Aphorisms Galore!

Altruism and Cynicism

173 aphorisms  ·  15 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

tiny.ag/ne1vhxlr  ·  submitted 1997

Never tell the truth to those unworthy of it.

Mark Twain, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/euochyxn  ·  submitted 1997

The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made.

Daniel Schorr, in Altruism and Cynicism and Success and Failure

tiny.ag/q93dw7gi  ·  submitted 1997

Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.

Albert Schweitzer, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/vgoawlvx  ·  submitted 1997

How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.

William Shakespeare, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/lvmeyokh  ·  submitted 1997

Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.

William Shakespeare, in Altruism and Cynicism

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

tiny.ag/7hdzmwue  ·  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/itutlzy5  ·  submitted 1997

The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it.

George Bernard Shaw, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/9m1hmtxp  ·  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.

George Bernard Shaw, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/lkgjcwse  ·  submitted 1997

Baloney is flattery so thick that it can not be true and blarney is flattery so thin that we like it.

Fulton J. Sheen, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/asecpbyl  ·  submitted 1997

A cynic is a person searching for an honest man, with a stolen lantern.

Edgar A. Shoaff, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/0ihiksxu  ·  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  ·  submitted 1997

A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is statistics.

Josef Stalin, in Altruism and Cynicism and Life and Death

tiny.ag/kdbyxotm  ·  submitted 1997

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

John Steinbeck, 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/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