Christopher Morley

Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it.

There is only one rule for being a good talker - learn to listen.

If we discovered that we had only five minutes left to say all that we wanted to say, every telephone booth would be occupied by people calling other people to stammer that they loved them.

Read every day something no one else is reading. Think every day something no one else is thinking. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.

The big shots are only the little shots who keep shooting.

In every man's heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty.

The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking.

It will be a shock to men when they realize that thoughts that were fast enough for today are not fast enough for tomorrow. But thinking tomorrow's thoughts today is one kind of future life.

Standing by the crib of one's own baby, with that world - old pang of compassion and protectiveness toward this so little creature that has all its course to run, the heart flies back in yearning and gratitude to those who felt just so toward one's self. Then for the first time one understands the homely succession of sacrifices and pains by which life is transmitted and fostered down the stumbling generations of men.