Overcoming Cynicism Quotes

When I'm cynical, I seek out bands that are fully participating and trying to push something forward. Or I can just start playing music again - which is happening with a new project. But I think it's always a challenge to overcome cynicism and not get bogged down by a sense of nostalgia. That can be such a stifling feeling.

What modern humans need help with is escaping from the despair of politics, commerce and media, escaping from the drabness and oppressiveness of worldly values and seeing through suburban mentality and normal community standards so that they can find some much-needed relief for their wilting souls.

.. if you asked most people whether they believed in love or not, they’d probably say they didn’t. Yet that’s not necessarily what they truly think. It’s just the way they defend themselves against what they want. They believe in it, but pretend they don’t until they’re allowed to. Most people would throw away all their cynicism if they could. The majority just never gets the chance.

I have committed myself to joy. I have come to realize that those who make space for joy, those who prefer nothing to joy, those who desire the utter reality, will most assuredly have it. We must not be afraid to announce it to refugees, slum dwellers, saddened prisoners, angry prophets. Now and then we must even announce it to ourselves. In this prison of now, in this cynical and sophisticated age, someone must believe in joy.

I was too green to know that all cynicism masks a failure to cope - an impotence, in short; and that to despise all effort is the greatest effort of all.

To me it seems to be important to believe people to be good even if they tend to be bad, because your own joy and happiness in life is increased that way, and the pleasures of the belief outweigh the occasional disappointments. To be a cynic about people works just the other way around and makes you incapable about enjoying the good things.

You may have good relationships and you may have bad. You just have to roll with it and truly believe, and not be cynical. But, it's hard. You go through four relationships where you're not happy and you've been cheated on, or whatever - and I'm not saying this has happened to me - but you have to still believe.

We have to use our discontentment to engage rather than disengage - our hope has to be more powerful than our cynicism.

I think I've finally proven something to people who were cynical about me. Because they were cruel.

I think your emotion changes from person to person. As you get older, a lot of people become cynical because of the experiences they have had and haven't been able to let go of, whether they've been cheated on or whether it hasn't worked out. It's so easy to turn around right now and say, "Just let it go."

Sometimes I'll put on a Zig Ziglar tape: he's a motivational speaker who is really funny and really American. I know I should do the things he says, but I'm too cynical.