Sydney J. Harris Quotes - Page 5

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• A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, his is also one who is permanently disappointed in the future.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Fear, Past, Lessons

  11 Copy quote

• The real heretic is not the atheist or agnostic (who are often decent people) but those who murmur "it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as it makes you feel good." This turns religion into a subjective matter, like taste in furnishings, and robs theology of its claim to ultimate truth.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Atheist, Real, Believe

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• Real loneliness consists not in being alone, but in being with the wrong person, in the suffocating darkness of a room in which no deep communication is possible.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Real, Loneliness, Communication

  18 Copy quote

• Take away grievances from some people and you remove their reasons for living; most of us are nourished by hope, but a considerable minority get psychic nutrition from their resentments, and would waste away purposelessly without them.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Psychics, People, Minorities

  Sydney J. Harris (1976). “Best of Sydney J. Harris”

  6 Copy quote

• Many persons of high intelligence have notoriously poor judgement.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Decision, Judgement, Poor

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• You may be sure that when a man begins to call himself a realist he is preparing to do something that he is secretly ashamed of doing.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Men, Cynical, May

  Sydney J. Harris (1953). “Strictly personal”

  8 Copy quote

• 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.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Party, Play, People

  Sydney J. Harris (1953). “Strictly personal”

  5 Copy quote

• Every morning I take out my bankbook, stare at it, shudder - and turn quickly to my typewriter.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Morning, Typewriters, Staring

  "Church Times" Newspaper, December 30, 1983.

  18 Copy quote

• The difference between faith and superstition is that the first uses reason to go as far as it can, and then makes the jump; the second shuns reason entirely — which is why superstition is not the ally, but the enemy, of true religion.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Differences, Enemy, Allies

  Sydney J. Harris (1953). “Strictly personal”

  7 Copy quote

• Christianity is not a "spiritual" religion, like some religions of the east. It is an intensely "practical" religion, having its moral roots in the practicality of judaism. It was not designed to change the way men think or believe as much as to change the way they act.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Spiritual, Believe, Men

  Sydney J. Harris (1976). “Best of Sydney J. Harris”

  7 Copy quote

• The reason that truth is stranger than fiction is that fiction has to have a rational thread running through it in order to be believable, whereas reality may be totally irrational.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Running, Truth, Honesty

  Sydney J. Harris (1986). “Clearing the ground”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  14 Copy quote

• Almost every man looks more so in a belted trench coat.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Men, Looks, Coats

  Sydney J. Harris (1953). “Strictly personal”

  8 Copy quote

• It's odd, and a little unsettling, to reflect upon the fact that English is the only major language in which "I" is capitalized; in many other languages "You" is capitalized and the "i" is lower case." --

  Sydney J. Harris

  Littles, Facts, Language

  6 Copy quote

• 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.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Character, Secret, Tests

  4 Copy quote

• Why are we willing to accept a new mathematical formula we don't understand as the product of a brilliant mind, while rejecting a new art form we don't understand as the product of a deranged mind?

  Sydney J. Harris

  Art, Mind, Brilliant

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• Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Witty, Democracies Have, Political

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• Ancient boundaries are meaningless, except for political purposes; old divisions of clan and tribe are sentimental remnants of the pre-atomic age; neither creed nor color nor place of origin is relevant to the realities of modern power to utterly seek and destroy.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Reality, Color, Political

  Sydney J. Harris (1976). “Best of Sydney J. Harris”

  14 Copy quote

• The paradox of friendship is that it is both the strongest thing in the world and the most fragile. Wild horses cannot separate friends, but whining words can. A man will lay down his life for his friend but will not sacrifice his eardrums.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Friendship, Horse, Sacrifice

  Sydney J. Harris (1953). “Strictly personal”

  7 Copy quote

• Just about the only interruption we don't object to is applause.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Appreciation, Applause, Interruptions

  Sydney J. Harris (1986). “Clearing the ground”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  8 Copy quote

• 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.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Teacher, May, Wince

  Sydney J. Harris (1976). “Best of Sydney J. Harris”

  6 Copy quote

• It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, 'the greatest', but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Country, Greatness, Patriotism

  Sydney J. Harris (1985). “Pieces of Eight Pa”, Mariner Books

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• Parents - and teachers too - are woefully short-sighted when they try to protect the child from his mistakes, when they make the "right answer" more important than the quest for knowledge and good judgment. For what is not learned within one's self cannot be learned from another.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Teacher, Children, Mistake

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• Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.

  Sydney J. Harris

  War, Unique, Men

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• Those obsessed with health are not healthy; the first requisite of good health is a certain calculated carelessness about oneself.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Healthy, Firsts, Care

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• The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one's mind a pleasant place in which to spend one's leisure.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Education, College, Mind

  17 Copy quote

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