Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Innocence most often is a good fortune and not a virtue.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
All honor’s wounds are self-inflicted.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
I have scarcely touched the sky and I am made of it.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
The highest virtue here may be least in another world.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Credulity is the man’s weakness, but the child’s strength.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
Don’t think of organ donations as giving up part of yourself to keep a total stranger alive. It’s really a total stranger giving up almost all of themselves to keep part of you alive.
—Unknown
Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat everything as if it were a nail.
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist
Conscience gets a lot of credit that belongs to cold feet.
—Unknown
My play was a complete success. The audience was a failure.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Presence is more than just being there.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
An unattempted woman cannot boast of her chastity.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
People who look through keyholes are apt to get the idea that most things are keyhole shaped.
—Unknown
The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
The rich would have to eat money if the poor did not provide food.
—Russian Proverb
When I hear somebody sigh that “Life is hard,” I am always tempted to ask, “Compared to what?”
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Essayist, Drama Critic
Everybody’s talking about people breaking into houses but there are more people in the world who want to break out of houses.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
The bluebird carries the sky on his back.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
If you cry “Forward” you must be sure to make clear the direction in which to go. Don’t you see that if you fail to do that and simply call out the word to a monk and a revolutionary, they will go in precisely opposite directions?
—Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian Short-Story Writer
When those waiters ask me if I want some fresh ground pepper, I ask if they have any aged pepper.
—Andy Rooney (b.1919) American Writer, Humorist, TV Personality
Let me fly, let me see things that are hidden from other eyes.
—Sonya Hartnett (b.1968) Australian Novelist, Children’s Writer
What is true by lamplight is not always true by sunlight.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Few are they who have never had the chance to achieve happiness … and fewer those who have taken that chance.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes, in seeing the universe with the eyes of another, of hundreds of others, in seeing the hundreds of universes that each of them sees.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
Never is a long, long word, but it’s less frustrating than “God knows when”.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
I don’t see how an article of clothing can be indecent. A person, yes.
—Robert A. Heinlein (1907–88) American Science Fiction Writer
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