The greatest enemy of progress is not stagnation, but false progress.
SYDNEY J. HARRISThe main discomfort in being a middle-of-the-roader is that you get sideswiped by partisans going in both directions.
More Sydney J. Harris Quotes
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Many people know how to work hard; many others know how to play well; but the rarest talent in the world is the ability to introduce elements of playfulness into work, and to put some constructive labor into our leisure.
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We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we have stopped saying ‘It got lost,’ and say, ‘I lost it.’
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The loner may be respected, but he is always resented by his colleagues, for he seems to be passing a critical judgment on them, when he may be simply making a limiting statement about himself.
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Being yourself is not remaining what you were, or being satisfied with what you are. It is the point of departure and far from the goal.
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It’s surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you’re not comfortable within yourself, you can’t be comfortable with others.
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Nobody really knows how smart or talented he is until he finds the incentives to use himself to the fullest. God has given us more than we know what to do with.
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The truest test of independent judgment is being able to dislike someone who admires us, and to admire someone who dislikes us.
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Patriotism is proud of a country’s virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues.
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Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.
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Intolerance is the most socially acceptable form of egotism, for it permits us to assume superiority without personal boasting.
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It is not only useless, it is harmful, to believe in oneself until one truly knows oneself. And to know oneself means to accept our moments of insanity, of eccentricity, of childishness and blindness.
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Between the semi-educated, who offer simplistic answers to complex questions, and the overeducated, who offer complicated answers to simple questions, it is a wonder that any questions get satisfactorily answered at all.
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Middle Age is that perplexing time of life when we hear two voices calling us, one saying, ‘Why not?’ and the other, ‘Why bother?’
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This is a lesson mankind has not yet learned. We identify, and stratify, and treat persons largely on the basis of their accidental (physical) characteristics, which have no deeper meaning.
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Skepticism is not an end in itself; it is a tool for the discovery of truths.
SYDNEY J. HARRIS







