Norman Douglas's Quotes

A man can believe a considerable deal of rubbish, and yet go about his daily work in a rational and cheerful manner.

The pine stays green in winter... wisdom in hardship.

Distrust of authority should be the first civic duty.

You can construct the character of a man and his age not only from what he does and says, but from what he fails to say and do.

It takes a wise man to handle a lie, a fool had better remain honest.

There is in us a lyric germ or nucleus which deserves respect; it bids a man to ponder or create; and in this dim corner of himself he can take refuge and find consolations which the society of his fellow creatures does not provide.

You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertising.

Education is a state-controlled manufactory of echoes.

Many a man who thinks to found a home discovers that he has merely opened a tavern for his friends.

Never take a solemn oath. People think you mean it.

The longer one lives, the more one realizes that nothing is a dish for every day.

The sublimity of wisdom is to do those things living, which are to be desired when dying.

They who are all things to their neighbors cease to be anything to themselves.

To find a friend one must close one eye - to keep him, two.

What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes?

Shall I give you my recipe for happiness? I find everything useful and nothing indispensable. I find everything wonderful and nothing miraculous. I reverence the body. I avoid first causes like the plague.