Let your humour always be good-humour, in the double sense of the phrase: if it comes from a bad humour, it is almost sure to be bad humour. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
The great man is he who does not lose his child's-heart. ~Mencius, Book IV
Road sense is the offspring of courtesy and the parent of safety. ~Australian Traffic Rule, quoted in Quotations for Special Occasions by Maud van Buren, 1938
The future is always beginning now. ~Mark Strand, Reasons for Moving
A woman is as young as her knees. ~Mary Quant
Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy. ~Francois Duc de La Rochefoucauld
God is less careful than General Motors, for He floods the world with factory rejects. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I have nothing much to do with the writing of them. The words have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page. ~Joan Baez
Pleasure is the bait of sin. ~Plato
It is well that you should celebrate your Arbor Day thoughtfully, for within your lifetime the nation's need of trees will become serious. We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed; and because of that want you will reproach us, not for what we have used, but for what we have wasted. ~Theodore Roosevelt, 1907 Arbor Day Message
He's the best physician that knows the worthlessness of the most medicines. ~Benjamin Franklin
Fish, to taste right, must swim three times - in water, in butter, and in wine. ~Polish Proverb
Who hath a better friend than a cat? ~William Hardwin
It is best to read the weather forecast before praying for rain. ~Mark Twain
Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice that trees do everything to git attention we do, except walk? ~Alice Walker, The Color Purple, 1982 Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice that trees do everything to git attention we do, except walk? ~Alice Walker, The Color Purple, 1982
The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth." ~Dan Rather
Bon mot: a witticism, a clever or witty turn of phrase; a bon mot is a particularly well-turned phrase, distinguished more by wittiness than by profundity. Example: "Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do." ~Oscar Wilde
This nation was built by men who took risks - pioneers who were not afraid of the wilderness, business men who were not afraid of failure, scientists who were not afraid of the truth, thinkers who were not afraid of progress, dreamers who were not afraid of action. ~Brooks Atkinson
Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something. ~Henry David Thoreau
Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem. ~John Galsworthy
I usually lump organized religion, organized labor, and organized crime together. The Mafia gets points for having the best restaurants. ~Dave Beard
No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Find a man with both feet firmly on the ground and you've found a man about to make a difficult putt. ~Fletcher Knebel
He carried his childhood like a hurt warm bird held to his middle-aged breast. ~Herbert Gold