Wit & Wisdom

“Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.”

Mao Tse-tung, quoted in the San Antonio Express-News

“Civility costs nothing and buys everything.”

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English aristocrat Mary Wortley Montagu, quoted in the Montreal Gazette

“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”

George Washington, quoted in the Reno, Nev., Gazette-Journal

“As for the future, your task is not to foresee it but to enable it.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, quoted in the Charlotte, N.C., Observer

“To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.”

Pearl Buck, quoted in Forbes.com

“The best measure of a man’s honesty isn’t his income tax return. It’s the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.”

Arthur C. Clarke, quoted in the Palm Springs, Calif., Desert Sun

“The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too.”

Entertainer Oscar Levant, quoted in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review