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One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is a vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child. If you go to church, and like the singing better than the preaching, that's not orthodox. Art does not reproduce the visible; rather it makes it visible. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection. Men's actions depend to a great extent upon fear. We do things either because we enjoy doing them or because we are afraid not to do them. Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread. A man ninety years old was asked to what he attributed his longevity. "I reckon," he said, with a twinkle in his eye, "it's because most nights I went to bed and slept when I should have sat up and worried." I pay the School Master, but 'tis the school boys that educate my son. The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. You're only human, you're supposed to make mistakes. Life has no smooth road for any of us; and in the bracing atmosphere of a high aim the very roughness stimulates the climber to steadier steps till the legend, "over steep ways to the stars," fulfills itself. The dignity of man lies in his ability to face reality in all its meaningless-ness. Riots are the voices of the unheard. To become a father is not hard, to be a father is, however. Now I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark. Those who serve a cause are not those who love that cause. They are those who love the life which has to be led in order to serve it - except in the case of the very purest, and they are rare. I have a remarkable memory; I forget everything. It is wonderfully convenient. It is as though the world were constantly renewing itself for me. The radiance in some places is so great as to be fairly dazzling . . . every crystal, every flower a window opening into heaven, a mirror reflecting the Creator. The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. Every man has three characters—that which he exhibits, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has. Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why: Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where. 'Tis not love's going hurts my days, but that it went in little ways. Experience is the name so many people give to their mistakes. What makes life dreary is want of motive. Winston [Churchill] has devoted the best years of his life to preparing his impromptu speeches. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. The artist does not see things as they are, but as he is. The ballot is stronger than the bullet. In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it. To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else. Action is eloquence. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself. Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Sandwich every bit of criticism between two heavy layers of praise. You know it's love when all you want is that person to be happy, even if you're not part of their happiness. You may have the universe if I may have Italy. I've had an unhappy life, thank God. Each morning sees some task begun Each evening sees it close. Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose. If you speak the truth have a foot in the stirrup. Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind. Perhaps someday it will be pleasant to remember even this. A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them, for they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world. A difference of opinion is what makes horse racing and missionaries. The course of nature is the art of God. People wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them. Many people would be more truthful were it not for their uncontrollable desire to talk. Worry is a god, invisible but omnipotent. It steals the bloom from the cheek and lightness from the pulse; it takes away the appetite, and turns the hair gray. I am easily satisfied with the very best. I am like a little pencil in God's hand. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it. And whether you're an honest man, or whether you're a thief, depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief. I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened. Adlai Stevenson - a Henry James character in a Reader's Digest world. Breathes there a man with hide so tough Who says two sexes aren't enough? Good is when I steal other people's wives and cattle; bad is when they steal mine. When Babe Ruth was asked in 1930 how he felt about making more money that the President of the United States, he replied 'I had a better year than he (Herbert Hoover) did.' When Tom Snyder was asked in 1977 how he felt about making more money per year than President Carter, he replied, 'I have to go out and buy my own 707.' Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creature of man. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter. The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it. Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. A novel is a static thing that one moves through; a play is a dynamic thing that moves past one. Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light. Knowledge is power, but enthusiasm pulls the switch. The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. Come in the evening, come in the morning, Come when expected, come without warning; Thousands of welcomes you'll find here before you, And the oftener you come, the more we'll adore you. Accept your defeats With your head up and your eyes open With the grace of woman, not the grief of a child ... Be on the lookout for mercies. The more we look for them, the more of them we will see.... Better to loose count while naming your blessings than to lose your blessings to counting your troubles. The time to enjoy a European trip is about three weeks after unpacking. Speaking generally, punishment hardens and numbs, it produces concentration, it sharpens the consciousness of alienation, it strengthens the power of resistance. Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
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