Altruism and Cynicism
173 aphorisms · 15 comments
Aphorisms in This Category
141–160 (174)
tiny.ag/vr4hxjva · submitted 1997
Egoist: A person of low taste, more interested in themselves than in me.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in Altruism and Cynicism
tiny.ag/dxvyak3f · submitted 1997
Eulogy: Praise of a person who has either the advantages of wealth and power, or the consideration to be dead.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in Altruism and Cynicism
tiny.ag/dzggn7ah · submitted 1997
Politeness: The most acceptable hypocrisy.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in Altruism and Cynicism
tiny.ag/ixcdrxvs · submitted 1997
The covers of this book are too far apart.
tiny.ag/dfwohelg · submitted 1997
It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.
tiny.ag/wqt4ciab · submitted 1997
A rumor without a leg to stand on will get around some other way.
tiny.ag/r1bfukdv · submitted 1997
Few things are harder to put up with than a good example.
tiny.ag/q6kxew3z · submitted 1997
Good breeding consists of concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
tiny.ag/sdmeheo7 · 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/xjumrw8y · submitted 1997
Everything is controlled by a small evil group to which, unfortunately, no one we know belongs.
tiny.ag/e6ekgqrh · submitted 1997
Familiarity breeds contempt.
tiny.ag/xl1yrua8 · submitted 1997
George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but he also admitted doing it. Now, do you know why his father didn't punish him? Because George still had the axe in his hand.
tiny.ag/p7q95xlg · submitted 1997
Hypocrisy is the vaseline of social intercourse.
tiny.ag/ajwgbtvf · submitted 1997
If you were arrested for kindness, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
tiny.ag/zm6nq4mh · submitted 1997
We should forgive our enemies, but only after they've been taken out and shot.
tiny.ag/ywjorl1b · submitted 1997
When the government fears the people, we have liberty. When the people fear the government, we have tyranny.
tiny.ag/q93dw7gi · submitted 1997
Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.
tiny.ag/vgoawlvx · submitted 1997
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.
tiny.ag/lvmeyokh · submitted 1997
Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.
tiny.ag/ixldmygb · submitted 1997
A reasonable man adapts himself to suit his environment. An unreasonable man persists in attempting to adapt his environment to suit himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
George Bernard Shaw, in Altruism and Cynicism and Vice and Virtue
141–160 (174)