Sydney J. Harris Quotes

137 quotes in 1957 categories

• A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, his is also one who is permanently disappointed in the future.
• Just about the only interruption we don't object to is applause.
• The best thing you can give children, next to good habits, are good memories.
• We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we have stopped saying 'It got lost,' and say, 'I lost it.'
• Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles…
• We evaluate others with a Godlike justice, but we want them to evaluate us with a Godlike compassion.
• Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.
• Maturity begins when we're content to feel we're right about something without feeling the necessity to prove someone else wrong.
• People who think they're generous to a fault usually think that's their only fault.
• If the devil could be persuaded to write a bible, he would title it, "You Only Live Once."
• Perseverance is the most overrated of traits, if it is unaccompanied by talent; beating your head against a wall is more likely to produce a…
• Sometimes the best, and only effective, way to kill an idea is to put it into practice.
• Once we assuage our conscience by calling something a "necessary evil", it begins to look more and more necessary and less and less evil.
• A university is not, primarily, a place in which to learn how to make a living; it is a place in which to learn how…
• Good teaching must be slow enough so that it is not confusing, and fast enough so that it is not boring.
• Any philosophy that can be put in a nutshell belongs there.
• "Terrorism" is what we call the violence of the weak, and we condemn it; "war" is what we call the violence of the strong, and…
• There are always too many Democratic congressmen, too many Republican congressmen, and never enough U.S. congressmen.
• Christianity is not a "spiritual" religion, like some religions of the east. It is an intensely "practical" religion, having its moral roots in the practicality…
• Many married couples separate because they quarrel incessantly, but just as many separate because they were never honest enough or courageous enough to quarrel when…

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