Altruism and Cynicism

Man is the only animal that blushes -- or needs to.

Mark Twain, in Altruism and Cynicism

I am prepared to meet anyone, but whether anyone is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

Mark Twain, in Altruism and Cynicism

Good breeding consists of concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.

Mark Twain, in Altruism and Cynicism

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Winston Churchill, in Altruism and Cynicism

An excuse is the mark of a moral coward.

Joseph Cimino, in Altruism and Cynicism

We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?

Jean Cocteau, in Altruism and Cynicism and Success and Failure

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

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

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

John Tudor, in Altruism and Cynicism

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

Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.

Lily Tomlin, in Altruism and Cynicism

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

James Thurber, in Altruism and Cynicism

Trust everybody, but cut the cards.

Unknown, in Altruism and Cynicism

It's better to be quotable than to be honest.

Tom Stoppard, in Altruism and Cynicism

Welcome thy neighbor into thy fallout shelter. He'll come in handy if you run out of food.

Dean McLaughlin, in Altruism and Cynicism

Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody is looking.

Henry Louis Mencken, in Altruism and Cynicism

Criticism is prejudice made plausible.

Henry Louis Mencken, in Altruism and Cynicism

Demagogue: One who preaches a doctrine he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

Henry Louis Mencken, in Altruism and Cynicism

The cynics are right nine times out of ten.

Henry Louis Mencken, in Altruism and Cynicism

Ninety percent of everything is crap.

Theodore Sturgeon, in Altruism and Cynicism

I don't necessarily agree with everything I say.

Marshall McLuhan, in Altruism and Cynicism