July '01 Epigrams of the Day

Things that chew the cud do not catch anything.

Recipe for bringing up your children to be kind and considerate: Be kind and considerate.

You get good by giving it.

People fit for self-government have it. Independence in men or nations is an achievement, not a bequest.

The greatest joy in life is the joy of being "next."

Impossible things are simply those things which so far have never been done.

To be stupid when inclined and dull when you wish is a boon that goes only with high friendship.

Give me solitude, sweet solitude: but in my solitude give me still one friend to whom I may murmur, "Solitude is sweet."

My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the "boss" is away, as well as when he is at home.

Give us the Bough, the Thou and the Jug in right proportion.

Most people who pride themselves on riding a hobby don't - the hobby is in the saddle.

One arrives at art only by roads barred to the vulgar - by the road of prayer, of purity of heart: by confidence in the wisdom of the Eternal, and even in that which is incomprehensible.

Is he sincere? Probably not, if he is always asking this question about others.

What is it that wins? Work you say, but you are wrong. It is desire that brings every good thing.

Happiness is a habit. Cultivate it.

To be famous is to be slandered by people who do not know you.

Wisdom: A term Pride uses when talking of Necessity.

No man wins his greatest fame in that to which he has given most of his time: it's his side issue, the thing that he does for recreation, his heart's play-spell, that gives him immortality.

Knowledge consists in having a stenographer who knows where to find the thing.

You had better be an Is-Now than a Has-Wasser; and as for a Not-Yet-But-Soon, why he is always one.

Civilization is largely a matter of buttoning and unbuttoning.

It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide on what to do.

Would you have your name smell sweet with the myrrh of remembrance and chime melodiously in the ear of future days, then cultivate faith, not doubt, and give every man credit for the good he does, never seeking to attribute base motives to beautiful acts. Actions count.

The greatest joy in life is the joy of being "next."

The Roycroft Orb To return to the Epigram Guide Webpage.