Cynicism and foul language are the only vices I'm presently capable of. Everything else takes energy or money. (64)

The only deadly sin I know is cynicism.

The low-born, who have been enrolled for practising the baser arts and the meaner professions, are capable only of vices…

You are young, Father Iron Horse, and you have a young man’s vices. Certainty. Shortsightedness. Contempt for pragmatism.

You cannot have a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices.

I can't expect others to share my virtues. It's good enough for me if they share my vices.

Cynicism is poisonous to the person who feels it. It's actually less poisonous to the person who's on the receiving end. It's the person who becomes a cynic- and I would guess that's where I was in 1970- who says I doubt any human being has the capacity to do good. The thing that cynicism does is it closes you off to receipt, and you shrivel up in a hurry. Your heart becomes a walnut. It's better to recieve than to give. I don't think you can give unless you're able to receive and say, 'You are a good person for giving that to me.' There are times when you're given something by somebody you don't like and you don't want to like. And it's inconvenient for you to like them.
Skepticism is good. The skeptic merely comes and says I want you to prove it. I'm doubtful. But cynicism is poisonous. Also self-indulgence, which I think is the worst sin, in some ways the only sin worth worrying about. It's the sin that produces bad things. It's self-centeredness that causes you to say, 'I'm the most important thing on earth- my safety, my security, my health, my wealth- you become a slave to all these fears that you're going to lose something.

Cynicism is only intellectual sloth.