1. cynic - Noun
2. cynic - Adjective
Alt. of Cynical
One of a sect or school of philosophers founded by Antisthenes, and of whom Diogenes was a disciple. The first Cynics were noted for austere lives and their scorn for social customs and current philosophical opinions. Hence the term Cynic symbolized, in the popular judgment, moroseness, and contempt for the views of others.
One who holds views resembling those of the Cynics; a snarler; a misanthrope; particularly, a person who believes that human conduct is directed, either consciously or unconsciously, wholly by self-interest or self-indulgence, and that appearances to the contrary are superficial and untrustworthy.
Source: Webster's dictionaryA cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin. H. L. Mencken
An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run. Sydney J. Harris
Woman: the peg on which the wit hangs his jest, the preacher his text, the cynic his grouch and the sinner his justification. Helen Rowland
A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future. Sydney J. Harris
There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing. Maya Angelou
The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not. Eric Hoffer