243 Quotes by Sydney J. Harris

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.

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

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

Patriotism is wanting what is best for your country. Nationalism is thinking your country is best, no matter what it does.

A ‘penchant for telling the truth’ can cripple a candidates chances faster than being caught in flagrante delicto with the governor’s wife.

Confidence, once lost or betrayed, can never be restored again to the same measure; and we learn too late in life that our acts of deception are irrevocable – they may be forgiven, but they cannot be forgotten by their victims.

When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’

We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we have stopped saying ‘It got lost,’ and say, ‘I lost it.’

If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem, but the perpetual human predicament is that the answer soon poses its own problems.