#cynicism

[beardedmrbean]

[averageperson888]

[lionofchaeronea]

How will I fend off my foe? By becoming a good and noble man myself. πῶς ἀμυνοῦμαι τὸν ἐχθρόν; αὐτὸς καλὸς κἀγαθὸς γενόμενος. --Diogenes of Sinope, apud Plutarch "De capienda ex inimicis utilitate" 88b

[pratchettquotes]

His age was indeterminate. But in cynicism and general world-weariness, which is a sort of carbon dating of the personality, he was about seven thousand years old.

Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

[philosophybits]

To live classically and to realize antiquity practically within oneself is the summit and goal of philology. Is this possible without any kind of cynicism?

Friedrich Schlegel, Athenaeum Fragments

[st-just]

The thing about weakness was that there was absolutely nothing redeeming about it. Everyone loved a good picaresca story, in Sacromonte. Tales of a roguish man of scandalously common breeding getting the better of his betters. Swindling greedy merchants out of their wealth, tricking vain ladies and pompous lords into humiliating themselves. And it was not a taste that ended at the borders of the Murk or even the Old Town. Infanzones, they liked the songs and poems about rats same as the rest of the city. Their smile, though, it had a bit of smirk to it around the corners. Because they understood that the stories were just that, that when a witty wastrel won in the stories because life in the streets taught them to be clever it was just what people wanted to be true. In the world they lived in the clever rogues got caught, shot in the head and dumped in the canals. There was nothing meaningful about being poor and hungry and afraid, no higher purpose to it. Weakness was not a trial with a reward at the end, it was just being weak.

-Tristain, Pale Lights by ErraticErrata

[intellectualpoaching]

To treat all men with equal benevolence and to be kind to everyone irrespective of who he is can be just as much an emanation of a profound cynicism as of a thorough philanthropy.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human

[evanashaikh]

"Sometimes we think we want to disappear, but all we really want is to be found."

[fieriframes]

[Cynicism is easy. An optimist is a braver cynic.]

[rants-n-chants]

We live in a material world of handstitched nonsense, add new patch only to realise your cutting away at paths allready sewn.

[writingthroughthenight]

Love being like a fire makes a lot of sense.

It sucks your oxygen away and leaves you empty.

[krissiefox]

"Welcome to my shitpost cringe brainrot blog of bad art I'm a loser lmao" - My brain upon seeing blog descriptions like this....

But seriously, It's okay to enjoy your harmless hobbies. You don't have to be a self-deprecating jerk about it. "Cringe" is just bullshit made up by bullies. You're hurting yourself and you're also teaching everyone who shares your interests to feel ashamed of it as well.

inspired by this post

[beardedmrbean]

Behold this little man watching the rain

blondiethelovebird

[geekysteven]

"Bottom of the barrel"? His name is Diogenes, show some respect

[philosophicalconservatism]

"Cynicism is not realistic and tough. It's unrealistic and kind of cowardly because it means you don't have to try."

Peggy Noonan (1950-) presidential speech writer.

[st-just]

She'd never liked the phrase diamond in the rough. All that meant was they had to cut you again and again to let the light in.

-Dawes, Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo