Sydney J. Harris

A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, his is also one who is permanently disappointed in the future.

Sydney J. Harris

A truly successful person knows how to overcome the past, use the present, and prepare for the future – but unless we can first surmount the past, we cannot effectively cope with either the present or the future.

Sydney J. Harris

A winner knows how much he still has to learn, even when he is considered an expert by others; a loser wants to be considered an expert by others before he has learned enough to know how little he knows.

Sydney J. Harris

A winner rebukes and forgives; a loser is too timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive.

Sydney J. Harris

Achieving the good life is more a matter of being than of doing or giving. It calls for intense self-scrutiny, a relentless honesty about one’s motives, and a persistent feeling that we are no better – and perhaps worse – than those we are trying to help.

Sydney J. Harris

All significant achievement comes from daring from experiment from the willingness to risk failure.

Sydney J. Harris

Almost no one is foolish enough to imagine that he automatically deserves great success in any field of activity; yet almost everyone believes that he automatically deserves success in marriage.

Sydney J. Harris

An idealist believes the short run doesn’t count. A cynic believes the long run doesn’t matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.

Sydney J. Harris

Confidence, once lost or betrayed, can never be restored again to the same measure; and we learn too late in life that our acts of deception are irrevocable – they may be forgiven, but they cannot be forgotten by their victims.

Sydney J. Harris

Genuine contentment is found in performing tasks that take us out of ourselves, for a purpose greater than ourselves. Only when the personality is subordinated to a higher goal do we attain the serenity we are looking for.

Sydney J. Harris