Aphorisms Galore!

Altruism and Cynicism

173 aphorisms  ·  15 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

tiny.ag/otpgz4zj  ·  submitted 1997

A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.

Gore Vidal, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/r6bo5aic  ·  submitted 1998 by Mark van Essen

Black, white, brown, yellow or even red, we piss with our pants down, and go naked to bed.

Mark van Essen, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/7do2rifh  ·  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/ne1vhxlr  ·  submitted 1997

Never tell the truth to those unworthy of it.

Mark Twain, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/tnwmsadk  ·  submitted 1997

Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.

Thomas Jones, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/vr4hxjva  ·  submitted 1997

The Devil's Dictionary (paperback)

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

The Devil's Dictionary (paperback)

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/gvohc8br  ·  submitted 1997

In nature, there are neither rewards nor punishments -- there are consequences.

Robert G. Ingersoll, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/poggndv0  ·  submitted 1997

Be polite to all, but intimate with few.

Thomas Jefferson, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/gf6ry8xs  ·  submitted 1997

Thinking good thoughts is not enough, doing good deeds is not enough, seeing others follow your good examples is enough.

Doug Horton, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/y9w5ki2b  ·  submitted 1997

No man would listen to you talk if he didn't know it was his turn next.

E. W. Howe, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/lu0qepci  ·  submitted 1997

An enemy is anyone who tells the truth about you.

Elbert Hubbard, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/o1xf5nap  ·  submitted 1997

If a feller says, "It's not the money, it's the principle of the thing," it's the money.

Elbert Hubbard, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/4tfl7wlh  ·  submitted 1997

Never insult an alligator until after you have crossed the river.

Cordel Hull, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/mtktl96r  ·  submitted 1997

Whatever is not nailed down is mine. What I can pry loose is not nailed down.

Collis P. Huntington, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/hq8w7xao  ·  submitted 1997

Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.

Lily Tomlin, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/dfwohelg  ·  submitted 1997

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.

Harry S Truman, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/apirm627  ·  submitted 1997

You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.

James Thurber, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/wqt4ciab  ·  submitted 1997

A rumor without a leg to stand on will get around some other way.

John Tudor, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/xysizfch  ·  submitted 1997

The key to heaven's gate cannot be duplicated.

Doug Horton, in Altruism and Cynicism