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Quote by Sydney J. Harris

“What is much harder to handle is the sense that you have to live up to the mark someone else has set for you. The grades become too important, the competition too frantic, the fear of disappointing those who believe in you turns into an overwhelming nightmare.”

Quote by Sydney J. Harris

Author

Sydney J. Harris

Sydney J. Harris was an American journalist renowned for his wit and incisive commentary. Born on September 14, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois, he passed away on December 8, 1986. Harris was a prominent figure in journalism, particularly for his newspaper columns. more

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“Usually, if we hate, it is the shadow of the person that we hate, rather than the substance. We may hate a person because he reminds us of someone we feared and disliked when younger; or because we see in him some gross caricature of what we find repugnant in ourself; or because he symbolizes an attitude that seems to threaten us.”

Ifs May Persons Seems Hate Attitude Shadow Substance Gross Caricatures

Book:Best of Sydney J. Harris

Source: Best of Sydney J. Harris

“Self-discipline without talent can often achieve astounding results, whereas talent without self-discipline inevitably dooms itself to failure.”

Self Results Achieve Talent Discipline Self Discipline Doom

Book:Pieces of Eight Pa

Source: Pieces of Eight Pa

“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.”

Persons Mankind Lessons Treats Bases Deeper Characteristics Deeper Meaning

Book:Best of Sydney J. Harris

Source: Best of Sydney J. Harris

“Isolation always perverts; when a man lives only among his own sort, he soon begins to believe that his sort are the best sort. This attitude breeds both the arrogance of the conservative and the bitterness of the radical.”

Men Believe Attitude Conservative Radical Arrogance Isolation Bitterness

Book:Best of Sydney J. Harris

Source: Best of Sydney J. Harris

“Take away grievances from some people and you remove their reasons for living; most of us are nourished by hope, but a considerable minority get psychic nutrition from their resentments, and would waste away purposelessly without them.”

People Reason Waste Minorities Remove Resentment Nutrition Psychics Grievance

Book:Best of Sydney J. Harris

Source: Best of Sydney J. Harris

“Life is, if anything, the art of combination. Of discrimination. Of freely picking one's own personal pattern out of a hundred choices. Not letting it be picked for you—either by the Establishment, or by the Rebels. Conformity of Hip is no better than Conformity of Square.”

Ifs Art Life Is Choices Hundred Patterns Discrimination Hips Combination Conformity Squares Rebel Establishment

Book:Best of Sydney J. Harris

Source: Best of Sydney J. Harris

“The greatest enemy of progress is not stagnation, but false progress.”

Enemy Progress Stagnation Enemy Of Progress

Author:Sydney J. Harris

“The difference between faith and superstition is that the first uses reason to go as far as it can, and then makes the jump; the second shuns reason entirely — which is why superstition is not the ally, but the enemy, of true religion.”

Firsts Reason Use Differences Enemy Allies Superstitions True Religion

Book:Strictly personal

Source: Strictly personal

“Ancient boundaries are meaningless, except for political purposes; old divisions of clan and tribe are sentimental remnants of the pre-atomic age; neither creed nor color nor place of origin is relevant to the realities of modern power to utterly seek and destroy.”

Reality Age Political Purpose Modern Color Ancient Boundaries Division Meaningless Relevant Creeds Tribes Sentimental Clans Remnants

Book:Best of Sydney J. Harris

Source: Best of Sydney J. Harris

“When we inform, we lead from strength; when we communicate, we lead from weakness—and it is precisely this confession of mortality that engages the ears, heads and hearts of those we want to enlist as allies in a common cause.”

Want Heart Causes Common Weakness Ears Communicate Mortality Allies Confession Head And Heart

Book:Best of Sydney J. Harris

Source: Best of Sydney J. Harris