Sydney J. Harris quotes - page 3

Many a secret that cannot be pried out by curiosity can be drawn out by indifference. (Sydney J. Harris)
Somebody who never got over the embarrassing fact that he was born in bed with a lady. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
There's no point in burying a hatchet if you're going to put up a marker on the site. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
When we have 'second thoughts' about something, our first thoughts don't seem like thoughts at all - just feelings. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
The most important thing in an argument, next to being right, is to leave an escape hatch for your opponent, so that he can gracefully swing over to your side without too much apparent loss of face. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
Maturity begins when we're content to feel we're right about something without feeling the necessity to prove someone else wrong. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
Once we assuage our conscience by calling something a "necessary evil", it begins to look more and more necessary and less and less evil. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
We truly possess only what we are able to renounce; otherwise, we are simply possessed by our possessions. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
The truest test of independent judgment is being able to dislike someone who admires us, and to admire someone who dislikes us. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
Genealogy: A perverse preoccupation of those who seek to demonstrate that their forebears were better people than they are. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
By the time a man asks you for advice, he has generally made up his mind what he wants to do, and is looking for confirmation rather than counseling. (Sydney J. Harris)
Skepticism is not an end in itself; it is a tool for the discovery of truths. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
It's odd, and a little unsettling, to reflect upon the fact that English is the only major language in which "I" is capitalized; in many other languages "You" is capitalized and the "i" is lower case." View quote
Sydney J. Harris
You may be sure that when a man begins to call himself a realist he is preparing to do something that he is secretly ashamed of doing. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
The greatest educational dogma is also its greatest fallacy: the belief that what must be learned can necessarily be taught. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
Those obsessed with health are not healthy; the first requisite of good health is a certain calculated carelessness about oneself. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
Many people feel "guilty" about things they shouldn't feel guilty about, in order to shut out feelings of guilt about things they should feel guilty about. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
Filth is always a sign of weakness - in the mouth of the user and in the mind of the writer. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
Making out an invitation list for a party brings out the worst in everyone. It is then that our most ruthless estimates of the people we know come into play. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
Christianity is not a 'spiritual' religion, like some religions of the east. It is an intensely 'practical' religion, having its moral roots in the practicality of judaism. It was not designed to change the way men think or believe as much as to change the way they act. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway. (Sydney J. Harris)
Those with easy temperaments and weak characters are more likable than admirable; those with difficult temperaments and strong characters are more admirable than likable. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
The human Jesus is, to my mind, the ultimate paradigm of such psychic equilibrium. He was absolutely hard on himself and absolutely tender toward others. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. View quote
Sydney J. Harris
All the fearful counterfeits of love - possessiveness, lust, vanity, jealousy - are closer to hate: they concentrate on the object, guard it, suck it dry. View quote
Sydney J. Harris