O. Henry Quotes

The ideology of hardness and cruelty runs through American culture like an electric current.

The gentleman cannot have forgotten his own sentiment, uttered even on the floor of this House, Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must.

There is in God - some say - A deep, but dazzling darkness; as men here Say it is late and dusky, because they See not all clear. O for that Night! where I in Him Might live invisible and dim!

If the mind, that rules the body, ever so far forgets itself as to trample on its slave, the slave is never generous enough to forgive the injury, but will rise and smite the oppressor.

Inflation is a form of tax, a tax that we all collectively must pay.

The more detailed the plan, the easier the trip.

Liberty is the essential basis, the sine qua non, of morality.

Through endless night the earth whirls toward a creation unknown.

I love a broad margin to my life. Sometimes, in a summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise til noon, rapt in a revery.

Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance.

Government can't give us anything without depriving us of something else.

It is silly to go on pretending that under the skin we are brothers. The truth is more likely that under the skin we are all cannibals, assassins, traitors, liars and hypocrites.

Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end.

The world is the mirror of myself dying.

The time is coming when man will be able to determine the length of his lifespan by controlling his diet.

If one believes, then miracles occur.

I live in the present. I only remember the past, and anticipate the future.

When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable.

Each thought that is welcomed and recorded is a nest egg, by the side of which more will be laid.

The worst sin that can be committed against the artist is to take him at his word, to see in his work a fulfillment instead of an horizon.

The saying "Getting there is half the fun" became obsolete with the advent of commercial airlines.

Murders came with smiles, shooting people was no big deal for us Goodfellas.

Such is the power of imagination, that even a chimerical pleasure in expectation affects us more than a solid pleasure in possession.

The only really fatal element in defeat is the resolution not to try again.

'Tis always morning somewhere, and aboveThe awakening continents, from shore to shore,Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.

The Jews caused the war, the Jews caused the outbreak of thieving and robbery all over the country, the Jews caused the inefficiency of the navy

Everyone should want to excel in life. You should never take the desire to excel away from the human race.

When you once get an idea in which you believe with all your heart, work it out.

Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.

Greed is merely a species of nearsightedness.

There is a strength of quiet endurance as significant of courage as the most daring feats of prowess.

True obedience is true freedom.

Good pain is pain in the service of a purpose. Bad pain is pain endured because we are resisting a needed growth step.

Unless you plan to out-rebound and out-shoot everyone you play, then you better learn to handle the ball.

We need rest not just so we feel better. We need rest for actual creation of what we're going to need the next day.

Some goals are not going to fulfill you. Choose goals that you value and care about.

Clearly security without values is like a ship without a rudder. But values without security are like a rudder without a ship.

If Nature is our mother, then God is our father.

If I choose to devote myself to certain labors which yield more real profit, though but little money, they may be inclined to look on me as an idler.

The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right.

In my walks I would fain return to my senses.

Ten out of ten people die, so don't take life too seriously.

I don't expect to retire. Every man must work, that's his natural destiny.

Whatever is almost true is quite false, and among the most dangerous of errors, because being so near truth, it is more likely to lead astray.

When my legs begin to move, the thoughts begin to flow.

The visible world is but man turned inside out that he may be revealed to himself.

Under pressure, the mouth speaks when the brain is disengaged, and, sometimes unwittingly, the gearshift is in reverse when it should be in neutral.

Sometimes I hate you, sometimes I hate myself, but always I miss you

They take great pride in making their dinner cost much; I take my pride in making my dinner cost so little.

There are two kinds of taste, the taste for emotions of surprise and the taste for emotions of recognition.