Wit & Wisdom

from Voltaire, John Ruskin, Herbert Bayard Swope, Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, Paul Harvey, Eric Hoffer

“Illusion is the first of all pleasures.”

Voltaire, quoted in Forbes

“A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small parcel.”

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“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure—which is: Try to please everybody.”

Journalist Herbert Bayard Swope, quoted in the Naples, Fla., Daily News

“In order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.”

Mark Twain, quoted in The Buffalo News

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

Winston Churchill, quoted in the St. John, New Brunswick, Telegraph-Journal

“In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.”

Radio commentator Paul Harvey, quoted in The Buffalo News

“The passion to get ahead is sometimes born of the fear lest we be left behind.”

Philosopher Eric Hoffer, quoted in the Broadcast News