Sydney J. Harris
Men make counterfeit money; in many more cases, money makes counterfeit men.Collection: Money
A winner rebukes and forgives; a loser is too timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive.Collection: Forgiveness
The two words 'information' and 'communication' are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through.Collection: Communication
Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.Collection: Time
The beauty of 'spacing' children many years apart lies in the fact that parents have time to learn the mistakes that were made with the older ones - which permits them to make exactly the opposite mistakes with the younger ones.Collection: Beauty
The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.Collection: Computers
Happiness is a direction, not a place.Collection: Happiness
The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.Collection: Time
If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?Collection: Anger
Knowledge fills a large brain; it merely inflates a small one.Collection: Knowledge
Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.Collection: Time
The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.Collection: Education
Almost no one is foolish enough to imagine that he automatically deserves great success in any field of activity; yet almost everyone believes that he automatically deserves success in marriage.Collection: Imagination
The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one's mind a pleasant place in which to spend one's leisure.Collection: Education
Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.Collection: Government
When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'Collection: Life
The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, 'I was wrong'.
The greatest enemy of progress is not stagnation, but false progress.
An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.
When I hear somebody say 'Life is hard', I am always tempted to ask 'Compared to what?'
Ignorance per se is not nearly as dangerous as ignorance of ignorance.
It's surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you're not comfortable within yourself, you can't be comfortable with others.
The art of living consists in knowing which impulses to obey and which must be made to obey.
Any philosophy that can be put in a nutshell belongs there.
Ninety per cent of the world's woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves - so how can we know anyone else?
Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.
Enemies, as well as lovers, come to resemble each other over a period of time.
Many a secret that cannot be pried out by curiosity can be drawn out by indifference.
Nothing is as easy to make as a promise this winter to do something next summer; this is how commencement speakers are caught.
People who think they're generous to a fault usually think that's their only fault.
When you run into someone who is disagreeable to others, you may be sure he is uncomfortable with himself; the amount of pain we inflict upon others is directly proportional to the amount we feel within us.
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.
Middle Age is that perplexing time of life when we hear two voices calling us, one saying, 'Why not?' and the other, 'Why bother?'
There's no point in burying a hatchet if you're going to put up a marker on the site.
When we have 'second thoughts' about something, our first thoughts don't seem like thoughts at all - just feelings.
Somebody who never got over the embarrassing fact that he was born in bed with a lady.
Sometimes the best, and only effective, way to kill an idea is to put it into practice.
Intolerance is the most socially acceptable form of egotism, for it permits us to assume superiority without personal boasting.
The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.Collection: Country
History repeats itself, but in such cunning disguise that we never detect the resemblance until the damage is done.Collection: Damage Is Done
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem, but the perpetual human predicament is that the answer soon poses its own problems.Collection: Answers
Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.Collection: Education
At it's highest level, the purpose of teaching is not to teach—it is to inspire the desire for learning. Once a student's mind is set on fire, it will find a way to provide its own fuel.Collection: Teaching
We truly possess only what we are able to renounce; otherwise, we are simply possessed by our possessions.Collection: Able
Time is love, above all else. It is the most precious commodity in the world and should be lavished on those we care most about.Collection: Time
Self-discipline without talent can often achieve astounding results, whereas talent without self-discipline inevitably dooms itself to failure.Collection: Self
The best combination of parents consists of a father who is gentle beneath his firmness, and a mother who is firm beneath her gentleness.Collection: Mother
Honesty consists of the unwillingness to lie to others; maturity, which is equally hard to attain, consists of the unwillingness to lie to oneself.Collection: Truth
We evaluate others with a Godlike justice, but we want them to evaluate us with a Godlike compassion.Collection: Compassion