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Cynicism is full of naive disappointments.

Cynicism stems from disappointment. Cynical and faithless people were not always like that. They were filled with possibilities and hope as kids. But they tried and perhaps failed.

Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.

My whole life has been about confronting cynicism.

Cynicism is the easiest of all reactions, right? But it's also so disappointing and self-defeating.

I vehemently deny that I was born a cynic and a pessimist.

Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the furthest thing from it. Because cynics don't learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness: a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say 'no.' But saying 'yes' begins things. Saying 'yes' is how things grow.

It is only the cynicism that is born of success that is penetrating and valid.

Perhaps the biggest myth about cynicism is that it deepens with age. I think what really happens is that experience painfully rips away layers of scales from our eyes, and so we do indeed become more cynical about many of the things we naively accepted when younger.

I'm a hopeful cynic.