Sydney J. Harris - People Quotes

14 Sourced Quotes

View all Sydney J. Harris Quotes
Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners, where troubles fester; and the whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.

Sydney J. Harris
If some people seem to have more good luck than others, it is mostly because a lot of what we call bad luck is determined by the contour of the personality rather than a mere accident or chance.

Sydney J. Harris
As we grow older, we should learn that these are two quite different things. Character is something you forge for yourself; temperament is something you are born with and can only slightly modify. Some people have easy temperaments and weak characters; others have difficult temperaments and strong characters. We are all prone to confuse the two in assessing people we associate with. Those with easy temperaments and weak characters are more likable than admirable; those with difficult temperaments and strong characters are more admirable than likable.

Sydney J. Harris
Making out an invitation list for a party brings out the worst in everyone. It is then that our most ruthless estimates of the people we know come into play.

Sydney J. Harris
I know some people who are against fine weather if they think other folks are having more fun out of it than they are.

Sydney J. Harris
A "consultant" is more often than not a person brought in to find out what has gone wrong, by the people who made it go wrong, in the comfortable expectation that he will not bite the hand that feeds him by placing the blame where it belongs.

Sydney J. Harris
What perverse instinct prompts people who are getting off at the second floor to push themselves to the rear of a crowded elevator?

Sydney J. Harris
Young people know less than we do, but they understand more; their perception has not yet been blunted by compromise, fatigue, rationalization, and the mistaking of mere respectability for morality.

Sydney J. Harris
People who think they're generous to a fault usually think that's their only fault.

Sydney J. Harris
Superior people are only those who let it be discovered by others; the need to make it evident forfeits the very virtue they aspire to.

Sydney J. Harris
Life is unfair in that a plane crash may kill innocent people or spare some worthless ones and maim the useful. Anything can happen to anybody at any time, regardless of merit or worth. But precisely because of this we have a special obligation to see that fairness works wherever we have the power to make it work.

Sydney J. Harris
Take away grievances from some people and you remove their reasons for living; most of us are nourished by hope, but a considerable minority get psychic nutrition from their resentments, and would waste away purposelessly without them.

Sydney J. Harris
American parents, on the whole, do not want their sons to be artisans or craftsmen, but business or professional people. As a result, millions of youngsters are being prepared for careers they have little aptitude for - and little interest in except for dubious prestige.

Sydney J. Harris
Why do so many people yearn for an eternal life when they don't even know what to do with themselves in this brief one?

Sydney J. Harris