O. Henry Quotes

Of all human powers operating on the affairs of mankind, none is greater than that of competition.

I see nothing in the theory of evolution inconsistent with an Almighty Creator and Protector.

If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable... we must be content to creep along the ground, and never soar.

A loving trust in the Author of the Bible is the best preparation for a wise study of the Bible.

Praise to the Holiest in the height, And in the depth be praise; In all His words most wonderful, Most sure in all His ways.

God created you to do him some particular service. He has given some work to you that he has not given to another. You have your mission. You shall do good.

Very few people do anything creative after the age of thirty-five. The reason is that very few people do anything creative before the age of thirty-five.

One of the worst things you can die with is potential.

An ambassador is an honest man sent abroad to lie for his country.

I do most of my work with kids. They are the very foundation of our future. We are so incredibly disrespectful to them in America in every way because they can't vote.

Producing is the hardest of the three because there is almost no closure. Every time you solve a problem, another one pops up. Directing is second, and acting is the most fun.

To have people like my work, even if it's my old work, I can't ask for nothing nicer than that.

You see, I don't know how to ride a motorcycle, actually.

A leader's responsibility is to cause a vision and mission to have tangible results in the real world.

Things don't change in a marriage until the spouse who is taking responsibility for a problem that is not hers decides to say or do something about it.

Dating is primarily a numbers game.... People usually go through a lot of people to find good relationships. That's just the way it is.

In a very real way, ownership is the essence of leadership. When you are ridiculously in charge, then you own whatever happens in a company, school, et cetera.

I truly believe fishing is like a washing machine for your brain

The rarest quality in an epitaph is truth.

I don't go out looking for pictures. I go out, and if something catches my eye, that's reason enough to photograph it.

We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.

Heroes are often the most ordinary of men.

Refinement is the lifting of one's self upwards from the merely sensual; the effort of the soul to etherealize the common wants and uses of life.

A lie always needs a truth for a handle to it.

There is an army of waiters in this world.

Some have supposed that the mosquito is of a devout turn, and never will partake of a meal without first saying grace. The devotions of some men are but a preface to blood-sucking.

A man that puts himself on the ground of moral principle, if the whole world be against him, is mightier than all of them.

I pray on the principle that wine knocks the cork out of a bottle. There is an inward fermentation, and there must be a vent.

May we be satisfied with nothing that shall not have in it something of immortality.

Flattery is praise insincerely given for an interested purpose.

Anger is a bow that will shoot sometimes where another feeling will not.

There is nothing which vanity does not desecrate.

In the production of the necessaries of life Nature is ready enough to assist man.

Let every man come to God in his own way.

A law is valuable not because it is law, but because there is right in it.

Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent.

He who hunts for flowers will finds flowers; and he who loves weeds will find weeds.

Hope is sweet-minded and sweet-eyed. It draws pictures; it weaves fancies; it fills the future with delight.

The test of Christian character should be that a man is a joy-bearing agent to the world.

Defeat is a school in which truth always grows strong.

What a mother sings to the cradle goes all the way down to the coffin.

They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.

Go not to the object; let the object come to you.

As warmth makes even glaciers trickle, and opens streams in the ribs of frozen mountains, so the heart knows the full flow and life of its grief only when it begins to melt and pass away.

A man who cannot get angry is like a stream that cannot overflow, that is always turbid. Sometimes indignation is as good as a thunderstorm in summer, clearing and cooling the air.

Lose the world, get lost in it, and find your soul.

It is not when the cable lies coiled up on the deck that you know how strong or how weak it is; it is when it is put to the test.

In the long run, we only hit what we aim at.

It is for men to choose whether they will govern themselves or be governed.

All men are tempted. There is no man that lives that can't be broken down, provided it is the right temptation, put in the right spot.