O. Henry Quotes

Live deep instead of fast.

To a clear eye the smallest fact is a window through which the infinite may be seen.

A broken heart, too much cold beer, ocean waves and a willing man were never a good combination, no matter what the country songs said.

Every time you come to the limit of what is demanded of you, you are faced with the same problem-to be yourself!

It had been agreed between them that lighted candles at wayside inns, in strange countries amid mountain scenery, gave the evening meal a peculiar poetry.

Sometimes we know who we want to be and what we want to do long... long before we know how to get there.

This great handsomeness I took into myself later when he desired me, but I took it as one breathes air, or swallows a snowflake, or yields to the sun.

We did not touch each other. We were both leaning over the abyss.

It is in our nature to enjoy atrocity so long as it continues to shock and remains comfortably removed from our own lives.

A man who is good from docility, and not from stern self-control, has no character.

To try to cure unemployment by inflation rather than by adjustment of specific wage-rates is like trying to adjust the piano to the stool rather than the stool to the piano.

No sooner was the wound given than the remedy was provided and revealed.

There are savages without God in any proper sense of the word, but none without ghosts.

Can any one deny that the old Israelites conceived Jahveh not only in the image of a man, but in that of a changeable, irritable, and, occasionally, violent man?

We must choose with our agency to obey in faith that the promised blessing will come, that the promise is true because it comes from God.

Time flies when you’re being stupid.

What is put into the hands of B cannot be put into the hands of A.

My one thought is to get out of New York, to experience something genuinely American.

The world knows nothing of its greatest men.

The history of things that didn't happen has never been written.

What's important is finding out what works for you.

If there is any truth to my parenting the dreamwork movement, it comes from the power of the press.

I think all governments engage in intelligence gathering vis-a-vis other governments.

So many people say that obviously my game has changed since I arrived here and I say that it's good that it changed, otherwise it would show a lack of intelligence.

There was an age, however, when the transition from savagery to civilization, with all its impressive outward manifestations in art and architecture, took place for the first time.

Sincerity is moral truth.

In New York it seems like there's no Monday or Saturday or Sunday. The town is always moving. The vibe is great.

The sad pattern of lack of trust in God has persisted since the Creation.

God does not rule in nations, but He is mindful of them. He can and does place people in positions of influence who want what is best for the people and who trust in the Lord.

Philosophy and Art both render the invisible visible by imagination.

My mom, God rest her soul - she liked nicknames. In the womb she named me Skip. There was another black guy in Piedmont, W.Va., and his name was Skip. They called him Big Skip, and I was Little Skip.

My brother and I had a really privileged relationship with my parents... They treated us like adults.

To her friends said the Bright one in chatter, "I have learned something new about matter: My speed was so great, Much increased was my weight, Yet I failed to become any fatter!"

The worst thing we can do is to do nothing.

The only thing holding us back is ourselves.

There are all sorts of topics and themes that just recur time and time again, which either means people have less imagination or that people never get bored of them... or both!

Sharon Stone has the kind of face I'd leave my wife for. Since I'm not married, I'll have to leave someone else's wife.

It certainly made a film writing career for me.

Remember, there are only a few model preachers. We have read of only one perfect Model, and He was crucified many centuries ago.

It is vain to speak of approaching judgment when finding our place, our portion, and our enjoyment in the very scene which is to be judged.

Character is, for the most part, simply habit become fixed.

Hell is both sides of the tomb, and a devil may be respectable and wear good clothes.

In a life which has meaning in it, past and future sustain each other.

Little works, little thoughts, little loves, little prayers for little Christians, and larger and larger as the years grow.

Science has not solved difficulties, only shifted the points of difficulty.

Science is busy with the hither-end of things, not the thither-end.

The safest words are always those which bring us most directly to facts.

And let me say only this one word more: that the little things that a little Christian does are not any more than the larger things that an older Christian does.

Curiosity is thought on its entering edge.

Purpose, and to be thoroughly wedded to that purpose, is three quarters of salvation.