L. Ron Hubbard Quotes

It's so much easier to be cynical.

I wouldn't say that I dislike the young. I'm simply not a fan of naïveté.

A wise skepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.

I don't consider myself a cynic. I think of myself as a skeptic and a realist.

Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre [journalists]

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.

I'm not one of those people who gets starry-eyed.

I'm not interested in 'lovey dovey,' everything is so great in the world. That doesn't interest me at all.

I know we journalists have a reputation for being cynics. We do. It's our job to question - everything.

I'm a natural born skeptic.

Why is it that common sense is seldom common practice?

We've lost common sense.

the seed of doubt was there, and it stayed, and every now and then sent out a little root. It changed everything, to have that seed growing. It made Ender listen more carefully to what people meant, instead of what they said. It made him wise.

Sometimes I just think people are haters. And if they're haters, you can listen to what they have to say but you have to take it with a grain of salt.

I deny nothing, but doubt everything.

God save me from idealists.

Cynicism and skepticism are the crudest form of quasi-intellectualism... Let the cynic become cynical of his cynicism and the skeptic skeptical of his skepticism and join the battle.

To please the many is to displease the wise.

The agnostic, the skeptic, is neurotic, but this does not imply a false philosophy; it implies the discovery of facts to which he does not know how to adapt himself. The intellectual who tries to escape from neurosis by escaping from the facts is merely acting on the principle that “where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.

Whatever is proposed, it is much easier to find reasons for rejecting than embracing.

Cynicism often draws correct conclusions, but nobody could live by its lights.

I think that if a person doesn't feel cynical then they're out of phase with the 20th century. Being cynical is the only way to deal with modern civilization - you can't just swallow it whole.

As the art of reading (after a certain stage in one's education) isthe art of skipping, so the art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

Profound skepticism is favorable to conventions, because it doubts that the criticism of conventions is any truer than they are.

The fruitfulness of our lives depends in large measure in our ability to doubt our own words and to question the value of our own work. The man who completely trusts his own estimate of himself is doomed to sterility.