Captivating Wisdom: Christopher Morley Quotes to Inspire and Delight
"There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way."
"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity."
"The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness."
"The really idle man gets nowhere. The perpetually busy man does not get much further."
"There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it. It is like falling in love."
"Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting."
"There is no delight in owning anything unshared."
"If you have a library and a garden, you have everything you need."
"Readers, lovers of books, spenders of money, are the only people worth knowing."
"High thoughts must have high language."
"There is only one rule for being a good talker—learn to listen."
"The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets."
"To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June."
"The enemies of a man are those of his own household."
"The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons."
"Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it."
"A human being: an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing."
"The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tires."
"In every man's heart, there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty."
"Genius, like gold and precious stones, is chiefly prized because of its rarity."
"Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective—an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs."
"Life is a movie; death is a photograph."
"The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness."
"People like to imagine that because all our mechanical equipment moves so much faster, that we are thinking faster, too."
"There is no ghost so difficult to lay as the ghost of an injury."
"There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning, and yearning."
"The library is not a shrine for the worship of books; it is not a temple where literary incense must be burned or where one's devotion to the bound book is expressed in ritual."
"The thoughts we choose to think are the tools we use to paint the canvas of our lives."
"We've had bad luck with our kids—they've all grown up."
"No man is lonely while eating spaghetti—it requires so much attention."
"Literature educates emotions."
"No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as much as the dog does."
"To have known one good old man—one man who, through the chances and the sufferings of a long life, has carried his heart in his hand, like a palm branch, waving all discords into peace—helps our faith in God, in ourselves, and in each other, more than many sermons."
"Good manners sometimes means simply putting up with other people's bad manners."
"The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere."
"The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions."
"Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it."
"Home is a place not only of strong affections but of entire unreserve; it is life's undress rehearsal, its backroom, its dressing room."
"The enemies of the future are always the very nicest people."
"God bless the roots!—Body and soul are one, yet it takes a long time and a lot of history to make them whole."
"Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting."
"Success: To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
"The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it."
"Truth usually makes a good headline; it is a poor lead."
"The bicycle is the noblest invention of mankind."
"Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck."
"Courage is often lack of insight, whereas cowardice in many cases is based on good information."
"Do not be afraid of spending quality time by yourself. Find meaning or don't find meaning but 'steal' some time and give it freely and exclusively to your own self."
"No man is so old as to believe he cannot live one more year."
"There are three things which a man must do: become a citizen, marry, beget."
"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment."
"The misfortunes of others are usually a good joke."
"The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness."
"Middle age is the time when a man is always thinking that in a week or two he will feel as good as ever."
"Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one."
"There is only one rule for being a good talker—learn to listen."
"The enemies of a man are those of his own household."
"The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons."
"The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness."
"There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way."
"The only people who should be allowed to govern countries are those who have been married more than once, and have succeeded in it."
"There is no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation."
"High heels were invented by a woman who had been kissed on the forehead."
"Beauty is ever to the lonely mind a shadow fleeting; she is never plain. She is a visitor who leaves behind the gift of grief, the souvenir of pain."
"The vital thing is not to look for knowledge, but to experience it."
"No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home."
"The trouble with wedlock is that there's not enough wed and too much lock."
"The trouble with life isn't that there is no answer, it's that there are so many answers."
"The urge to gamble is so universal and its practice so pleasurable that I assume it must be evil."
"Architecture is the art of how to waste space."
"If we discovered that we only had five minutes left to say all that we wanted to say, every telephone booth would be occupied by people calling other people to stammer that they love them."
"A man who has never made a woman angry is a failure in life."
"A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car."
"The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets."
"When you sell a man a book, you don't sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink—you sell him a whole new life."
"The most efficient labor-saving device is still money."
"We've had bad luck with our kids—they've all grown up."
"The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tires."
"A single day is enough to make us a little larger or, another time, a little smaller."
"I was born with a reading list I will never finish."
"He who marries for love without money has good nights and sorry days."
"Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it."
"Friendship is like a glass ornament, once it is broken, it can rarely be put back together exactly the same way."
"Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice. It can be sustained by a spirit of love which goes beyond justice."
"When a man tells you he got rich through hard work, ask him: 'Whose?'"
"It's a good thing to be rich and a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be loved by many friends."
"The true happiness of life is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future."
"Newspapermen learn to call a murderer 'an alleged murderer' and the King of England 'the alleged King of England' to avoid libel suits."
"A man who dreads trials and difficulties cannot become a hero."
"If you have to keep reminding yourself of a thing, perhaps it isn't so."
"The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking."
"Oscar Wilde said that sunsets were not valued because we could not pay for sunsets. But Oscar Wilde was wrong; we can pay for sunsets. We can pay for them by not being Oscar Wilde."
"The virtue of books is to be readable."
"Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective—an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs."
"Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck."
"A human being: an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing."
"There is no ghost so difficult to lay as the ghost of an injury."
"People like to imagine that because all our mechanical equipment moves so much faster, that we are thinking faster, too."
"To have known one good old man—one man who, through the chances and the sufferings of a long life, has carried his heart in his hand, like a palm branch, waving all discords into peace—helps our faith in God, in ourselves, and in each other, more than many sermons."
"The enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic."
"The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willingly avoids the sight of distress."
"If you want to preserve your power indefinitely, you have to get the consent of the ruled."
"Most of us can remember a time when a birthday—especially if it was one's own—brightened the world as if a second sun had risen."
"Good manners sometimes means simply putting up with other people's bad manners."
"To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June."
"The fact is that all of us have only one personality, and we wring it out like a dishtowel."
"The two most engaging powers of a writer are to make new things familiar and familiar things new."
"Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow."
"The misfortunes of others are usually a good joke."
"The beauty of the world has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder."
Christopher Morley's quotes continue to resonate with readers, offering profound insights and a touch of whimsy. Through his words, we are reminded to live authentically, explore the uncharted, and embrace the joy of shared experiences. May these timeless quotes inspire and delight, encouraging us to carve our own unique paths in life and embrace the beauty of literature and human connections.
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Wisdom Quotes by Christopher Morley
"There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way."
"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity."
"The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness."
"The really idle man gets nowhere. The perpetually busy man does not get much further."
"There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it. It is like falling in love."
"Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting."
"There is no delight in owning anything unshared."
"If you have a library and a garden, you have everything you need."
"Readers, lovers of books, spenders of money, are the only people worth knowing."
"High thoughts must have high language."
"There is only one rule for being a good talker—learn to listen."
"The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets."
"To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June."
"The enemies of a man are those of his own household."
"The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons."
"Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it."
"A human being: an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing."
"The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tires."
"In every man's heart, there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty."
"Genius, like gold and precious stones, is chiefly prized because of its rarity."
"Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective—an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs."
"Life is a movie; death is a photograph."
"The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness."
"People like to imagine that because all our mechanical equipment moves so much faster, that we are thinking faster, too."
"There is no ghost so difficult to lay as the ghost of an injury."
"There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning, and yearning."
"The library is not a shrine for the worship of books; it is not a temple where literary incense must be burned or where one's devotion to the bound book is expressed in ritual."
"The thoughts we choose to think are the tools we use to paint the canvas of our lives."
"We've had bad luck with our kids—they've all grown up."
"No man is lonely while eating spaghetti—it requires so much attention."
"Literature educates emotions."
"No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as much as the dog does."
"To have known one good old man—one man who, through the chances and the sufferings of a long life, has carried his heart in his hand, like a palm branch, waving all discords into peace—helps our faith in God, in ourselves, and in each other, more than many sermons."
"Good manners sometimes means simply putting up with other people's bad manners."
"The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere."
"The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions."
"Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it."
"Home is a place not only of strong affections but of entire unreserve; it is life's undress rehearsal, its backroom, its dressing room."
"The enemies of the future are always the very nicest people."
"God bless the roots!—Body and soul are one, yet it takes a long time and a lot of history to make them whole."
"Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting."
"Success: To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
"The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it."
"Truth usually makes a good headline; it is a poor lead."
"The bicycle is the noblest invention of mankind."
"Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck."
"Courage is often lack of insight, whereas cowardice in many cases is based on good information."
"Do not be afraid of spending quality time by yourself. Find meaning or don't find meaning but 'steal' some time and give it freely and exclusively to your own self."
"No man is so old as to believe he cannot live one more year."
"There are three things which a man must do: become a citizen, marry, beget."
"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment."
"The misfortunes of others are usually a good joke."
"The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness."
"Middle age is the time when a man is always thinking that in a week or two he will feel as good as ever."
"Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one."
"There is only one rule for being a good talker—learn to listen."
"The enemies of a man are those of his own household."
"The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons."
"The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness."
"There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way."
"The only people who should be allowed to govern countries are those who have been married more than once, and have succeeded in it."
"There is no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation."
"High heels were invented by a woman who had been kissed on the forehead."
"Beauty is ever to the lonely mind a shadow fleeting; she is never plain. She is a visitor who leaves behind the gift of grief, the souvenir of pain."
"The vital thing is not to look for knowledge, but to experience it."
"No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home."
"The trouble with wedlock is that there's not enough wed and too much lock."
"The trouble with life isn't that there is no answer, it's that there are so many answers."
"The urge to gamble is so universal and its practice so pleasurable that I assume it must be evil."
"Architecture is the art of how to waste space."
"If we discovered that we only had five minutes left to say all that we wanted to say, every telephone booth would be occupied by people calling other people to stammer that they love them."
"A man who has never made a woman angry is a failure in life."
"A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car."
"The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets."
"When you sell a man a book, you don't sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink—you sell him a whole new life."
"The most efficient labor-saving device is still money."
"We've had bad luck with our kids—they've all grown up."
"The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tires."
"A single day is enough to make us a little larger or, another time, a little smaller."
"I was born with a reading list I will never finish."
"He who marries for love without money has good nights and sorry days."
"Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it."
"Friendship is like a glass ornament, once it is broken, it can rarely be put back together exactly the same way."
"Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice. It can be sustained by a spirit of love which goes beyond justice."
"When a man tells you he got rich through hard work, ask him: 'Whose?'"
"It's a good thing to be rich and a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be loved by many friends."
"The true happiness of life is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future."
"Newspapermen learn to call a murderer 'an alleged murderer' and the King of England 'the alleged King of England' to avoid libel suits."
"A man who dreads trials and difficulties cannot become a hero."
"If you have to keep reminding yourself of a thing, perhaps it isn't so."
"The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking."
"Oscar Wilde said that sunsets were not valued because we could not pay for sunsets. But Oscar Wilde was wrong; we can pay for sunsets. We can pay for them by not being Oscar Wilde."
"The virtue of books is to be readable."
"Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective—an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs."
"Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck."
"A human being: an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing."
"There is no ghost so difficult to lay as the ghost of an injury."
"People like to imagine that because all our mechanical equipment moves so much faster, that we are thinking faster, too."
"To have known one good old man—one man who, through the chances and the sufferings of a long life, has carried his heart in his hand, like a palm branch, waving all discords into peace—helps our faith in God, in ourselves, and in each other, more than many sermons."
"The enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic."
"The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willingly avoids the sight of distress."
"If you want to preserve your power indefinitely, you have to get the consent of the ruled."
"Most of us can remember a time when a birthday—especially if it was one's own—brightened the world as if a second sun had risen."
"Good manners sometimes means simply putting up with other people's bad manners."
"To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June."
"The fact is that all of us have only one personality, and we wring it out like a dishtowel."
"The two most engaging powers of a writer are to make new things familiar and familiar things new."
"Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow."
"The misfortunes of others are usually a good joke."
"The beauty of the world has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder."
Christopher Morley's quotes continue to resonate with readers, offering profound insights and a touch of whimsy. Through his words, we are reminded to live authentically, explore the uncharted, and embrace the joy of shared experiences. May these timeless quotes inspire and delight, encouraging us to carve our own unique paths in life and embrace the beauty of literature and human connections.