Sydney J. Harris Quotes

Somebody who never got over the embarrassing fact that he was born in bed with a lady.

Much as a teacher may wince at the thought, he is also an entertainer—for unless he can hold his audience, he cannot really instruct or edify them.

There is no such thing as an "atrocity" in warfare that is greater than the atrocity of warfare itself.

All our efforts to attain immortality-by statesmanship, by conquest, by science or the arts-are equally vain in the long run, because the long run is longer than any of us can imagine.

The main discomfort in being a middle-of-the-roader is that you get sideswiped by partisans going in both directions.

Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower. A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour. Happiness is a direction, not a place.

Skepticism is not an end in itself; it is a tool for the discovery of truths.

The world has always been betrayed by decent men with bad ideals.

As long as there are human beings, there will be the idea of brotherhood -- and an almost total inability to practice it.

All significant achievement comes from daring from experiment from the willingness to risk failure.

Filth is always a sign of weakness - in the mouth of the user and in the mind of the writer.

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.

Sincerity that thinks it is the sole possessor of the truth is a deadlier sin than hypocrisy, which knows better.

The principal difference between love and hate is that love is a irradiation, and hate is a concentration. Love makes everything lovely; hate concentrates itself on the object of its hatred.

The severest test of character is not so much the ability to keep a secret as it is, when the secret is finally out, to refrain from disclosing that you knew it all along.

God cannot be solemn, or he would not have blessed man with the incalculable gift of laughter.

Gourmet: Usually little more than a glutton festooned with credit cards.

A 'penchant for telling the truth' can cripple a candidates chances faster than being caught in flagrante delicto with the governor's wife.

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.

But the culture-vultures and the intellectual snobs, and the self-appointed guardians of the Muses, often frighten off the average person from the free development of this appetite.

But in terms of "psychological" time, most of us are still living in centuries past, stirred by ancient grudges, controlled by obsolete prejudices, driven by buried fears.

We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until... we have stopped saying "It got lost " and say "I lost it."

The true test of independent judgement is being able to dislike someone who admires us.

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.

We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until... we have stopped saying "It got lost " and say "I lost it."

The two words 'information' and 'communication' are often used interchangeably but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out communication is getting through.

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.

A winner rebukes and forgives a loser is too timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive.

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.

When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard, ' I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'

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.