Sydney J. Harris Quotes - Page 6

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• The loner may be respected, but he is always resented by his colleagues, for he seems to be passing a critical judgment on them, when he may be simply making a limiting statement about himself.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Solitude, Loner, May

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

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• All our efforts to attain immortality-by statesmanship, by conquest, by science or the arts-are equally vain in the long run, because the long run is longer than any of us can imagine.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Running, Art, Long

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

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• Being yourself is not remaining what you were, or being satisfied with what you are. It is the point of departure and far from the goal.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Being Yourself, Departure, Where You Are

  "Clearing the ground".

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• The art of listening needs its highest development in listening to oneself; our most important task is to develop an ear that can really hear what we're saying.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Art, Empathy, Listening

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• A person is either himself or not himself; is either rooted in his existence or is a fabrication; has either found his humanhood or is still playing with masks and roles and status symbols. And nobody is more aware of this difference (although unconsciously) than a child. Only an authentic person can evoke a good response in the core of the other person; only person is resonant to person.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Children, Differences, Roles

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

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• The public examination of homosexuality in our contemporary life is still so coated with distasteful moral connotations that even a reviewer is bound to wonder uneasily why he was selected to evaluate a book on the subject, and to assert defensively at the outset that he is happily married, the father of four children and the one-time adornment of his college boxing, track and tennis teams.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Children, Father, Team

  "Saturday Review" Magazine, April 22, 1961.

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• People who think they're generous to a fault usually think that's their only fault.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Thinking, People, Generosity

  Sydney J. Harris (1964). “ON THE CONTRARY”

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• Western civilization has not yet learned the lesson that the energy we expend in 'getting things done' is less important than the moral strength it takes to decide what is worth doing and what is right to do.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Civilization, Priorities, Important

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

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• People decline invitations when they are "indisposed" physically, and I wish they would do likewise when they feel indisposed emotionally. A person has no more right to attend a party with a head full of venom than with a throat full of virus.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Party, People, Wish

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• The world has always been betrayed by decent men with bad ideals.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Men, World, Betrayed

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• More trouble is caused in this world by indiscreet answers than by indiscreet questions.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Answers, World, Trouble

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• Ignorance per se is not nearly as dangerous as ignorance of ignorance.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Ignorance, Dangerous

  Sydney J. Harris (1982). “Pieces of Eight”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Life is, if anything, the art of combination. Of discrimination. Of freely picking one's own personal pattern out of a hundred choices. Not letting it be picked for you—either by the Establishment, or by the Rebels. Conformity of Hip is no better than Conformity of Square.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Art, Squares, Choices

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

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• Between the semi-educated, who offer simplistic answers to complex questions, and the overeducated, who offer complicated answers to simple questions, it is a wonder that any questions get satisfactorily answered at all.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Simple, Answers, Wonder

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• Usually, if we hate, it is the shadow of the person that we hate, rather than the substance. We may hate a person because he reminds us of someone we feared and disliked when younger; or because we see in him some gross caricature of what we find repugnant in ourself; or because he symbolizes an attitude that seems to threaten us.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Attitude, Hate, Shadow

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

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• Nothing is as easy to make as a promise this winter to do something next summer; this is how commencement speakers are caught.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Summer, Winter, Keeping Promises

  "Chicago Daily News" Newspaper, February 20, 1958.

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• And most of the failures in parent-child relationships, from my observation, begin when the child begins to acquire a mind and a will of its own, to make independent decisions and to question the omnipotence or the wisdom of the parent.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Children, Independent, Omnipotence

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

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• Agnosticism is a perfectly respectable and tenable philosophical position; it is not dogmatic and makes no pronouncements about the ultimate truths of the universe. It remains open to evidence and persuasion; lacking faith, it nevertheless does not deride faith. Atheism, on the other hand, is as unyielding and dogmatic about religious belief as true believers are about heathens. It tries to use reason to demolish a structure that is not built upon reason.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Religious, Philosophical, Hands

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

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• Norbert Blei is a writer the way people used to be troubadours and minstrels, celebrating what he has seen and heart and felt in a deceptively simple style reminiscent of the early Sherwood Anderson. . . . Like Anderson, he is a lover, and his affection invests his writing with a singular charm.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Writing, Heart, Simple

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• Many people feel "guilty" about things they shouldn't feel guilty about, in order to shut out feelings of guilt about things they should feel guilty about.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Order, People, Feelings

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• Somebody who never got over the embarrassing fact that he was born in bed with a lady.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Bed, Facts, Embarrassing

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• As long as there are human beings, there will be the idea of brotherhood -- and an almost total inability to practice it.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Men, Practice, Ideas

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• Nice things are done for our own sake, not for the sake of others. The pleasure must reside in the performance, not in the applause. Good deeds are, in a deeper psychological way, a favor to oneself. If this is not grasped, then our whole sense of personal relationships becomes warped.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Nice, Done, Deeds

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

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• What is much harder to handle is the sense that you have to live up to the mark someone else has set for you. The grades become too important, the competition too frantic, the fear of disappointing those who believe in you turns into an overwhelming nightmare.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Believe, Boys, Parent

  "On the Contrary".

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• God cannot be solemn, or he would not have blessed man with the incalculable gift of laughter.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Laughter, Blessed, Men

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