Aphorisms Galore!

Altruism and Cynicism

173 aphorisms  ·  15 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

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/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/u1edofwc  ·  submitted 1997

One nice thing about egotists is that they don't talk about other people.

Lucille S. Harper, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/iobj0muk  ·  submitted 1997

Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.

Lillian Hellman, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/sq9g8eav  ·  submitted 1997

Dune (paperback)

Kindness is the beginning of cruelty.

Frank Herbert, Dune, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/7guwnmr1  ·  submitted 1997

I don't want any "yes-men" around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.

Samuel Goldwyn, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/6jxieopf  ·  submitted 1997

A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.

Gian Vincenzo Gravina, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/mcsdq3k5  ·  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."

Lord Greene, in Altruism and Cynicism and Law and Politics

tiny.ag/vlei56tn  ·  submitted 1997

Every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce life early and the human race come to an end.

Joseph Conrad, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/bsgtnfh5  ·  submitted 1997

The College Blue Book (data CD)

Give more than take.

Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/dhapqbwl  ·  submitted 1997

The College Blue Book (data CD)

Have a strong mind and a soft heart.

Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/purgb27l  ·  submitted 1997

A dozen press agents working overtime can do terrible things to the human spirit.

Cecil B. De Mille, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/1make2qd  ·  submitted 1997

The Brothers Karamazov (paperback)

Everything is permitted.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, in Altruism and Cynicism

tiny.ag/tacuwmyh  ·  submitted 1997

He who hesitates is probably smart... or maybe stapled to the floor.

Dr. Squid, in Altruism and Cynicism and Success and Failure