Henry S. Haskins (1875 – 1957)
Stockbroker and man of letters.
It is the semi-learned who scorn the ignorant; the learned know too much about them for that.
The way to get the most out of a victory is to follow it with another that makes it look small.
It is the honest lies we tell—statements factually correct and essentially deceiving—which debauch our manhood and stunt our growth.
Thoughts left unsaid are never wasted.
The deadliest contagion is majority opinion.
Tradition is a prison with majority opinion the modern jailer.
For a competent audience, uncommon men must have other uncommon men.
If you obtain provision for yourself of spiritual abundance, don’t throw the surplus at people’s heads; feed it back into your own industry as capital for the production of more abundance.
The tongues of conscience need a conscience of their own to keep them from speaking before they know what they are talking about.
Some have half-baked ideas because their ideals are not heated up enough.
It is only an uncivilized world that would worship civilization.
It is getting what we started to get, not the thing got, which spells success.
Dive where the water is deep.
If imagination would disentangle itself from absurdities, soon we should have it harnessed to reason, pulling the same plough.
Remembrance of hopes that were silly has an especial tenderness, for much of their silliness came from a thoughtless credulity which we would be glad to have back again.
The unfortunate who has to travel for amusement lacks capacity for amusement.
Sedate ignorance is the last stage of deterioration.
Some talk in quarto volumes and act in pamphlets.
Man is liberated from his illusions to make room for a fresh set.
The things we counterfeit are not worth the trouble of falling into disgrace with ourselves.