Altruism and Cynicism
173 aphorisms · 15 comments
Aphorisms in This Category
1–20 (174)
tiny.ag/7do2rifh · ★★☆☆ Fair (140 ratings) · submitted 1997
The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.
Mark Twain, What is Man?, 1906, in Altruism and Cynicism
tiny.ag/sdmeheo7 · ★★☆☆ Fair (301 ratings) · submitted 1997
I am prepared to meet anyone, but whether anyone is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
tiny.ag/q6kxew3z · ★★☆☆ Fair (304 ratings) · submitted 1997
Good breeding consists of concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
tiny.ag/gymh6otw · ★★☆☆ Fair (146 ratings) · submitted 1997
Man is the only animal that blushes -- or needs to.
tiny.ag/ne1vhxlr · ★★☆☆ Fair (119 ratings) · submitted 1997
Never tell the truth to those unworthy of it.
tiny.ag/5otyux70 · ★★☆☆ Fair (121 ratings) · submitted 1997
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it.
tiny.ag/otpgz4zj · ★★☆☆ Fair (93 ratings) · submitted 1997
A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.
tiny.ag/r1bfukdv · ★★☆☆ Fair (350 ratings) · submitted 1997
Few things are harder to put up with than a good example.
tiny.ag/r6bo5aic · ★★☆☆ Fair (234 ratings) · submitted 1998 by Mark van Essen
Black, white, brown, yellow or even red, we piss with our pants down, and go naked to bed.
tiny.ag/lvmeyokh · ★★☆☆ Fair (340 ratings) · submitted 1997
Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.
tiny.ag/asecpbyl · ★★☆☆ Fair (76 ratings) · submitted 1997
A cynic is a person searching for an honest man, with a stolen lantern.
tiny.ag/0ihiksxu · ★★☆☆ Fair (57 ratings) · submitted 1997
On Monday mornings I am dedicated to the proposition that all men are created jerks.
H. Allen Smith, Let the Crabgrass Grow, in Altruism and Cynicism
tiny.ag/dtxsg5kf · ★★☆☆ Fair (127 ratings) · submitted 1997
A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is statistics.
tiny.ag/lkgjcwse · ★★☆☆ Fair (76 ratings) · submitted 1997
Baloney is flattery so thick that it can not be true and blarney is flattery so thin that we like it.
tiny.ag/9m1hmtxp · ★★☆☆ Fair (160 ratings) · submitted 1997
When a man wants to murder a tiger, it's called sport; when the tiger wants to murder him, it's called ferocity.
tiny.ag/itutlzy5 · ★★☆☆ Fair (242 ratings) · submitted 1997
The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it.
tiny.ag/7hdzmwue · ★★☆☆ Fair (246 ratings) · submitted 1997
It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
George Bernard Shaw, in Altruism and Cynicism and Vice and Virtue
tiny.ag/hq8w7xao · ★★☆☆ Fair (71 ratings) · submitted 1997
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
tiny.ag/vinogpxg · ★★☆☆ Fair (212 ratings) · submitted 1997
A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you.
tiny.ag/apirm627 · ★★☆☆ Fair (60 ratings) · submitted 1997
You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
1–20 (174)