eye will cease to entreat; the ear will be deaf; the brain will have ceased from all wants as well as from all work. Then your charitable speeches may find vent; then you may remember and pity the toil and the struggle and the failure; then you may give due honour to the work achieved; then you may find extenuation for errors, and may consent to bury them ("The Lifted Veil")” - Mary Ann Evans

25. “Cuando haces una obra de caridad, on en mi caso de solidaridad, te sientes con derecho a ser como eres y tener lo que tienes. Ya pagaste tu impuesto, ¿ajá?” - Xavier Velasco

26. “If you stare at someone long enough, they'll eventually look back at you.” - Cory Doctorow

27. “I can never get used to the fact, though I know it, that women are born cynics. Men have to learn cynicism. Infant girls could teach it to them.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

28. “Home? What is home? Home is where a house is that you come back to when the rainy season is about to begin, to wait until the next dry season comes around. Home is where your woman is, that you come back to in the intervals between a greater love - the only real love - the lust for riches buried in the earth, that are your own if you can find them. Perhaps you do not call it home, even to yourself. Perhaps you call them 'my house,' 'my woman,' What if there was another 'my house,' 'my woman,' before this one? It makes no difference. This woman is enough for now.Perhaps the guns sounded too loud at Anzio or at Omaha Beach, at Guadalcanal or at Okinawa. Perhaps when they stilled again some kind of strength had been blasted from you that other men still have. And then again perhaps it was some kind of weakness that other men still have. What is strength, what is weakness, what is loyalty, what is perfidy?The guns taught only one thing, but they taught it well: of what consequence is life? Of what consequence is a man? And, therefore, of what consequence if he tramples love in one place and goes to find it in the next? The little moment that he has, let him be at peace, far from the guns and all that remind him of them.So the man who once was Bill Taylor has come back to his house, in the dusk, in the mountains, in Anahuac. ("The Moon Of Montezuma")” - Cornell Woolrich

29. “- We're winning!- Who is 'we', mon Prince?- Not a word! I will tell you tomorrow.” - Talleyrand

30. “The first of ‘Goose’s Two Laws of Survival.’ It runs thus, ‘The weak are meat the strong do eat.’ ” ... Henry grinned in the dark & cleared his throat. “The second law of survival states that there is no second law. Eat or be eaten. That’s it.” - David Mitchell

31. “One child out of wedlock is an error. Two suggests carelessness. Three—and six—is simply wrong. Wrong.” - Eloisa James

32. “Writers whose thoughts are expressed with clarity and precision are assumed by readers to be superficial. Where the meaning is obscured, then readers give more attention and consider the fruit of their labour more valuable” - Friedrich Nietzsche

33. “There just isn’t enough cock in this world to be caught suckin’ and be called anything but a slut for life. The cynic in me would call it a bad habit, but that’d make me a whore in denial and if there’s one thing I am, it’s an honest bitch. Then again, you don’t get famous for being daddy’s little angel, but you can easily fall into the Infamy Bracket by preaching a made-up Bible quote now and again. They say I’m shallow, but I’ve made a living out off diving off the deep end.” - Dave Matthes

34. “I am discovering that I can live far better without cynicism than I can without trust.” - Steve Goodier

35. “Did it ever occur to you that when he told you he would come back he was lying? Many a man has done it. He probably meant no malice – he just did not want to see your tears and pleading. If you find him in Tarras you may not like what you discover. He won't thank you for crossing 'mountain and down' to find him. Life is not like the songs Avalon, tis far less pretty.” - Sam J. Charlton