Quotable Quotes (15 page)

—
D
AN
B
ENNETT

 

Gossip is that which no one claims to like—but everybody enjoys.

—
J
OSEPH
C
ONRAD

 

Bad news goes about in clogs, good news in stockinged feet.

—
W
ELSH PROVERB

 

The gossip of the future may not be a backbiting, nosy, tongue-wagging two-face but a super-megabyte, random-access, digital interface.

—
R
ONALD
B
.
Z
EH

 

Some people will believe anything if it is whispered to them.

—
P
IERRE DE
M
ARIVAUX

 

Men gossip less than women, but mean it.

—
M
IGNON
M
C
L
AUGHLIN

 

Scandal is the coin of contemporary celebrity. It keeps the public interested.

—
R
ICHARD
C
ORLISS

 

He who is caught in a lie is not believed when he tells the truth.

—
S
PANISH PROVERB

 

Gossip, unlike river water, flows both ways.

—
M
ICHAEL
K
ORDA

 

Trying to squash a rumor is like trying to unring a bell.

—
S
HANA
A
LEXANDER

 

A rumor without a leg to stand on will get around some other way.

—
J
OHN
T
UDOR

in
Omni

 

Just because a rumor is idle doesn't mean it isn't working.

—
M
AURICE
S
EITTER

 

To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves.

—
W
ILL
D
URANT

 

W
HEN FLATTERERS MEET 
. . .

 

When flatterers meet, the devil goes to dinner.

—
E
NGLISH PROVERB

 

Of all music, that which most pleases the ear is applause. But it has no score. It ends and is carried off by the wind. Nothing remains.

—
E
NRIQUE
S
OLARI

 

Flattery is counterfeit money which, but for vanity, would have no circulation.

—
F
RANÇOIS DE
L
A
R
OCHEFOUCAULD

 

Beware the flatterer: he feeds you with an empty spoon.

—
C
OSINO
D
E
G
REGRIO

 

A detour is a straight road which turns on the charm.

—
A
LBERT
B
RIE

Le Devoir

 

Flatterers look like friends, as wolves like dogs.

—
G
EORGE
C
HAPMAN

 

The punishment for vanity is flattery.

—
W
ILHELM
R
AABE

 

We protest against unjust criticism, but we accept unearned applause.

—
J
OSÉ
N
AROSKY

Si Todos Los Sueños

 

I have yet to be bored by someone paying me a compliment.

—
O
TTO VAN
I
SCH

 

Flattery is all right—if you don't inhale.

—
A
DLAI
E
.
S
TEVENSON

 

Praise, if you don't swallow it, can't hurt you.

—
M
ORT
W
ALKER

 

Praise can be your most valuable asset as long as you don't aim it at yourself.

—
O
.
A
.
B
ATTISTA

 

Fish for no compliments; they are generally caught in shallow water.

—
D
.
S
MITH

 

Praise is warming and desirable. But it is an earned thing. It has to be deserved, like a hug from a child.

—
P
HYLLIS
M
C
G
INLEY

in
The Saturday Evening Post

 

Sometimes we deny being worthy of praise, hoping to generate an argument we would be pleased to lose.

—
C
ULLEN
H
IGHTOWER

 

He who praises everybody praises nobody.

—
S
AMUEL
J
OHNSON

 

F
ORBIDDEN FRUIT 
. . .

 

While forbidden fruit is said to taste sweeter, it usually spoils faster.

—A
BIGAIL
V
AN
B
UREN

 

A compulsion is a highbrow term for a temptation we're not trying too hard to resist.

—
H
UGH
A
LLEN

 

Most people want to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch.

—
R
OBERT
O
RBEN

 

Those who flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address.

—
L
ANE
O
LINGHOUSE

 

Temptation usually comes in through a door that has deliberately been left open.

—
A
RNOLD
H
.
G
LASOW

 

Temptations, unlike opportunities, will always give you many second chances.

—
O
.
A
.
B
ATTISTA

 

There is no original sin; it has all been done before.

—
L
OUIS
D
UDEK

 

Be cautious. Opportunity does the knocking for temptation too.

—
A
L
B
ATT

 

Being virtuous is no feat once temptation ceases.

—
D
ANISH PROVERB

 

Nothing makes it easier to resist temptation than a proper bringing-up, a sound set of values—and witnesses.

—
F
RANKLIN
P
.
J
ONES

 

In this era of rapid change, one thing remains constant: it's easier to pray for forgiveness than to resist temptation.

—
S
OL
K
ENDON

 

About the only time losing is more fun than winning is when you're fighting temptation.

—
T
OM
W
ILSON

 

Come good times or bad, there is always a market for things nobody needs.

—
K
IN
H
UBBARD

 

When there's a lot of it around, you never want it very much.

—P
EG
B
RACKEN

The I Hate to Cook Almanack

 

L
AZINESS HAS MANY DISGUISES 
. . .

 

Laziness has many disguises. Soon “winter doldrums” will become “spring fever.”

—
B
ERN
W
ILLIAMS

in
National Enquirer

 

 

He who is carried on another's back does not appreciate how far off the town is.

—
A
FRICAN PROVERB

 

 

If you get a reputation as an early riser, you can sleep till noon.

—
I
RISH PROVERB

 

Cultivate the habit of early rising. It is unwise to keep the head long on a level with the feet.

—
H
ENRY
D
AVID
T
HOREAU

 

Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.

—
A
NNE
F
RANK

The Diary of a Young Girl

 

The safest road to hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

—
C
.
S
.
L
EWIS

The Screwtape Letters

 

Laziness is nothing more than resting before you get tired.

—
J
ULES
R
ENARD

 

A lot of what passes for depression these days is nothing more than a body saying that it needs work.

—
G
EOFFREY
N
ORMAN

 

Beware of the man who won't be bothered with details.

—
W
ILLIAM
F
EATHER
S
R.

 

It is better to have loafed and lost than never to have loafed at all.

—
J
AMES
T
HURBER

 

The day will happen whether or not you get up.

—
J
OHN
C
IARDI

 

I'm lazy. But it's the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn't like walking or carrying things.

—
L
ECH
W
ALESA

 

About the only thing that comes to us without effort is old age.

—
G
LORIA
P
ITZER

 

I can do only one thing at a time, but I can avoid doing many things simultaneously.

—
A
SHLEIGH
B
RILLIANT

 

What a fearful object a long-neglected duty gets to be!

—
C
HAUNCEY
W
RIGHT

 

A life of ease is a difficult pursuit.

—
W
ILLIAM
C
OWPER

 

Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do.

—
J
AMES
H
ARVEY
R
OBINSON

The Mind in the Making

 

No one ever excused his way to success.

—D
AVE
D
EL
D
OTTO

How to Make Nothing But Money

 

Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.

—D
ON
W
ILDER AND
B
ILL
R
ECHIN

 

Whoever wants to be a judge of human nature should study people's excuses.

—
F
RIEDRICH
H
EBBEL

 

Don't tell me how hard you work. Tell me how much you get done.

—
J
AMES
L
ING

in
Newsweek

 

To be idle requires a strong sense of personal identity.

—
R
OBERT
L
OUIS
S
TEVENSON

 

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.

—
B
EVERLY
S
ILLS

 

The older generation thought nothing of getting up at five every morning—and the younger generation doesn't think much of it either.

—
J
OHN
J
.
W
ELSH

 

T
HE FAULTS OF OTHERS 
. . .

 

Rare is the person who can weigh the faults of others without putting his thumb on the scales.

—
B
YRON
J
.
L
ANGENFIELD

 

Only God is in a position to look down on anyone.

—S
ARAH
B
ROWN

 

The unforgiving man assumes a judgment that not even the theologians has [sic] given to God.

—
S
YDNEY
J
.
H
ARRIS

 

I have never for one instant seen clearly within myself. How then would you have me judge the deeds of others?

—
M
AURICE
M
AETERLINCK

 

Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.

—
H
.
G
.
W
ELLS

 

Other people's faults are like bees — if we don't see them, they don't harm us.

—L
UIS
V
IGIL

Pensamientos y Observaciónes

 

Make no judgments where you have no compassion.

—A
NNE
M
C
C
AFFREY

Dragonquest

 

How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.

—
B
ENJAMIN
D
ISRAELI

 

What we all tend to complain about most in other people are those things we don't like about ourselves.