Archives - August 2004

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future.

The conception of two people living together for twenty-five years without having a cross word suggests a lack of spirit only to be admired in sheep.

Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years.

A girl is Innocence playing in the mud, Beauty standing on its head, and Motherhood dragging a doll by the foot.

Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time... The wait is simply too long.

Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.

In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.

In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.

Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.

The cure for writer's cramp is writer's block.

Better an ugly face than an ugly mind.

Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.

Forgiveness is almost a selfish act because of its immense benefits to the one who forgives.

It is wonderful what strength of purpose and boldness and energy of will are roused by the assurance that we are doing our duty.

Personally, I rather look forward to a computer program winning the world chess championship. Humanity needs a lesson in humility.

If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.

After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood.

A jury is a group of twelve people of average ignorance.

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances - to choose one's own way.

Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.

To err is human, but when the eraser wears out ahead of the pencil, you're overdoing it.

Visitors are insatiable devourers of time, and fit only for those who, if they did not visit, would do nothing.

By common consent gray hairs are a crown of glory; the only object of respect that can never excite envy.

The difference between a job and a career is the difference between forty and sixty hours a week.

It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it.

The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it.

Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is an act of clear dishonesty. You may as well borrow a person's money as his time.

It's like a convent, the hospital. You leave the world behind and take vows of poverty, chastity, obedience.

To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did, I ought to know because I've done it a thousand times.

The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self.