Quotes
Quotes about Wit
A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company.
If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really desire the things they failed to obtain.
Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; Some blunders and absurdities crept in; Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
It (marriage) may be compared to a cage, the birds without try desperately to get in, and those within try desperately to get out.
A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.
I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines.
He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.
The world is like a board with holes in it, and the square men have got into the round holes, and the round into the square.
For as our modern wits behold, Mounted a pick-back on the old, Much farther off, much further he, Rais'd on his aged Beast, could see.
I add this also, that natural ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability. [Lat., Etiam illud adjungo, saepius ad laudem atque virtutem naturam sine doctrina, quam sine natura valisse doctrinam.]
Every person is responsible for all the good with the scope of his abilities, and for no more, and none can tell whose sphere is the largest. - Gail Hamilton (pseudonym of Mary Abigail Dodge),
One thing, however, I must premise, that without the assistance of natural capacity, rules and precepts are of no efficacy. [Lat., Illud tamen in primis testandum est, nihil praecepta atque artes valere nisi adjuvante natura.]
When people find a man of the most distinguished abilities as a writer their inferior while he is with them, it must be highly gratifying to them.
Ability is of little account without opportunity.
The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains
I add this, that rational ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability.
The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.
Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.
Every person is responsible for all the good within the scope of his abilities, and for no more, and none can tell whose sphere is the largest.
Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability.
He is the best sailor who can steer within fewest points of the wind, and exact a motive power out of the greatest obstacles.
Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent.
Everyone must row with the oars he has.
