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Altruism and Cynicism

173 aphorisms  ·  6 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

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Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (187 ratings)  ·  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.

[aphorist] George Bernard Shaw, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism and [category] Vice and Virtue

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (13 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

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."

[aphorist] Lord Greene, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism and [category] Law and Politics

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (330 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.

[aphorist] Oscar Wilde, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (271 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

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

[aphorist] William Shakespeare, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (41 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

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

[aphorist] Abraham Lincoln, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (1189 ratings)  ·  submitted 1999

Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.

[aphorist] P. J. O'Rourke, All the Trouble in the World, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism and [category] Work and Recreation

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (1069 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

Please don't lie to me, unless you're absolutely sure I'll never find out the truth.

[aphorist] Ashleigh Brilliant, Brilliant Thoughts (copyright info: www.ashleighbrilliant.com), in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (880 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right.

[aphorist] Ashleigh Brilliant, Brilliant Thoughts (copyright info: www.ashleighbrilliant.com), in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (1056 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it.

[aphorist] Ashleigh Brilliant, Brilliant Thoughts (copyright info: www.ashleighbrilliant.com), in [category] Altruism and Cynicism and [category] Law and Politics

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (788 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

No guest is so welcome in a friend's house that he will not become a nuisance after three days.

[aphorist] Titus Maccius Plautus, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (760 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

I know the world isn't fair, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?

[aphorist] Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Calvin and Hobbes (paperback)

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (787 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

Heck, what's a little extortion among friends?

[aphorist] Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Calvin and Hobbes (paperback)

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (760 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference.

[aphorist] Joan Powers, Pooh's Little Instruction Book, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Pooh's Little Instruction Book (hardcover)

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (846 ratings)  ·  submitted 1998 by [user] Caleb Ronsen (updated 1999)

If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever.

[aphorist] George Orwell, 1984, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

1984 (paperback)

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (764 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell -- and hell heaven. The greater the lie, the more readily it will be believed.

[aphorist] Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Mein Kampf (paperback)

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (2965 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

Kindness is the beginning of cruelty.

[aphorist] Frank Herbert, Dune, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Dune (paperback)

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (745 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

Everything is permitted.

[aphorist] Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

The Brothers Karamazov (paperback)

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (1013 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

Have a strong mind and a soft heart.

[aphorist] Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

The College Blue Book (data CD)

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (2858 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

Give more than take.

[aphorist] Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

The College Blue Book (data CD)

Edit Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (804 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997 (updated 1999)

Politeness: The most acceptable hypocrisy.

[aphorist] Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

The Devil's Dictionary (paperback)

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