Sydney J. Harris - True Quotes

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In every field of inquiry, it is true that all things should be made as simple as possible—but no simpler. (And for every problem that is muddled by over-complexity, a dozen are muddled by over-simplifying.)

Sydney J. Harris
The Germans call delinquent boys who hang around in gangs the halbstark, meaning the 'half-strong,' which is a true and accurate description of what they are and how they feel. Someone who feels really strong doesn't have to act that way.

Sydney J. Harris
Agnosticism is a perfectly respectable and tenable philosophical position; it is not dogmatic and makes no pronouncements about the ultimate truths of the universe. It remains open to evidence and persuasion; lacking faith, it nevertheless does not deride faith. Atheism, on the other hand, is as unyielding and dogmatic about religious belief as true believers are about heathens. It tries to use reason to demolish a structure that is not built upon reason; because, though rational argument may take us to the edge of belief, we require a "leap of faith" to jump the chasm.

Sydney J. Harris
It is true that the first book of the Bible commands us to "be fruitful and multiply" — but that was depicting a time when the total human population of the Earth was two.

Sydney J. Harris
The difference between faith and superstition is that the first uses reason to go as far as it can, and then makes the jump; the second shuns reason entirely — which is why superstition is not the ally, but the enemy, of true religion.

Sydney J. Harris
The only "true church" is that which admits there is no way of knowing which denomination God belongs to.

Sydney J. Harris