Sydney J. Harris

“History repeats itself, but in such cunning disguise that we never detect the resemblance until the damage is done.”

“We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.”

“The most important thing in an argument, next to being right, is to leave an escape hatch for your opponent, so that he can gracefully swing over to your side without too much apparent loss of face.”

“The two words 'information' and 'communication' are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through.”

“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”

“Happiness is a direction, not a place.”

“An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.”

“People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”

“Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.”

“There's no point in burying a hatchet if you're going to put up a marker on the site.”

“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”

“The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.”

“Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.”

“A winner knows how much he still has to learn, even when he is considered an expert by others; a loser wants to be considered an expert by others before he has learned enough to know how little he knows.”

“When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'”

“If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.”

“The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them.”

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