The European arguments against the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act demonstrate that "some Europeans have never lost faith in appeasement as a way of life. It is clear that Iran is cynically manipulating gullible (or equally cynical) Europeans to advance its development of weapons of mass destruction.
You may be sure that when a man begins to call himself a realist he is preparing to do something that he is secretly ashamed of doing.
Manners require time, and nothing is more vulgar than haste.
Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt. . . Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves.
Charitable endeavour exalts the prestige and the status of the giver. This may sound unduly cynical but as with all philantrophic activity, it is not easy to unravel the mutually reinforcing motives of selflessness and self-interest. All that can safely be said is that most members of the royal family have difficulty distinguishing between concern about society, concern about the social order and concern about what best to do so they can remain at the top of it.
We always reference kids but very rarely ask their opinion. Our inexperience might be what gives us the ability to teach our elders something, due to the fact that we are not jaded or cynical.
The most essential mental quality for a free people, whose liberty is to be progressive, permanent and on a large scale, is much stupidity.
One cannot answer for his courage when he has never been in danger.
Wonder is very necessary in life. When we're little kids, we're filled with wonder for the world - it's fascinating and miraculous. A lot of people lose that. They become cynical and jaded, especially in modern day society. Magic renews that wonder.
This notion that's peddled by the religious right - that they are oppressed is not true. Sometimes it's a cynical ploy to move their agenda ahead. The classic example being that somehow secularists are trying to eliminate Christmas, which strikes me as some kind of manufactured controversy.
For better or for worse, I've watched people die in front of me. I see how they are in the end. And they're not cynical. In the end, they wanna hold somebody's hand. And that's real to me.
Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
Render any politician down and there's enough fat to fry an egg.
A director once said, when I was complaining about something or other, "I agree, it is terrible. The worst thing you can do to an actor is give him a job. " That shut me up and broke off a big hunk of my actor's cynical armor.
Flattery is like chewing gum. Enjoy it but don't swallow it.
I'm cynical about society, politics, newspapers, government. But I'm not cynical about life, love, goodness, death. That's why I really don't want to be labeled a cynic.
Some cynical biographer said to me, Make sure it's a good death. Make sure you're not picking someone who just declined.
Cynicism is something that is part of the media production of a certain type of subjectivity or consciousness that is passive and disempowered, cynical, fatalistic, pessimistic.
It is a good idea to 'shop around' before you settle on a doctor. Ask about the condition of his Mercedes. Ask about the competence of his mechanic. Don't be shy! After all, you're paying for it.
If I never saw another airport again, I'd be happy!