Quotable Quotes Read online

  PROJECT EDITOR

  Deborah DeFord

  PROJECT ART EDITOR

  Judy Speicher

  RESEARCH EDITOR

  Mark LaFlaur

  COVER ILLUSTRATOR

  Travis Foster

  Sales of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If this book is coverless, it may have been reported to the publisher as “unsold or destroyed” and neither the author nor the publisher may have received payment for it.

  Copyright © 1997 by The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, in any manner, is prohibited.

  Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

  Reader’s digest quotable quotes : wit and wisdom for all occasions from America’s most popular magazine.

  p.cm.

  Includes index.

  ISBN 13: PLACEHOLDER

  1.Quotations, English. I. Reader’s Digest Association.

  PN6083.R431997

  082--dc2096-34560

  Reader’s Digest is a registered trademarks of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

  Contents

  A Note from the Editors

  Within Ourselves

  People Together

  Our Better Side

  For Better or Worse

  When We Act

  The Art of Conversation

  Civilization’s Gift

  The Nature of Life

  The Natural World

  The World of Nations

  Index

  A Note from the Editors

  “The only thing sure about luck is that it will change.”

  That quote from Bret Harte is as appealing today as when it ran in the very first appearance of Quotable Quotes®—in the May 1933 issue of Reader’s Digest. Since then, thousands of quotes have graced the feature, delighting and inspiring generations of readers.

  In a publication that prides itself on the art of condensation, the quotations in this popular collection represent the finest tradition of brevity: they package profound ideas in just a few words. In compiling this column, we search out quotes that are serious and those that are amusing. We look for provocative comments, well expressed, on universal themes. Ideal candidates can be contemporary or classic, timeless or topical, whimsical or earnest.

  We cull quotes from a wide variety of sources—books, newspapers, magazines, television, radio, movies, the Internet, anywhere we come across a likely thought pithily expressed. And these gems have a life span that endures long after and far beyond their appearance in The Digest. They can be found on refrigerator doors, sprinkled into commencement speeches, enlivening sales pitches, wherever someone thinks they can do the most good. Humorists and social commentators have thrived on them. And more than a few have wound their way into a poignant eulogy.

  By their very nature, Quotable Quotes beg to be repeated, whether you share them during trying times or use them to drive home a point. What you derive from Quotable Quotes is of course personal, yet these brief words can also serve as a bridge to connect people or ideas.

  In Quotable Quotes you’ll find the wit and wisdom of men and women from all walks of life and from all ages—from Benjamin Franklin to Colin Powell, Abraham Lincoln to Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Margaret Mead to Garrison Keillor. Read what they have to say. And enjoy it!

  THE ADVANTAGE OF SOLITUDE . . .

  Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude.

  —SIR THOMAS BROWNE

  When we cannot bear to be alone, it means we do not properly value the only companion we will have from birth to death—ourselves.

  —EDA LESHAN

  in Newsday (Long Island, New York)

  We visit others as a matter of social obligation. How long has it been since we have visited with ourselves?

  —MORRIS ADLER

  We cannot confront solitude without moral resources.

  —HONORÉ DE BALZAC

  Madame de la Chanterie

  The result of joining two solitudes will always be a greater solitude.

  —PEDRO LUIS

  Flores de Otuno

  Solitude is a good place to visit but a poor place to stay.

  —JOSH BILLINGS

  The same fence that shuts others out shuts you in.

  —BILL COPELAND

  There’s one thing worse than being alone: wishing you were.

  —BOB STEELE

  Loneliness and the feeling of being uncared for and unwanted are the greatest poverty.

  —MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA

  Of all things that can happen to us, triumph is the most difficult to endure when we are alone. Deprived of witnesses, it shrinks at once.

  —GABRIELLE ROY

  La Detresse et L’enchantement

  Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.

  —PAUL TILLICH

  The Eternal Now

  The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait until the other is ready.

  —HENRY DAVID THOREAU

  What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.

  —ELLEN BURSTYN

  Man loves company—even if it is only that of a small burning candle.

  —GEORG CHRISTOPH LICHTENBERG

  THE RIGHT MEASURE OF HIMSELF . . .

  Fortunate, indeed, is the man who takes exactly the right measure of himself and holds a just balance between what he can acquire and what he can use.

  —PETER LATHAM

  Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat, then you know he never will.

  —JOHN D. MACDONALD

  The Turquoise Lament

  Integrity has no need of rules.

  —ALBERT CAMUS

  We get so much in the habit of wearing a disguise before others that we eventually appear disguised before ourselves.

  —JIM BISHOP

  We don’t know who we are until we see what we can do.

  —MARTHA GRIMES

  Writer’s Handbook

  What we must decide is how we are valuable rather than how valuable we are.

  —EDGAR Z. FRIEDENBERG

  Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about ourselves, we are ready to believe all that is said about us. Hence the mysterious power of both flattery and calumny.

  —ERIC HOFFER

  The Passionate State of Mind

  No one beneath you can offend you. No one your equal would.

  —JAN L. WELLS

  The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability he has.

  —CONFUCIUS

  No man, for any considerable time, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

  —NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

  Maybe taking ourselves for somebody else means that we cannot bear to see ourselves as we are.

  —ALBERT BRIE

  Le Devoir

 
Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have.

  —DORIS MORTMAN

  Circles

  If we have our own “why” of life, we can bear almost any “how.”

  —FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

  Man shies away from nothing as from a rendezvous with himself—which makes the entertainment industry what it is.

  —FRITZ MULIAR

  To have doubted one’s own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.

  —OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES JR.

  When one is out of touch with oneself, one cannot touch others.

  —ANNE MORROW LINDBERGH

  Gift From the Sea

  Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

  —CARL G. JUNG

  Memories, Dreams, Reflections

  Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us.

  —ERIC HOFFER

  Working and Thinking on the Waterfront

  Our opinion of people depends less upon what we see in them than upon what they make us see in ourselves.

  —SARAH GRAND

  One can only face in others what one can face in oneself.

  —JAMES BALDWIN

  I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man I have ever met!

  —DWIGHT L. MOODY

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

  —SYDNEY J. HARRIS

  People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something that one finds. It is something one creates.

  —THOMAS SZASZ

  The Second Sin

  You have to start knowing yourself so well that you begin to know other people. A piece of us is in every person we can ever meet.

  —JOHN D. MACDONALD

  introduction to Night Shift by Stephen King

  The best vision is insight.

  —MALCOLM S. FORBES

  in Forbes magazine

  Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.

  —ST. AUGUSTINE

  If a man happens to find himself, he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life.

  —JAMES A. MICHENER

  No sooner do we think we have assembled a comfortable life than we find a piece of ourselves that has no place to fit in.

  —GAIL SHEEHY

  Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

  —HENRY DAVID THOREAU

  You may find the worst enemy or best friend in yourself.

  —ENGLISH PROVERB

  Know yourself. Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.

  —ANN LANDERS

  Be yourself. No one can ever tell you you’re doing it wrong.

  —JAMES LEO HERLIHY

  Often we change jobs, friends and spouses instead of ourselves.

  —AKBARALI H. JETHA

  Reflections

  Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.

  —LEO TOLSTOY

  Everyone complains of his memory, and nobody complains of his judgment.

  —FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

  SO SOOTHING TO OUR SELF-ESTEEM . . .

  Nothing is so soothing to our self-esteem as to find our bad traits in our forebears. It seems to absolve us.

  —VAN WYCK BROOKS

  From a Writer’s Notebook

  I don’t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.

  —HENRY JAMES

  When we are confident, all we need is a little support.

  —ANDRÉ LAURENDEAU

  Une Vie D’Enfer

  We may not return the affection of those who like us, but we always respect their good judgment.

  —LIBBIE FUDIM

  A man can stand a lot as long as he can stand himself.

  —AXEL MUNTHE

  Misfortunes one can endure—they come from outside; they are accidents. But to suffer for one’s own faults—ah, there is the sting of life.

  —OSCAR WILDE

  We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glowworm.

  —WINSTON CHURCHILL

  The most difficult secret for a man to keep is the opinion he has of himself.

  —MARCEL PAGNOL

  Appearances give us more pleasure than reality, especially when they help to satisfy our egos.

  —ÉMILE CHEVALIER

  The ingenuities we practice in order to appear admirable to ourselves would suffice to invent the telephone twice over on a rainy summer morning.

  —BRENDAN GILL

  We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our worst enemies.

  —RODERICK THORP

  Rainbow Drive

  A human being’s first responsibility is to shake hands with himself.

  —HENRY WINKLER

  If you want your children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others.

  —HAIM GINOTT

  We appreciate frankness from those who like us. Frankness from others is called insolence.

  —ANDRÉ MAUROIS

  We probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.

  —OLIN MILLER

  We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.

  —HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

  Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they’re yours.

  —RICHARD BACH

  Illusions

  Morale is self-esteem in action.

  —AVERY WEISMAN, MD

  Lack of something to feel important about is almost the greatest tragedy a man may have.

  —ARTHUR E. MORGAN

  Once in a century a man may be ruined or made insufferable by praise. But surely once in a minute something generous dies for want of it.

  —JOHN MASEFIELD

  In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.

  —ALBERT CAMUS

  Lyrical and Critical Essays

  Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.

  —ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL

  The better we feel about ourselves, the fewer times we have to knock somebody else down to feel tall.

  —ODETTA

  A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.

  —REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

  Never feel self-pity, the most destructive emotion there is. How awful to be caught up in the terrible squirrel cage of self.

  —MILLICENT FENWICK

  Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

  —MAYA ANGELOU

  Gather Together in My Name

  Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.

  —BENJAMIN SPOCK, MD

  Baby and Child Care

  IMAGINATION IS A GOOD HORSE TO CARRY YOU . . .

  Imagination is a good horse to carry you over the ground—not a flying carpet to set you free from probability.

  —ROBERTSON DAVIES

  The Manticore

  Imagin
ation is the true magic carpet.

  —NORMAN VINCENT PEALE

  The man who has no imagination has no wings.

  —MUHAMMAD ALI

  Imagination offers people consolation for what they cannot be, and humor for what they actually are.

  —ALBERT CAMUS

  There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory.

  —JOSH BILLINGS

  You can’t depend on your judgment when your imagination is out of focus.

  —MARK TWAIN

  He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet.

  —JOSEPH JOUBERT

  Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere.

  —CARL SAGAN

  Cosmos

  Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly.

  —LAUREN BACALL

  Lauren Bacall, By Myself

  Imagination is as good as many voyages—and much cheaper.

  —GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

  I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.