Sydney J. Harris

Sydney J. Harris
Sydney J. Harriswas an American journalist for the Chicago Daily News and, later, the Chicago Sun-Times. He wrote 11 books and his weekday column, “Strictly Personal,” was syndicated in approximately 200 newspapers throughout the United States and Canada...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth14 September 1917
CountryUnited States of America
character secret tests
The severest test of character is not so much the ability to keep a secret as it is, when the secret is finally out, to refrain from disclosing that you knew it all along.
hero character men
If you want to know what a man's character is really like... ask him to tell you the living person he most admires - for hero worship is the truest index of a man's private nature.
character born temperament
Character is something you forge for yourself; temperament is something you are born with and can only slightly modify.
lessons characteristics treats
This is a lesson mankind has not yet learned. We identify, and stratify, and treat persons largely on the basis of their accidental (physical) characteristics, which have no deeper meaning.
strong character two
As we grow older, we should learn that these are two quite different things. Character is something you forge for yourself; temperament is something you are born with and can only slightly modify. Some people have easy temperaments and weak characters; others have difficult temperaments and strong characters. We are all prone to confuse the two in assessing people we associate with. Those with easy temperaments and weak characters are more likable than admirable; those with difficult temperaments and strong characters are more admirable than likable.
morning quickly stare turn
Every morning I take out my bankbook, stare at it, shudder-and turn quickly to my typewriter.
educational responsibility parenting
We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we have stopped saying 'It got lost,' and say, 'I lost it.'
money men cases
Men make counterfeit money; in many more cases, money makes counterfeit men.
adulthood childhood line lost passed saying stopped subtle
We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until... we have stopped saying "It got lost," and say "I lost it.
almost complete knowing life ninety people percent strangers woe
Ninety percent of the world's woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves.
somebody tempted
When I hear somebody say 'Life is hard', I am always tempted to ask 'Compared to what?'
forgiveness forgiving loser
A winner rebukes and forgives; a loser is too timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive.
acceptance tolerance assuming
Intolerance is the most socially acceptable form of egotism, for it permits us to assume superiority without personal boasting.
men likes failing
As WArden Lawes once said of convicts, no man can be called a failure until he has tried something he really likes, and fails at it.