1. "A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future."
2. "An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run."
3. “If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?”
4. "If the devil could be persuaded to write a bible, he would title it, ''You Only Live Once.''"
5. "Intolerance is the most socially acceptable form of egotism, for it permits us to assume superiority without personal boasting."
6. “It is easier to be a "humanitarian" than to render your own country its proper due; it is easier to be a "patriot" than to make your community a better place to live in; it is easier to be a "civic leader" than to treat your own family with loving understanding; for the smaller the focus of attention, the harder the task.”
7. "Middle Age is that perplexing time of life when we hear two voices calling us, one saying, ''Why not?'' and the other, ''Why bother?''"
8. “Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”
9. “One of the greatest unsolved riddles of restaurant eating is that the customer usually gets faster service when the restaurant is crowded that when it is half empty; it seems that the less that the staff has to do, the slower they do it.”
10. "Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better."
11. ”Our real enemies are the people who make us feel so good that we are slowly, but inexorably, pulled down into the quicksand of smugness and self-satisfaction.”
12. "Sometimes the best, and only effective, way to kill an idea is to put it into practice."
13. "The art of listening needs it highest development in listening to oneself; our most important task is to develop an ear that can really hear what we're saying."
14. "The most important thing in an argument, next to being right, is to leave an escape hatch for your opponent, so that he can gracefully swing over to your side without too much apparent loss of face."
15. ”The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.”
16. "The reason that truth is stranger than fiction is that fiction has to have a rational thread running through it in order to be believable, whereas reality may be totally irrational."
17. “There's no point in burying a hatchet if you're going to put up a marker on the site.”
18. “The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.”
19. “The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, butmoral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, "I was wrong."
20. “The truest test of independent judgment is being able to dislike someone who admires us, and to admire someone who dislikes us.”
21. ”The two words "information" and "communication" are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through.”
22. “We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until... we have stopped saying "It got lost," and say "I lost it."”
23. “When I hear somebody say 'Life is hard', I am always tempted to ask 'Compared to what?'”
24. “When we have "second thoughts" about something, our first thoughts don't seem like thoughts at all - just feelings.”
25. “When you run into someone who is disagreeable to others, you may be sure he is uncomfortable with himself; the amount of pain we inflict upon others is directly proportional to the amount we feel within us.”
