Wit & Wisdom

From Sydney J. Harris, Dara O’Briain, John F. Kennedy, Christopher Hitchens, Oscar Wilde, Leo Tolstoy, Enoch Powell

“Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.”

Journalist Sydney J. Harris, quoted in the Charleston, W.Va., Gazette

“Nostalgia is heroin for old people.”

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“The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest—but the myth— persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.”

John F. Kennedy, quoted in The Boston Globe

“What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.’’

Christopher Hitchens, quoted in Scientific American

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.’’

Oscar Wilde, quoted in the London Sunday Telegraph

“There is no greatness where there is not simplicity.”

Leo Tolstoy, quoted in the Associated Press

“All quotation is taken out of context.’’

British politician and writer Enoch Powell, quoted in the London Times