Leo Rosten
Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.Collection: Writing
In the dark colony of night, when I consider man's magnificent capacity for malice, madness, folly, envy, rage, and destructiveness, and I wonder whether we shall not end up as breakfast for newts and polyps, I seem to hear the muffled cries of all the words in all the books with covers closed.Collection: Fear
I came to believe it not true that "the coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man only one." I think it is the other way around: It is the brave who die a thousand deaths. For it is imagination, and not just conscience, which doth make cowards of us all. Those who do not know fear are not truly brave.Collection: Believe
There was no answer, no solution, no sop, no deliverance. What, then, did I do? I read faster.Collection: Book
For some not to be martyrs is martyrdom indeed.Collection: Martyr
Many [of the Americans] polled showed a marked disapproval of the Wallonians, Danerians, and Pirenians. The fact that these minorities were invented by the pollster did not diminish the hostility.Collection: Minorities
Hope is ambiguous, but fear is precious.Collection: Ambiguous
Dogs are getting bigger, according to a leading dog manufacturer.Collection: Funny
The love of money is the source of an enormous amount of good; the fact that the good is a by-product of the selfish pursuit of riches has nothing to do with its indisputable value.Collection: Money
Her cooking suggested she had attended the Cordon Noir.Collection: Women