Wit & Wisdom

“Man does not live by words alone despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them.”

Adlai Stevenson, quoted in the Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun

“Nothing is improbable until it moves into the past tense.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Writer George Ade, quoted in the Associated Press

“Delusions of grandeur make me feel a lot better about myself.”

Writer Jane Wagner, quoted in The Buffalo News

“The ego is not master in its own house.”

Sigmund Freud, quoted in the Rock Hill, S.C., Herald

“At least a bad conscience can make life interesting.”

Søren Kierkegaard, quoted in the London Observer

“I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.”

Harry Truman, quoted in the Modesto, Calif., Bee

“The way you get to know yourself is by the expressions on other people’s faces, because that’s the only thing that you can see.”

Gil Scott-Heron, quoted in The New Yorker