Quotable Quotes (23 page)

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Authors: Editors of Reader's Digest

—
T
.
H
.
H
UXLEY

 

When we are well, we all have good advice for those who are ill.

—
T
ERENCE

 

We are never so generous as when giving advice.

—
F
RANÇOIS DE
L
A
R
OCHEFOUCAULD

 

People who have what they want are fond of telling people who haven't what they want that they really don't want it.

—
O
GDEN
N
ASH

 

We give advice by the bucket but take it by the grain.

—
W
ILLIAM
A
LGER

 

The thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never any good to oneself.

—
O
SCAR
W
ILDE

 

Advice should always be consumed between two thick slices of doubt.

—
W
ALT
S
CHMIDT

in
Parklabrea News

 

The best advice yet given is that you don't have to take it.

—
L
IBBIE
F
UDIM

 

Don't be troubled if the temptation to give advice is irresistible; the ability to ignore it is universal.

—
Planned Security

 

U
SE SOFT WORDS 
. . .

 

Use soft words and hard arguments.

—
E
NGLISH PROVERB

 

A good indignation makes an excellent speech.

—
R
ALPH
W
ALDO
E
MERSON

 

There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus.

—
M
ARK
T
WAIN

 

If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time a tremendous whack.

—
W
INSTON
C
HURCHILL

 

Charm is a way of getting the answer yes without asking a clear question.

—
A
LBERT
C
AMUS

The Fall

 

Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.

—
S
AMUEL
J
OHNSON

 

Sandwich every bit of criticism between two layers of praise.

—M
ARY
K
AY
A
SH

Mary Kay on People Management

 

One thought driven home is better than three left on base.

—
J
AMES
L
ITER

in
National Enquirer

 

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

—
A
LBERT
S
CHWEITZER

 

T
HE GREAT CHARM IN ARGUMENT 
. . .

 

The great charm in argument is really finding one's own opinions, not other people's
.

—
E
VELYN
W
AUGH

 

It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.

—
J
OSEPH
J
OUBERT

 

Nothing can keep an argument going like two persons who aren't sure what they're arguing about.

—
O
.
A
.
B
ATTISTA

 

A single fact will often spoil an interesting argument.

—
Selected Cryptograms III

 

You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.

—
J
OHN
M
ORLEY

 

It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in an argument.

—
W
ILLIAM
G
.
M
C
A
DOO

 

In quarreling, the truth is always lost.

—
P
UBLILIUS
S
YRUS

 

Never answer an angry word with an angry word. It's the second one that makes the quarrel.

—
W
.
A
.
N
ANCE

 

People generally quarrel because they cannot argue.

—
G
.
K
.
C
HESTERTON

More Quotable Chesterton

 

The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one's opinion but rather to know it.

—
A
NDRÉ
M
AUROIS

 

Quarrels would not last long if the fault were on one side only.

—
F
RANÇOIS DE
L
A
R
OCHEFOUCAULD

 

Violence in the voice is often only the death rattle of reason in the throat.

—
J
OHN
F
.
B
OYES

 

Whether on the road or in an argument, when you see red it's time to stop.

—
J
AN
M
C
K
EITHEN

 

Anybody who thinks there aren't two sides to every argument is probably in one.

—
The Cockle Bur

 

An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything.

—
L
YNN
J
OHNSTON

 

The man who offers an insult writes it in sand, but for the man who receives it, it's chiseled in bronze.

—
G
IOVANNI
G
UARESCHI

 

An ounce of apology is worth a pound of loneliness.

—
J
OSEPH
J
OUBERT

 

An apology is a good way to have the last word.

—
Dell Crossword Puzzles

 

P
RAYER IS WHEN YOU TALK TO
G
OD 
. . .

 

Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God.

—Quoted by D
IANA
R
OBINSON
in
The People's Almanac

 

Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.

—
M
OHANDAS
K
.
G
ANDHI

 

The greatest prayer is patience.

—
G
AUTAMA
B
UDDHA

 

What we usually pray to God is not that His will be done, but that He approve ours.

—
H
ELGA
B
ERGOLD
G
ROSS

 

The object of most prayers is to wangle an advance on good intentions.

—
R
OBERT
B
RAULT

 

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.

—
V
ICTOR
H
UGO

 

If you begin to live life looking for the God that is all around you, every moment becomes a prayer.

—F
RANK
B
IANCO

 

Our prayers are answered not when we are given what we ask but when we are challenged to be what we can be.

—
M
ORRIS
A
DLER

 

Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.

—C
ORRIE
TEN
B
OOM

Clippings from My Notebook

 

If we could all hear one another's prayers, God might be relieved of some of his burden.

—
A
SHLEIGH
B
RILLIANT

 

Serving God is doing good to man. But praying is thought an easier service and is therefore more generally chosen.

—
B
ENJAMIN
F
RANKLIN

 

God is like a mirror. The mirror never changes but everybody who looks at it sees something different.

—Quoted by R
ABBI
H
AROLD
K
USHNER
in
Ultimate Issues

 

Prayer is less about changing the world than it is about changing ourselves.

—
D
AVID
J
.
W
OLPE

Teaching Your Children About God

 

Get down on your knees and thank God you are on your feet.

—
I
RISH SAYING

 

Never trust someone who has to change his tone to ask something of the Lord.

—
R
OBERTA
A
.
E
VERETT

 

Call on God, but row away from the rocks.

—
R
OBERT
M
.
Y
OUNG

 

Trust in God—but tie your camel tight.

—
P
ERSIAN PROVERB

G
REAT IDEAS NEED LANDING GEAR . . .

 

Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings.

—
C
.
D
.
J
ACKSON

 

The history of mankind is the history of ideas.

—
L
UDWIG VON
M
ISES

Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis

 

A man is but a product of his thoughts; what he thinks, that he becomes.

—
M
OHANDAS
K
.
G
ANDHI

 

An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.

—
V
ICTOR
H
UGO

 

It is useless to send armies against ideas.

—
G
EORG
B
RANDES

 

Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience.

—
A
DM.
H
YMAN
G
.
R
ICKOVER

 

A cup is useful only when it is empty; and a mind that is filled with beliefs, with dogmas, with assertions, with quotations is really an uncreative mind.

—
J
.
K
RISHNAMURTI

 

The man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.

—
M
ARK
T
WAIN

 

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.

—
W
ILLIAM
J
AMES

 

Thought is action in rehearsal.

—
S
IGMUND
F
REUD

 

Change your thoughts and you change your world.

—
R
EV.
N
ORMAN
V
INCENT
P
EALE

 

He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality.

—
A
NWAR EL-
S
ADAT

 

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.

—
J
OHN
M
ILTON

 

If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies.

—
A
LBERT
E
INSTEIN

 

Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.

—
A
RNOLD
T
OYNBEE

 

Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bear bad fruit—and man is his own gardener.

—
J
AMES
A
LLEN

 

Bring ideas in and entertain them royally, for one of them may be the king.

—
M
ARK
V
AN
D
OREN

 

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.

—
F
.
S
COTT
F
ITZGERALD

 

I like to have a man's knowledge comprehend more than one class of topics, one row of shelves. I like a man who likes to see a fine barn as well as a good tragedy.

—
R
ALPH
W
ALDO
E
MERSON

 

Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.

—
A
BIGAIL
A
DAMS

 

What we learn with pleasure we never forget.

—
A
LFRED
M
ERCIER

 

Most people are willing to pay more to be amused than to be educated.

—
R
OBERT
C
.
S
AVAGE

Life Lessons

 

Education is not training but rather the process that equips you to entertain yourself, a friend and an idea.

—
W
ALLACE
S
TERLING

 

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

—
W
ILLIAM
B
UTLER
Y
EATS

 

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

—
E
DITH
W
HARTON

 

An education is like a crumbling building that needs constant upkeep with repairs and additions.

—
L
OUIS
D
UDEK

 

A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations.

—
P
ATRICIA
N
EAL WITH
R
ICHARD
D
E
N
EUT

As I Am: An Autobiography

 

A great teacher never strives to explain his vision—he simply invites you to stand beside him and see for yourself.

—
R
EV.
R
.
I
NMAN

 

If you would thoroughly know anything, teach it to others.

—
T
RYON
E
DWARDS

 

To teach is to learn twice.

—
J
OSEPH
J
OUBERT

 

Good education is the essential foundation of a strong democracy.

—
B
ARBARA
B
USH

in a preface to
America's Country Schools
by Andrew Gulliford

 

Education is more than a luxury; it is a responsibility that society owes to itself.

—
R
OBIN
C
OOK

Coma

 

Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know.

—
D
ANIEL
J
.
B
OORSTIN

Democracy and Its Discontents

 

Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.

—
G
.
K
.
C
HESTERTON

 

It is not the business of science to inherit the earth, but to inherit the moral imagination; because without that, man and beliefs and science will perish together.

—
J
ACOB
B
RONOWSKI

 

Science has made us gods even before we are worthy of being men.

—
J
EAN
R
OSTAND

 

An age is called Dark, not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.

—
J
AMES
A
.
M
ICHENER

Space

 

In every work of genius, we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.

—
R
ALPH
W
ALDO
E
MERSON

 

If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.

—
R
AYMOND
I
NMAN

 

An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.

—
W
ILLIAM
B
ERNBACH

 

Be curious always! For knowledge will not acquire you; you must acquire it.

—
S
UDIE
B
ACK

 

Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.

—
W
ILLIAM
A
.
W
ARD

 

The little I know, I owe to my ignorance.

—
S
ACHA
G
UITRY

 

Curiosity is a willing, a proud, an eager confession of ignorance.

—
S
.
L
EONARD
R
UBINSTEIN

Writing: A Habit of Mind

 

A sense of curiosity is nature's original school of education.

—
S
MILEY
B
LANTON,
MD

Love or Perish

 

The human mind is as driven to understand as the body is driven to survive.

—
H
UGH
G
ILMORE

in
The Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine

 

If a man had as many ideas during the day as he does when he has insomnia, he'd make a fortune.

—
G
RIFF
N
IBLACK

in
News
(Indianapolis, Indiana)

 

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

—
J
OHN
S
TEINBECK

 

All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.

—
R
ALPH
W
ALDO
E
MERSON

 

A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip, and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow.

—
C
HARLIE
B
ROWER

 

Man's mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.

—
O
LIVER
W
ENDELL
H
OLMES

 

One should never spoil a good theory by explaining it.

—
P
ETER
M
C
A
RTHUR

 

Once a new idea springs into existence, it cannot be unthought. There is a sense of immortality in a new idea.

—
E
DWARD DE
B
ONO

New Think: The Use of Lateral Thinking in the Generation of New Ideas

 

An open mind collects more riches than an open purse.

—
W
ILL
H
ENRY

 

A cold in the head causes less suffering than an idea.

—
J
ULES
R
ENARD

 

R
EADING FURNISHES THE MIND 
. . .

 

Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.

—
J
OHN
L
OCKE

 

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

—
J
OSEPH
A
DDISON

 

Books may well be the only true magic.

—
A
LICE
H
OFFMAN

 

Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.

—
H
ENRY
W
ARD
B
EECHER

 

Reading makes immigrants of us all—it takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.

—
H
AZEL
R
OCHMAN

Against Borders

 

There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we believe we left without having lived them: those we spent with a favorite book.

—
M
ARCEL
P
ROUST

 

From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other. But when books are opened you discover that you have wings.

—
H
ELEN
H
AYES WITH
S
ANDFORD
D
ODY

On Reflection

 

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.

—
B
ARBARA
W
.
T
UCHMAN

 

Books had instant replay long before televised sports.

—
B
ERN
W
ILLIAMS

 

If you would understand your own age, read the works of fiction produced in it. People in disguise speak freely.

—
A
RTHUR
H
ELPS

Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd

 

Books are more than books. They are the life, the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men lived and worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives.

—
A
MY
L
OWELL

 

There are no faster or firmer friendships than those between people who love the same books.

—
I
RVING
S
TONE

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