Nora Ephron's Quotes

Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.

You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.

No great thing is created suddenly.

The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.

Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee.

Freedom is the right to live as we wish.

God has entrusted me with myself.

If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked.

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.

The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.

We tell lies, yet it is easy to show that lying is immoral.

One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent.

No man is free who is not master of himself.

We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.

Do not laugh much or often or unrestrainedly.

Silence is safer than speech.

The two powers which in my opinion constitute a wise man are those of bearing and forbearing.

Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.

He is a drunkard who takes more than three glasses though he be not drunk.

Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.

Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort.

Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.

There is nothing good or evil save in the will.

Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.

Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.

You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.

If virtue promises happiness, prosperity and peace, then progress in virtue is progress in each of these for to whatever point the perfection of anything brings us, progress is always an approach toward it.

No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

Never in any case say I have lost such a thing, but I have returned it. Is your child dead? It is a return. Is your wife dead? It is a return. Are you deprived of your estate? Is not this also a return?

We are not to give credit to the many, who say that none ought to be educated but the free; but rather to the philosophers, who say that the well-educated alone are free.

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.

When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

It takes more than just a good looking body. You've got to have the heart and soul to go with it.

First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

Only the educated are free.

All religions must be tolerated... for every man must get to heaven in his own way.

It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.

Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.

If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.

Do not seek to bring things to pass in accordance with your wishes, but wish for them as they are, and you will find them.

If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.

To accuse others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.

Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.

Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.

We do not so much need the help of our friends as the confidence of their help in need.

There is no such thing as justice in the abstract; it is merely a compact between men.

You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.

If God listened to the prayers of men, all men would quickly have perished: for they are forever praying for evil against one another.

Not what we have But what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.

Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.

Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.

It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.

I have never wished to cater to the crowd; for what I know they do not approve, and what they approve I do not know.

It is better for you to be free of fear lying upon a pallet, than to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of trouble.

The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.

Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little.

If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.

A free life cannot acquire many possessions, because this is not easy to do without servility to mobs or monarchs.

I never desired to please the rabble. What pleased them, I did not learn; and what I knew was far removed from their understanding.

The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it.