Quotable Quotes

P
ROJECT
E
DITOR

Deborah DeFord

 

P
ROJECT
A
RT
E
DITOR

Judy Speicher

 

R
ESEARCH
E
DITOR

Mark LaFlaur

 

C
OVER
I
LLUSTRATOR

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.R43 1997

082--dc20 96-34560

 

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

 

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

“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!

T
HE ADVANTAGE OF SOLITUDE . . .

 

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

—
S
IR
T
HOMAS
B
ROWNE

 

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.

—
E
DA
L
E
S
HAN

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?

—
M
ORRIS
A
DLER

 

We cannot confront solitude without moral resources.

—
H
ONORÉ DE
B
ALZAC

Madame de la Chanterie

 

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

—
P
EDRO
L
UIS

Flores de Otuno

 

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

—
J
OSH
B
ILLINGS

 

The same fence that shuts others out shuts you in.

—
B
ILL
C
OPELAND

 

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

—
B
OB
S
TEELE

 

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

—
M
OTHER
T
ERESA OF
C
ALCUTTA

 

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.

—
G
ABRIELLE
R
OY

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.

—
P
AUL
T
ILLICH

The Eternal Now

 

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

—
H
ENRY
D
AVID
T
HOREAU

 

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

—
E
LLEN
B
URSTYN

 

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

—
G
EORG
C
HRISTOPH
L
ICHTENBERG

 

T
HE 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.

—
P
ETER
L
ATHAM

 

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.

—
J
OHN
D
.
M
AC
D
ONALD

The Turquoise Lament

 

Integrity has no need of rules.

—
A
LBERT
C
AMUS

 

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

—
J
IM
B
ISHOP

 

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

—
M
ARTHA
G
RIMES

Writer's Handbook

 

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

—
E
DGAR
Z
.
F
RIEDENBERG

 

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.

—
E
RIC
H
OFFER

The Passionate State of Mind

 

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

—
J
AN
L
.
W
ELLS

 

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.

—
C
ONFUCIUS

 

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.

—
N
ATHANIEL
H
AWTHORNE

 

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

—
A
LBERT
B
RIE

Le Devoir

 

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

—
D
ORIS
M
ORTMAN

Circles

 

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

—
F
RIEDRICH
N
IETZSCHE

 

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

—
F
RITZ
M
ULIAR

 

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

—
O
LIVER
W
ENDELL
H
OLMES
J
R.

 

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

—
A
NNE
M
ORROW
L
INDBERGH

Gift From the Sea

 

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

—
C
ARL
G
.
J
UNG

Memories, Dreams, Reflections

 

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

—
E
RIC
H
OFFER

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.

—
S
ARAH
G
RAND

 

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

—
J
AMES
B
ALDWIN

 

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

—
D
WIGHT
L
.
M
OODY

 

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

—
S
YDNEY
J
.
H
ARRIS

 

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.

—
T
HOMAS
S
ZASZ

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.

—
J
OHN
D
.
M
AC
D
ONALD

introduction to
Night Shift
by Stephen King

 

The best vision is insight.

—
M
ALCOLM
S
.
F
ORBES

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.

—
S
T.
A
UGUSTINE

 

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

—
J
AMES
A
.
M
ICHENER

 

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.

—
G
AIL
S
HEEHY

 

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

—
H
ENRY
D
AVID
T
HOREAU

 

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

—
E
NGLISH PROVERB

 

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

—
A
NN
L
ANDERS

 

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

—
J
AMES
L
EO
H
ERLIHY

 

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

—
A
KBARALI
H
.
J
ETHA

Reflections

 

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

—
L
EO
T
OLSTOY

 

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

—
F
RANÇOIS DE
L
A
R
OCHEFOUCAULD

 

S
O 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.

—
V
AN
W
YCK
B
ROOKS

From a Writer's Notebook

 

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

—
H
ENRY
J
AMES

 

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

—
A
NDRÉ
L
AURENDEAU

Une Vie D'Enfer

 

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

—
L
IBBIE
F
UDIM

 

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

—
A
XEL
M
UNTHE

 

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.

—
O
SCAR
W
ILDE

 

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

—
W
INSTON
C
HURCHILL

 

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

—
M
ARCEL
P
AGNOL

 

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

—
É
MILE
C
HEVALIER

 

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

—
B
RENDAN
G
ILL

 

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

—
R
ODERICK
T
HORP

Rainbow Drive

 

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

—
H
ENRY
W
INKLER

 

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

—
H
AIM
G
INOTT

 

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

—
A
NDRÉ
M
AUROIS

 

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

—
O
LIN
M
ILLER