"What are primary differences between nihilists, pessimists, and cynics? Nihilists evade reality either by trying to destroy it or by trying to ignore it. But both pessimists and cynics confront reality. Pessimists tend to focus on the negative aspects of reality while cynics tend to focus more specifically on the negative aspects of humanity. Nihilists tend to focus on idealistic thinking and utopian daydreaming and see in optimism a reason to ignore pessimism and cynicism as unnecessarily gloomy."