Letter-writing on the part of a busy man or woman is the quintessence of generosity.
AGNES REPPLIERNow the pessimist proper is the most modest of men. … under no circumstances does he presume to imagine that he, a mere unit of pain, can in any degree change or soften the remorseless words of fate.
More Agnes Repplier Quotes
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Wit is artificial; humor is natural. Wit is accidental; humor is inevitable. Wit is born of conscious effort; humor, of the allotted ironies of fate. Wit can be expressed only in language; humor can be developed sufficiently in situation.
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Traveling is, and has always been, more popular than the traveler.
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It is bad enough to be bad, but to be bad in bad taste is unpardonable.
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Edged tools are dangerous things to handle, and not infrequently do much hurt.
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The audience is the controlling factor in the actor’s life. It is practically infallible, since there is no appeal from its verdict. It is a little like a supreme court composed of irresponsible minors.
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Discussion without asperity, sympathy with fusion, gayety unracked by too abundant jests, mental ease in approaching one another; these are the things which give a pleasant smoothness to the rough edge of life.
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There are many ways of asking a favor; but to assume that you are granting the favor that you ask shows spirit and invention.
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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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People fed on sugared praises cannot be expected to feel an appetite for the black broth of honest criticism.
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Cats, even when robust, have scant liking for the boisterous society of children, and are apt to exert their utmost ingenuity to escape it. Nor are they without adult sympathy in their prejudice.
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Life is so full of miseries, minor and major; they press so close upon us at every step of the way, that it is hardly worthwhile to call one another’s attention to their presence.
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When the milk of human kindness turns sour, it is a singularly unpalatable draught.
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It is not depravity that afflicts the human race so much as a general lack of intelligence.
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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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An historian without political passions is as rare as a wasp without a sting.
AGNES REPPLIER