Wit & Wisdom

“A man who is ignorant of foreign languages is ignorant of his own.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quoted in the Wausau, Wis., Daily Herald

“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”

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Thomas Edison, quoted in The Wall Street Journal

“You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.”

British journalist Stephen Pollard, quoted in the London Times

“Fire is the test of gold, adversity of strong men.”

Seneca, quoted in The Washington Post

“An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don’t.”

Anatole France, quoted in the Richmond, Va., Times-Dispatch

“Conceit is God’s gift to little men.”

Advertising executive Bruce Barton, quoted in the Associated Press

“Worry is a misuse of imagination.”

Writer Dan Zadra, quoted in the Syracuse, N.Y., New Times