The best of a book is not the thought which it contains,
but the thought which it suggests;
just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones
but in the echoes of our hearts.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Old age is fifteen years older than I am.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Except in cases of necessity, which are rare,
leave your friend to learn
unpleasant things from his enemies;
they are ready enough to tell them.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Some people are so heavenly minded
that they are no earthly good.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Greatness is not in where we stand,
but in what direction we are moving.
We must sail sometimes with the wind
and sometimes against it -
but sail we must,
and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them!
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea,
never regains its original dimensions.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
When in doubt, do it.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
To be seventy years young is sometimes
far more cheerful and hopeful
than to be forty years old.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A mind, once stretched by a new idea,
never regains its original dimensions.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Fame is the scentless sunflower, with gaudy crown of gold;
But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
It is the province of knowledge to speak,
and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A mind that is stretched by a new experience
an never go back to its old dimensions.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
If you don't know what you want, you will probably never get it.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Apology is only egotism wrong side out.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it.
- Mark Twain
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
- Groucho Marx
My wife ran off with my best friend, and I sure do miss him.
- Anonymous
I am easily satisfied with the very best.
- Winston Churchill
Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry
always gets the best of the argument.
- Voltaire
Look your best - who said love is blind?
- Mae West
A friend is someone who will bail you out of jail.
A best friend is the one sitting next
to you saying "boy was that fun."
- The Maugles
Barf: I'm a mog: half man, half dog. I'm my own best friend!
- the movie Spaceballs (1987)
It's not as great a day for the bride as she thinks.
She's not marrying the best man.
- Anonymous
Honesty may be the best policy,
but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination,
dishonesty is the second-best policy.
- George Carlin
Short words are best
and the old words, when short, are best of all.
- Winston Churchill
The best argument against democracy is
a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
- Winston Churchill
The best remedy for a short temper is a long walk.
- Jacqueline Schiff
Common looking people are the best in the world:
that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.
- Abraham Lincoln
When you have got an elephant by the hind legs
and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.
- Abraham Lincoln
If you refuse to accept anything but the best,
you very often get it.
- Somerset Maugham
Contrary to general belief,
I do not believe that friends are necessarily
the people you like best,
they are merely the people who got there first.
- Peter Ustinov
The age of a woman doesn't mean a thing.
The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
That's what Tiggers do best!
- A. A. Milne (Winnie-The-Pooh)
We have the best government that money can buy.
- Mark Twain
Knowing your own darkness is the best method
for dealing with the darknesses of other people.
- Carl Jung
For those who do not think,
it is best at least to rearrange
their prejudices once in a while.
- Luther Burbank
Speak when you are angry -
and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret.
- Laurence J. Peter
The best way to appreciate your job
is to imagine yourself without one.
- Oscar Wilde
The best thing about the future is
that it comes one day at a time.
- Abraham Lincoln
Heaven must be an awfully dull place
if your best friends end up elsewhere.
- Anonymous
A common denominator of all religions is that
they have the power to bring out the best and the worst in people.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Testing oneself is best when done alone.
- Jimmy Carter
Most people enjoy the inferiority of their best friends.
- Lord Chesterfield
You may call God love, you may call God goodness.
But the best name for God is compassion.
- Meister Eckhart
Simply do your best, and you will avoid
self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
- don Miguel Ruiz
To know yet to think that one does not know is best;
Not to know yet to think that one knows
will lead to difficulty.
- Lao Tzu
Best Friends: we're a parade - even by ourselves!
- Mary Anne Radmacher
Tolerance is the first principle of community;
it is the spirit which conserves
the best that all men think.
- Helen Keller
Life is best when I wish neither to hurry the future nor to slow it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night's sleep.
- E. Joseph Cossman
Be prepared for life -
to live happily and without regret,
knowing that you have done your best.
- the Boy Scout Handbook
The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
- Dale Carnegie
There is some good in the worst of us
and some evil in the best of us.
When we discover this,
we are less prone to hate our enemies.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have lost my seven best friends,
which is to say that God has had mercy on me
seven times without realizing it.
He lent a friendship, took it from me, and sent me another.
- Jean Cocteau
I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life
is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.
- Albert Einstein
You have to accept whatever comes
and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage
and with the best that you have to give.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
If we like what we do, if we always do our best,
then we are really enjoying life.
We are having fun, we don't get bored,
we don't have frustrations.
- don Miguel Ruiz
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
- Peter F. Drucker
Know the best and highest choices for health
and more often choose those things.
- Mary Anne Radmacher
The most erroneous stories are those
we think we know best -
and therefore never scrutinize or question.
- Stephen Jay Gould
The best way to gain self-confidence
is to do what you are afraid to do.
- Anonymous
Today is a day to cover your best weapons in velvet.
Go gently into the world.
Hold your anger.
Keep your competitive spirit in check.
Some day you will need your fierce weapons,
but not today.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Infinite striving to be the best is man's duty;
it is its own reward.
Everything else is in God's hands.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy
is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet,
alone with the heavens, nature and God.
Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.
- Anne Frank
It's a funny thing about life;
if you refuse to accept anything but the best,
you very often get it.
- W. Somerset Maugham
Life is a journey. It is not a race to test
who can finish first or who can end up with the most loot.
Rather, life is best enjoyed as a meander -
watching the view to left and right - above and below -
as the days slowly move past in dress review.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Use what talents you possess.
The woods would be very silent
if no birds sang there,
except those that sang best.
- Henry Van Dyke
The language of excitement is at best picturesque merely.
You must be calm before you can utter oracles.
- Henry David Thoreau
The season of failure is the best time
for sowing the seeds of success.
- Paramahansa Yogananda
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May the world be kind to you,
and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
All materials & writings are copyright © Jonathan Lockwood Huie, except for quotes and other specifically identified material which belong to their respective copyright holders if applicable.