Marilyn Vos Savant Quotes

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.

Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.

Know how and how much to tip people who expect gratuities, even in the case of poor service.

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.

Working in an office with an array of electronic devices is like trying to get something done at home with half a dozen small children around. The calls for attention are constant.

Be able to hiccup silently, or at least without alerting neighbors to your situation. The first hiccup is an exception.

Be able to analyze statistics, which can be used to support or undercut almost any argument.

Skill is successfully walking a tightrope between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. Intelligence is not trying.

Know the official post office abbreviations for all 50 states without having to consult a list.

Attention-deficit disorders seem to abound in modern society, and we don't know the cause.

There's plenty of intelligence in the world, but the courage to do things differently is in short supply.

Although spoken English doesn't obey the rules of written language, a person who doesn't know the rules thoroughly is at a great disadvantage.

Many people feel they must multi-task because everybody else is multitasking, but this is partly because they are all interrupting each other so much.

Be able to defend your arguments in a rational way. Otherwise, all you have is an opinion.

The length of your education is less important than its breadth, and the length of your life is less important than its depth.

If your head tells you one thing, and your heart tells you another, before you do anything, you should first decide whether you have a better head or a better heart.

Be able to suffer wearing a necktie or slightly high heels for an entire evening without complaint or early removal.

Be in the habit of getting up bright and early on the weekends. Why waste such precious time in bed?

Be able to correctly pronounce the words you would like to speak and have excellent spoken grammar.

Know why certain foods, such as truffles, are expensive. It's not because they taste best.

What women want is what men want. They want respect.

A good idea will keep you awake during the morning, but a great idea will keep you awake during the night.

Know what to do if you feel faint or dizzy, especially if you might fall and hit your head.

The lower our self-esteem, the more we're attracted to our opposite, and the higher our self-esteem, the more we are attracted to another like ourselves.

You can't be wise without being intelligent, but you certainly can be intelligent without being wise.

Know where to find the sunrise and sunset times and note how the sky looks at those times, at least once.

Multi-tasking arises out of distraction itself.

Feeling is what you get for thinking the way you do.

Be able to cite three good qualities of every relative or acquaintance that you dislike.

Revenge feels right only to those directly involved. Justice feels right even to outsiders.

The squeaky wheel may get the most oil, but it's also the first to be replaced.

Be able to sneeze without sounding ridiculous. That means neither stifling yourself or spraying your immediate vicinity.

Email, instant messaging, and cell phones give us fabulous communication ability, but because we live and work in our own little worlds, that communication is totally disorganized.

Teens think listening to music helps them concentrate. It doesn't. It relieves them of the boredom that concentration on homework induces.

Know how to travel from your town to a nearby town without a car, either by bus or by rail.

What is the essence of America? The essence of America is finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom "to" and freedom "from."

The difference between talking on your cell phone while driving and speaking with a passenger is huge. The person on the other end of the cell phone is chattering away, oblivious.

Avoid using cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs as alternatives to being an interesting person.

Have enough sense to know, ahead of time, when your skills will not extend to wallpapering.

I believe a 'talented' person is one who has learned how to effectively cultivate and polish any of the many desirable capabilities with which most of us are born but few of us nurture.

Know which officials are voted into office and which are appointed, and by whom.

Success may be the ability to be happy with whatever we're stuck with.

Just because you're unemployed doesn't mean you're not doing anything useful. You are, for example, at least keeping your mother-in-law's wit sharp.

An act of justice closes the book on a misdeed; an act of vengeance writes one of its own

One of the few articles of clothing that a man won't try to remove from a woman is an apron.

Know how to drive safely when it's raining or when it's snowing. The two conditions are different.

You're who you think you are, even if you never admit it to yourself or to anyone else. You may be in the worst position to judge, but you're in the best position to know.

If you never heard opportunity knock, maybe you're never at home.

When you're in a good mood, bring up the past. When you're in a bad mood, stick to the present. And when you're not feeling emotional at all, it's time to talk about the future.

I believe that love--not imitation--is the sincerest form of flattery. Your imitator thinks that you can be duplicated; your lover knows you can't.