Wit & Wisdom

“Our culture peculiarly honors the act of blaming, which it takes as the sign of virtue and intellect.”

Lionel Trilling, quoted in The Wall Street Journal

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”

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Thornton Wilder, quoted in the Prescott, Ariz., Daily Courier

“The tavern chair is the throne of human felicity.”

Samuel Johnson, quoted in the Bismarck, N.D., Tribune

“The consuming desire of most human beings is deliberately to plant their whole life in the hands

of some other person.”

Quentin Crisp, quoted in The Village Voice

“Humor is laughing at what you haven’t got when you ought to have it.”

Langston Hughes, quoted in The Buffalo News

“A smile is the shortest distance between two people.”

Victor Borge, quoted in HuffingtonPost.com

“The first 40 years of life give us the text; the next 30 supply the commentary.”

Arthur Schopenhauer, quoted in the London Observer