Altruism and Cynicism

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

Doug Horton, in Altruism and Cynicism

Beauty is variable, ugliness is constant.

Doug Horton, in Altruism and Cynicism

Boring people are a reflection of boring people.

Doug Horton, in Altruism and Cynicism

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

Doug Horton, in Altruism and Cynicism

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

Lucille S. Harper, in Altruism and Cynicism

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Robert J. Hanlon, in Altruism and Cynicism and Vice and Virtue

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

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

Gian Vincenzo Gravina, in Altruism and Cynicism

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

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

Abraham Lincoln, in Altruism and Cynicism

All government -- indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act -- is founded on compromise and barter.

Edmund Burke, in Altruism and Cynicism

Subtlety is the art of saying what you think and getting out of the way before it is understood.

Unknown, in Altruism and Cynicism

Tact is the ability to tell a man he has an open mind when he has a hole in his head.

Unknown, in Altruism and Cynicism

The Golden Rule: whoever has the gold makes the rules.

Unknown, in Altruism and Cynicism and Success and Failure

There are two reasons for doing something: a really good reason and the real reason.

Unknown, in Altruism and Cynicism

To err is human, to blame the next guy even more so.

Unknown, in Altruism and Cynicism

Trust everybody, but cut the cards.

Unknown, in Altruism and Cynicism

We should forgive our enemies, but only after they've been taken out and shot.

Unknown, in Altruism and Cynicism

When the government fears the people, we have liberty. When the people fear the government, we have tyranny.

Unknown, in Altruism and Cynicism and Law and Politics

I am free of all prejudices. I hate everyone equally.

W. C. Fields, in Altruism and Cynicism