Sydney J. Harris

If money is your hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability.

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.

If I only had a little humility, I’d be perfect.

There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist, except an old optimist.

Never trust anyone who wants what you’ve got. Friend or no, envy is an overwhelming emotion.

Life is a marathon, it’s not a sprint.

Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough.

The most closely organized groups and movements in the world are those which have been the least friendly to the people’s progress and liberty.

Sometimes when reading Goethe I have the paralyzing suspision that he is trying to be funny.

Do any of us really have a clue? We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Or what word will come up in a conversation that will change our lives. You can be in the shower and scrubbing under your arm and find a lump that wasn’t there yesterday. I’m doing things here and now. Life is evolving. Every day life evolves.

The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.

If I may venture to be frank I would say about myself that I was every inch a gentleman …

I didn’t start a war. Nobody died.

I share no man’s opinions; I have my own.