I do strive to think well of my fellow man, but no amount of striving can give me confidence in the wisdom of a congressional vote.
AGNES REPPLIERThe thinkers of the world should by rights be guardians of the world’s mirth.
More Agnes Repplier Quotes
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Need drives men to envy as fullness drives them to selfishness.
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The universality of a custom is pledge of its worth.
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Democracy forever teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements.
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We have but the memories of past good cheer, we have but the echoes of departed laughter. In vain we look and listen for the mirth that has died away. In vain we seek to question the gray ghosts of old-time revelers.
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To have given pleasure to one human being is a recollection that sweetens life.
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Erudition, like a bloodhound, is a charming thing when held firmly in leash, but it is not so attractive when turned loose upon a defenseless and unerudite public.
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If everybody floated with the tide of talk, placidity would soon end in stagnation. It is the strong backward stroke which stirs the ripples, and gives animation and variety.
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Wit is a pleasure-giving thing, largely because it eludes reason; but in the apprehension of an absurdity through the working of the comic spirit there is a foundation of reason, and an impetus to human companionship.
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The earliest voice listened to by the nations in their infancy was the voice of the storyteller.
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To be brave in misfortune is to be worthy of manhood; to be wise in misfortune is to conquer fate.
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the labors of the true critic are more essential to the author, even, than to the reader.
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It is not what we learn in conversation that enriches us. It is the elation that comes of swift contact with tingling currents of thought.
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People who pin their faith to a catchword never feel the necessity of understanding anything.
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it is not every tourist who bubbles over with mirth, and that unquenchable spirit of humor which turns a trial into a blessing.
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The soul begins to travel when the child begins to think.
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The choice of a topic which will bear analysis and support enthusiasm, is essential to the enjoyment of conversation.
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The pessimist is seldom an agitating individual. His creed breeds indifference to others, and he does not trouble himself to thrust his views upon the unconvinced.
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the most comfortable characteristic of the period [1775-1825], and the one which incites our deepest envy, is the universal willingness to accept a good purpose as a substitute for good work.
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Letter-writing on the part of a busy man or woman is the quintessence of generosity.
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Science may carry us to Mars, but it will leave the earth peopled as ever by the inept.
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The great dividing line between books that are made to be read and books that are made to be bought is not the purely modern thing it seems. We can trace it, if we try, back to the first printing-presses.
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I am seventy years old, a gray age weighted with uncompromising biblical allusions. It ought to have a gray outlook, but it hasn’t, because a glint of dazzling sunshine is dancing merrily ahead of me.
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We cannot learn to love other tourists,-the laws of nature forbid it,-but, meditating soberly on the impossibility of their loving us, we may reach some common platform of tolerance, some common exchange of recognition and amenity.
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A puppy is but a dog, plus high spirits, and minus common sense.
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This is the sphinx of the hearthstone, the little god of domesticity, whose presence turns a house into a home.
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Everybody is now so busy teaching that nobody has any time to learn.
AGNES REPPLIER