Wit & Wisdom

From Abraham Lincoln, Randall Jarrell, Thomas Edison, Theodore Dalrymple, Josh Billings, Philip K. Dick, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.”

Abraham Lincoln, quoted in First Things

“The people who live in a Golden Age usually go around complaining how yellow everything looks.”

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“If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”

Thomas Edison, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle

“Sentimentality is the tribute indifference pays to compassion.”

Writer Theodore Dalrymple, quoted in the London Spectator

“Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.”

Humorist Josh Billings, quoted in the Toronto National Post

“Don’t try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.”

Philip K. Dick, quoted in the Johannesburg Business Day

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, quoted in the Tacoma, Wash., News Tribune