Aphorisms Galore!

Altruism and Cynicism

173 aphorisms  ·  14 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

tiny.ag/pmag8qvw  ·   Fair (151 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Buying a lie is one thing, giving it away for free is quite another.

Doug Horton, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/ooxlc4p0  ·   Fair (199 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Boring people are a reflection of boring people.

Doug Horton, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/j0vq6ox3  ·   Fair (406 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Beauty is variable, ugliness is constant.

Doug Horton, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/bnnutdd7  ·   Fair (378 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Be your own hero, it's cheaper than a movie ticket.

Doug Horton, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/nzeorxiy  ·   Fair (464 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Every calling is great when greatly pursued.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/f9zmepch  ·   Fair (46 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

He is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death.

H. H. Munro, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/crm6g7ll  ·   Fair (120 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

We can do no great things; only small things with great love.

Mother Teresa, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/rxylykkp  ·   Fair (186 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

Mother Teresa, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/u1edofwc  ·   Fair (103 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

One nice thing about egotists is that they don't talk about other people.

Lucille S. Harper, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/iobj0muk  ·   Fair (476 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.

Lillian Hellman, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/sq9g8eav  ·   Fair (3330 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Dune (paperback)

Kindness is the beginning of cruelty.

Frank Herbert, Dune, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/dochckvh  ·   Fair (862 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Mein Kampf (paperback)

By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell -- and hell heaven. The greater the lie, the more readily it will be believed.

Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/znd6chuu  ·   Fair (309 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.

Adolf Hitler, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/0iltdhzx  ·   Fair (341 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.

Adolf Hitler, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/mcsdq3k5  ·   Fair (117 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

A learned County Court judge in a book of memoirs recently said that the overwhelming amount of his time on the bench was taken up "with people who are persuaded by persons whom they do not know to enter into contracts that they do not understand to purchase goods that they do not want with money that they have not got."

Lord Greene, in Altruism and Cynicism and Law and Politics

tiny.ag/6jxieopf  ·   Fair (466 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.

Gian Vincenzo Gravina, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/7guwnmr1  ·   Fair (879 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

I don't want any "yes-men" around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.

Samuel Goldwyn, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/b4tuds1y  ·   Fair (192 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

There's always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat, plausible, and wrong.

Henry Louis Mencken, in Altruism and Cynicism and Science and Religion

tiny.ag/7gz85bqy  ·   Fair (179 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

The cynics are right nine times out of ten.

Henry Louis Mencken, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/avosjwgh  ·   Fair (324 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

I don't necessarily agree with everything I say.

Marshall McLuhan, in Altruism and Cynicism