Sayings for Cynics

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“Education is a state-controlled manufactory of echoes.”
“Corporation. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit
without individual responsibility.” “Justice. A system of revenge
where the state imitates the criminal.” “A gentleman is merely a
patient wolf.” “Moral indignation is in most cases 2 per cent moral,
48 per cent indignation and 50 per cent envy.” “Distress. A disease
incurred by exposure to the prosperity of a friend.”

The word “cynic” means doglike, and if you like sayings with a
little bite to them, then this collection is bound to make you howl.
David C. Jones has assembled some of the snappiest sayings from the
likes of Wilde, Voltaire, Einstein, Goethe, Rabelais, Shaw, Samuel
Johnston, H.L. Mencken, Edmund Burke, Peter Ustinov, Ambrose Bierce, and
(perhaps the greatest wit of all) Anonymous.

This is an attractive little book. Quotes are grouped by category and
arranged in alphabetical order for easy reference. It is hard to believe
that anyone could go wrong with a team roster of some of the greatest
wags in human history, but this collection suffers from two minor flaws.
First, there is too much blank space; the author could have either
compressed his text to save some trees or expanded his content to give
his audience their money’s worth. Second, Jones trips up the momentum
by occasionally injecting some of his own self-styled cleverness.
Here’s an example: “The existence of evil in the world births the
cynics; the presence of good necessitates their recovery.” Thud.
Although one has to admire the author’s audacity in trying to run with
the big dogs, with a bark like that he should clearly keep the muzzle
on.