Assorted quotes, sorted from most idealistic (at the top) to most cynical (at the bottom).
MOST IDEALISTIC
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty; that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."'
— John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
"Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary."
"Every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. It might not seem that way sometimes, but it's true.
If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don't care, but they're massively outnumbered by the people who do."
If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don't care, but they're massively outnumbered by the people who do."
"Although my heart may be weak, it's not alone. It's grown with each new experience. And it's found a home with all the friends I've made. I've become a part of their heart, just as they've become a part of mine. And if they think of me now and then, if they don't forget me, then our hearts will be one. I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power!"
— Sora, Kingdom Hearts
"Light is more powerful than darkness! Hope is more powerful than fear! Love is more powerful than hate! And joy...? Joy is way more powerful than misery will ever be! Don't tell me being friends with a ghost is wrong... YOU'RE WRONG! Boop!"
— Molly to The Chairman, The Ghost and Molly McGee
Ruby Rose: As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!
Blake Belladonna: That's... very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale.
Ruby: Well... That's why we're here. To make it better.
Blake Belladonna: That's... very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale.
Ruby: Well... That's why we're here. To make it better.
— RWBY
"Tragedies happen. What are you gonna do, give up? Quit? No. I realize now that when your heart breaks, you got to fight like hell to make sure you're still alive. Because you are. And that pain you feel? That's life. The confusion and fear? That's there to remind you that somewhere out there is something better, and that something is worth fighting for."
— Nathan, One Tree Hill
"Happiness too is inevitable."
Susato Mikotoba: Gina...
Gina Lestrade: ...!
Susato: ...I do understand why you choose to not put your trust in others. But I assure you, there is more to this life than you yet realize.
Gina: Wot d'you mean?
Susato: The world we live in... ...is full of people you would do very well to trust. People who won't ever let you down.
Gina: Eh?
Ryunosuke Naruhodo: It's true that I'm just a student of law, and I'm certainly lacking in courtroom experience. But I can promise you this: Whatever happens... and until my very last breath... ...I am completely on your side!
Gina Lestrade: ...!
Susato: ...I do understand why you choose to not put your trust in others. But I assure you, there is more to this life than you yet realize.
Gina: Wot d'you mean?
Susato: The world we live in... ...is full of people you would do very well to trust. People who won't ever let you down.
Gina: Eh?
Ryunosuke Naruhodo: It's true that I'm just a student of law, and I'm certainly lacking in courtroom experience. But I can promise you this: Whatever happens... and until my very last breath... ...I am completely on your side!
— The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures, Case G1-5: "The Adventure of the Unspeakable Story"
"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."
"Dawn will come!"
— Hierarch Artanis, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (It doesn't, which is why Raynor needs to Set Right What Will Go Wrong.)
"Only the weak succumb to brutality."
"Everybody has a secret world inside of them. All of the people of the world, I mean everybody. No matter how dull and boring they are on the outside, inside them they've all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds. Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands maybe."
— Barbara, The Sandman: A Game of You
"If there's just the slightest chance we can make ourselves into something better, not trying would be a far greater evil than our inborn prejudices. For now, I can't save humanity, or perhaps even myself, but if I can save your friend... well, that'll be one small step towards bettering this world. It's a long road toward that goal, but all journeys are traveled one step at a time, aren't they?"
— The Player, Kid Radd
We all know the world is full of chance and anarchy / So yes, it's true to life for characters to die randomly / But news flash: the genre's called fantasy / It's meant to be unrealistic, you MYOPIC MANATEE!
"Crapsack worlds and antiheroes have their place. Sometimes, they are very necessary. But an endless diet of dreary cyberpunk and dark fantasy won't do us any more favors than an endless feast of glurge. I'd argue that the cynical nature of these really hurt our ability to hope and work for better. It gets us to accept the hopelessness and jaded outlook of things as 'That's the way it is. I can't change it,' and stops us from fighting when we NEED to fight."
— A poster on the forums for The Silver Lining
That naïve part of you makes me want to vomit. But right now, I'm grateful for it.
— Frieza, Dragon Ball Super
"Shepherd Book always said, "if you can't do something smart, do something right"."
— Jayne Cobb (ironically), Serenity
"Everyone was guilty of something. Vimes knew that. Every copper knew it. That was how you maintained your authority. Everyone, talking to a copper, was secretly afraid you could see their guilty secret written on their forehead. You couldn't, of course. But neither were you supposed to drag someone off the street and smash their fingers with a hammer until they told you what it was."
"I am an optimist, so I know how sad a place the world can be. You are a pessimist, so you are forever finding out."
— The General (Peter Ustinov), Romanoff And Juliet
"Optimism is what gets us out of bed in the morning. People with depression aren't pessimistic, they're realistic. That's why they're depressed."
— Dr. Richard Wiseman
The optimist sees a light at the end of the tunnel,
the realist sees a train entering the tunnel,
the pessimist sees a train speeding at him, hell for leather,
and the machinist sees three idiots sitting on the rail track.
the realist sees a train entering the tunnel,
the pessimist sees a train speeding at him, hell for leather,
and the machinist sees three idiots sitting on the rail track.
— German saying
We need to be careful about explaining war as merely an outgrowth of evolutionary necessity, because such explanation can lead to a fatalistic conclusion that war is inevitable. But it's not. The cycle of violence you see in the The Odyssey gets broken all the time. And yes, it is much harder to end a war than it is to start one, but it is not impossible.
"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist fears this is true."
— James Branch Cabell, The Silver Stallion.
What’s the difference between a pessimist and an optimist?
The pessimist says, “It can’t possibly get any worse than this.”
The optimist says, “Of course it can!"
The pessimist says, “It can’t possibly get any worse than this.”
The optimist says, “Of course it can!"
— Old joke
"Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part."
— Somerset, Se7en
Dredd: Make a difference? To a block like this?
Anderson: I was born and raised in a block like this, until the Justice Department took me. I know there are good people inside. Good families, just... trying to get by. Yes, I believe I can make a difference.
Dredd: ...Admirable.
Anderson: I was born and raised in a block like this, until the Justice Department took me. I know there are good people inside. Good families, just... trying to get by. Yes, I believe I can make a difference.
Dredd: ...Admirable.
— Dredd
"I suppose there will always be those who will seek to dehumanize us, but I believe there are more that cling to hope, despite the darkness."
—Dr. Martin Stein, Legends of Tomorrow
Yu: You and I we ain’t so different
I guess I had more blessings without it, got belligerent
But I totally understand
Glass was half-full for mine.
Adachi: And it looked half-empty for me
Both: Maybe that one glass made the path we took
Who knows?
I guess I had more blessings without it, got belligerent
But I totally understand
Glass was half-full for mine.
Adachi: And it looked half-empty for me
Both: Maybe that one glass made the path we took
Who knows?
— "Ying Yang", Persona 4: The Golden Animation
"Daniel and I both want to resolve this peacefully. It's just that only one of us believes that's possible."
"Honor is dead. But I'll see what I can do."
— Kaladin, Words of Radiance
Celestine: Sir Kyril, there was a better way of presenting your point. I can understand your reasoning but Claudia's right. We are not a cruel people.
Kyril: I know. Which is why I am the one doing the executing.
Kyril: I know. Which is why I am the one doing the executing.
"My queen, all you say is true. But Rhaegar lost on the Trident. He lost the battle, he lost the war, he lost the kingdom, and he lost his life. His blood swirled downriver with the rubies from his breastplate, and Robert the Usurper rode over his corpse to steal the Iron Throne. Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died."
— Ser Jorah Mormont, A Storm of Swords
"The artist who really loves people loves them so well the way they are he sees no need to disguise their characteristics — he loves them whole, without retouching. Yet the word used for this unqualifying affection is 'cynicism'."
—Dawn Powell
Sandor: There are no true knights, no more than there are gods. If you can't protect yourself, die and get out of the way of those who can. Sharp steel and strong arms rule this world, don't ever believe any different.
Sansa: You're awful.
Sandor: I'm honest. It's the world that's awful.
Sansa: You're awful.
Sandor: I'm honest. It's the world that's awful.
"I think utopianism and eschatology are really two sides of the same coin. They both assume that some massively transformative event is going to happen that’s going to completely change the nature of society. They only disagree on whether we get a happy ending or all die horribly. And so utopianism is on the wane right now because at the moment most of the plausible candidates for huge historical transformation look like they’re going to kill us."
"You think there are the good people and the bad people. You are wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides."
— Vetinari, Guards! Guards!
"You better wake up. The world you live in is just a sugar-coated topping. There is another world beneath it — the real world. And if you want to survive it, you better learn to pull the trigger!"
— Blade
"Yeah, yeah, friendship, teamwork, Blah, Blah, Blah. I still won. Results beat idealism."
— Tohru Adachi victory quote, Persona 4: Arena Ultimax
"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms."
— Dubois, Starship Troopers
"Rock, if you think about it, other than this, what do we really value in life? God? Love? Don't make me laugh. When I was a brat, crawling around in that shithole city, it seemed God and Love were always sold out when I went looking. Before I knew better, I clung to God and prayed to Him every single night — yeah, I believed in God right up until that night the cops beat the hell out of me for no reason at all. All they saw when they looked at me was another little ghetto rat. With no power and no God, what's left for a poor little Chinese bitch to rely on? It's money, of course, and guns. Fuckin' A. With these two things, the world's a great place."
— Revy, Black Lagoon
"When idealism meets reality, it's rarely reality that backs down."
—Michael Liberty, StarCraft
"It is a historical fact that people don't seem to be able to live in peace and in agreement for a better life."
—Henry Oster, I Survived the Holocaust
Catbert: But what he doesn't realize is that cynicism is almost the same thing as experience.
Asok: It is?
Catbert: Sure, just try thinking the worst about people, and you'll usually be right.
Asok: It is?
Catbert: Sure, just try thinking the worst about people, and you'll usually be right.
— Dilbert
"Life is like a box of chocolates. A cheap, thoughtless, perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for. Unreturnable because all you get is another box of chocolates. So you're stuck with this... undefinable whipped-mint crap which you mindlessly wolf down when there's nothing else left to eat. Sure, once in awhile there's a peanut butter cup or an English toffee, but they're gone too fast and the taste is... fleeting. So you're left with nothing but bits of hardened jelly and teeth-shattering nuts. And, if you're desperate enough to eat those, all you've got left is an empty box... filled with useless brown paper wrappers."
— The Cigarette Smoking Man, The X-Files
"Don't talk like one of them, you're not! Even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak, like me. They need you right now. But when they don't, they'll cast you out, like a leper. See, their morals, their code... it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you, when the chips are down, these... these civilized people? They'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve."
— The Joker, The Dark Knight
They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
— Yuri Orlov, Lord of War
"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."
— The Man in Black, The Princess Bride
There are no letters in the mailbox
And there are no grapes upon the vine
And there are no chocolates in your boxes anymore
And there are no diamonds in the mine
—Leonard Cohen, "Diamonds in the Mine."
"Men care for what they, themselves, expect to suffer or gain; and so long as they do not expect it to redound upon themselves, their cruelty and carelessness is without limit."
— Professor Quirrell, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
"Life sucks. And then you die."
"There's only one thing that ever changes anything, and that's death. Everything else is a lie. And you can't be saved by a lie. You can't be saved at all."
—Connor, Angel
"In ancient times, men built wonders, laid claim to the stars and sought to better themselves for the good of all. But we are much wiser now."
— Archmagos Ultima Cryol, Warhammer 40,000
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either Go Mad from the Revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."
Honey, you’re familiar,
Like my mirror years ago
Idealism sits in prison
Chivalry fell on his sword
Innocence died screaming
Honey, ask me, I should know
Like my mirror years ago
Idealism sits in prison
Chivalry fell on his sword
Innocence died screaming
Honey, ask me, I should know
— Hozier, "From Eden"
MOST CYNICAL
