J. I. Packer on cynicism

"Feeling disillusioned, discouraged, and hurt by their experience of life, their pained pride forbids them to think that others might be wiser and doing better than they themselves have done.  On the contrary, they see themselves as brave realists and everyone else as self-deceived."

-- J. I. Packer, "The Joy of Ecclesiastes," Christianity Today, Sept. 2015, 58.