O. Henry Quotes

I could not undertake to form a nucleus of an institution for the development of infant minds, where none already existed. It would be too cruel.

As they say in geology, time never fails, there is always enough of it, so I may say, criticism never fails.

Nations are possessed with an insane ambition to perpetuate the memory of themselves by the amount of hammered stone they leave. What if equal pains were taken to smooth and polish their manners?

The gifts of Heaven are never quite gratuitous.

Objects of charity are not guests.

Most think that they are above being supported by the town; but it oftener happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means, which would be more disreputable.

The sort of morality which the priests inculcate is a very subtle policy, far finer than the politicians', and the world is very successfully ruled by them as the policemen.

The fact which the politician faces is merely that there is less honor among thieves than was supposed, and not the fact that theyare thieves.

The news we hear, for the most part, is not news to our genius. It is the stalest repetition.

I hear many condemn these men because they were so few. When were the good and the brave ever in a majority? Would you have had him wait till that time came?--till you and I came over to him?

Whatever is, and is not ashamed to be, is good.

Man makes very much such a nest for his domestic animals, of withered grass and fodder, as the squirrels and many other wild creatures do for themselves.

Few, if any, creatures are equally active all night.

Insane!... Ask the tyrant who is his most dangerous foe, the sane man or the insane?

You don't know your testament when you see it.

The only free road, the Underground Railroad, is owned and managed by the Vigilant Committee. They have tunneled under the whole breadth of the land.

The husbandman is always a better Greek than the scholar is prepared to appreciate, and the old custom still survives, while antiquarians and scholars grow gray in commemorating it.

The brave man braves nothing, nor knows he of his bravery.

Nothing can rightly compel a simple and brave man to a vulgar sadness.

I should have liked to come across a large community of pines, which had never been invaded by the lumbering army.

We have reason to be grateful for celestial phenomena, for they chiefly answer to the ideal in man.

The nonchalance and dolce-far-niente air of nature and society hint at infinite periods in the progress of mankind.

We are accustomed to say, that the mass of men are unprepared; but improvement is slow, because the few are not materially wiser or better than the many.

The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual.

Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towardsrecognizing and organizing the rights of man?

The improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential laws of man's existence: as our skeletons, probably, are not to be distinguished from those of our ancestors.

I think the fall from the farmer to the operative as great and memorable as that from the man to the farmer.

There is considerable danger that a man will be crazy between dinner and supper; but it will not directly answer any good purposethat I know of, and it is just as easy to be sane.

In Canada an ordinary New England house would be mistaken for the château, and while every village here contains at least severalgentlemen or "squires," there is but one to a seigniory.

The inhabitants of Canada appeared to be suffering between two fires,--the soldiery and the priesthood.

Don't spend your time in drilling soldiers, who may turn out hirelings after all, but give to undrilled peasantry a country to fight for.

The monster is never just there where we think he is. What is truly monstrous is our cowardice and sloth.

Cowards suffer, heroes enjoy.

Yet we must try the harder, the less the prospect of success.

It is one of the signs of the times. We confess that we have risen from reading this book with enlarged ideas, and grander conceptions of our duties in this world. It did expand us a little.

It is necessary not to be Christian to appreciate the beauty and significance of the life of Christ.

Columbus felt the westward tendency more strongly than any before. He obeyed it, and found a New World for Castile and Leon.

The condition-of-England question is a practical one. The condition of England demands a hero, not a poet.

I do not believe there are eight hundred human beings on the globe.

If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I must restore it to him though I drown myself.

It behooves every man to see that his influence is on the side of justice, and let the courts make their own characters.

While the Governor, and the Mayor, and countless officers of the Commonwealth are at large, the champions of liberty are imprisoned.

The effect of a good government is to make life more valuable; of a bad one, to make it less valuable.

Concord's little arch does not span all our fate, nor is what transpires under it law for the universe.

I have not read far in the statutes of this Commonwealth. It is not profitable reading. They do not always say what is true; and they do not always mean what they say.

I have seen more men than usual, lately; and, well as I was acquainted with one, I am surprised to find what vulgar fellows they are.

I would fain keep sober always; and there are infinite degrees of drunkenness.

The virtue of making two blades of grass grow where only one grew before does not begin to be superhuman.

We seem to think that the earth must go through the ordeal of sheep-pasturage before it is habitable by man.

Of a life of luxury the fruit is luxury, whether in agriculture, or commerce, or literature, or art.