In that year a large part of it was published in covers with the title The
Cynic's Word Book , a name which the author had not the power to reject or happiness to approve.
A MAN who had experienced the favours of fortune and was an Optimist, met a man who had experienced an optimist and was a
Cynic. So the
Cynic turned out of the road to let the Optimist roll by in his gold carriage.
Thackeray has been called a
cynic, that is one who does not believe in the goodness of human nature, and who sneers at and finds fault with everything.
"It is a noble thought," said the
Cynic, with an obsequious sneer.
'It is a noble thought,' said the
Cynic, with an obsequious sneer.
Rose Waterford was a
cynic. She looked upon life as an opportunity for writing novels and the public as her raw material.
And thus it had come about that Orlando had gone off for his month's holiday with a charming girl, who, with the
cynic, will no doubt account for his stern adherence to duty; and Rosalind had gone off for hers with a pretty young man whom she'd liked well enough to go to the theatre and to supper with,--a young man who was indeed a dear friend, and a vivacious, sympathetic companion, but whom, as a substitute for Orlando, she immediately began to hate.
He was that terrible type, the Silly
Cynic, his aim a caustic commentary on all things and all men, his achievement mere vulgar irreverence and unintelligent scorn.
"One of these days you'll wish you hadn't laid that wager," said the
cynic philosopher.
As to the other sciences, inasmuch as these borrow their principles from philosophy, I judged that no solid superstructures could be reared on foundations so infirm; and neither the honor nor the gain held out by them was sufficient to determine me to their cultivation: for I was not, thank Heaven, in a condition which compelled me to make merchandise of science for the bettering of my fortune; and though I might not profess to scorn glory as a
cynic, I yet made very slight account of that honor which I hoped to acquire only through fictitious titles.
He went as the deputy of some missionary society to preach in the neighbourhood of Trantridge, a place forty miles from here, and made it his business to expostulate with a lax young
cynic he met with somewhere about there--son of some landowner up that way--and who has a mother afflicted with blindness.
All the hate and scorn and love of a deep nature such as the shy man is ever cursed by fester and corrupt within, instead of spending themselves abroad, and sour him into a misanthrope and
cynic.