O. Henry Quotes

Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.

Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.

The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one's destiny to do, and then do it.

Weakness is what brings ignorance, cheapness, racism, homophobia, desperation, cruelty, brutality, all these things that will keep a society chained to the ground, one foot nailed to the floor.

So many horrid Ghosts.

Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.

I have rightfully no other business each day but to do God's work as a servant, constantly regarding His pleasure. May I have grace to live above every human motive, simply with God and to God.

Deep experience is never peaceful.

I wanted to paint a picture some day that people would stand before and forget that it was made of paint. I wanted it to creep into them like a bar of music and mushroom there like a soft bullet.

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

You cannot perceive beauty but with a serene mind.

I would like to be able to gently drift in and out of existence when I wanted to.

A sea setting us upon the ice has brought us close to danger.

The reason why Christ is unknown today is because His Mother is unknown.

We slander the hyena; man is the fiercest and cruelest animal.

What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within out into the world, miracles happen.

The Christian life is never static. One must either grow in grace, or there will be backsliding and deterioration.

I have found it a singular luxury to talk across the pond to a companion on the opposite side.

People are as happy as they choose to be.

Many critics are like woodpeckers, who, instead of enjoying the fruit and shadow of a tree, hop incessantly around the trunk, pecking holes in the bark to discover some little worm or other.

You have to have a dream, whether big or small. Then plan, focus, work hard and be very determined to achieve your goals.

Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength.

Fear secretes acids; but love and trust are sweet juices.

The 'private sector' of the economy is, in fact, the voluntary sector; and the 'public sector' is, in fact, the coercive sector.

Look, then, into thine heart, and write!

Man, the molecule of society, is the subject of social science.

Youth comes but once a life time. Perhaps, but it remains strong in many for their entire lives.

The boss is not paying you. They just keep the money for you only. New customers who actually paid

Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven.

The Lord doesn't put us through this test just to give us a test: He does it because the process will change us.

In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.

Offense is the essence of air power.

And remember this, that if you've been hated, you've also been loved.

The militia is our ultimate safety. We can have no security without it. The great object is that every man be armed.

I'll give you the whole secret to short story writing. Here it is. Rule 1: Write stories that please yourself. There is no Rule 2.

The chains of military despotism, once fastened upon a nation, ages might pass away before they could be shaken off.

The railroads are not run for the benefit of the dear public. That cry is nonsense. They are built for men who invest their money and expect to get a fair percentage of the same.

Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?

A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.

I used all diligence to arrive at London and therefore I now gave my crew a certificate under my hand, of my free and willing return, without persuasion or force by any one or more of them.

I would rather be my own tyrant than have someone else tyrannize me.

Anybody can do anything that he imagines.

If I am not I, who will be?

I believe that water is the only drink for a wise man.

I began to wonder why we cuddle some animals and put a fork in others.

Businesses that grow by development and improvement do not die.

Down sank the great red sun, and in golden, glimmering vapors Veiled the light of his face, like the Prophet descending from Sinai.

I have, as it were, my own sun and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself.

It is always possible to do a thing better the second time.