I can find no room in my cosmos for a deity save as a waste product of human weakness, the excrement of the imagination. Norman Douglas More Quotes by Norman Douglas More Quotes From Norman Douglas To find a friend one must close one eye. To keep him...two. Norman Douglas eye friendship two You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements. Norman Douglas nigeria-independence advertising business What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes? Take fifty of our current proverbial sayings—they are so trite, so threadbare, that we can hardly bring our lips to utter them. None the less they embody the concentrated experience of the race, and the man who orders his life according to their teaching cannot go far wrong. How easy that seems! Has any one ever done so? Never. Has any man ever attained to inner harmony by pondering the experience of others? Not since the world began! He must pass through the fire. Norman Douglas teaching fire men Has any man ever obtained inner harmony by simply reading about the experiences of others? Not since the world began has it ever happened. Each man must go through the fire himself. Norman Douglas reading fire men Distrust of authority should be the first civic duty. Norman Douglas authority should firsts Never take a solemn oath. People think you mean it. Norman Douglas keeping-promises mean thinking Many a man who thinks to found a home discovers that he has merely opened a tavern for his friends. Norman Douglas home friendship men The pine stays green in winter... wisdom in hardship. Norman Douglas hardship green winter If you want to see what children can do, you must stop giving them things. Norman Douglas want giving children How hard it is, sometimes, to trust the evidence of one's senses! How reluctantly the mind consents to reality. Norman Douglas mind sometimes reality Bouillabaisse is only good because cooked by the French, who, if they cared to try, could produce an excellent and nutritious substitute out of cigar stumps and empty matchboxes. Norman Douglas food trying culture Why always "not yet"? Do flowers in spring say "not yet"? Norman Douglas carpe-diem flower spring You can construct the character of a man and his age not only from what he does and says, but from what he fails to say and do. Norman Douglas age character men The true cook is the perfect blend, the only perfect blend, of artist and philosopher. He knows his worth: he holds in his palm the happiness of mankind, the welfare of generations yet unborn. Norman Douglas artist perfect food Learn to foster an ardent imagination; so shall you descry beauty which others passed unheeded. Norman Douglas ardent imagination There is in us a lyric germ or nucleus which deserves respect; it bids a man to ponder or create; and in this dim corner of himself he can take refuge and find consolations which the society of his fellow creatures does not provide. Norman Douglas nucleus doe men The longer one lives, the more one realizes that nothing is a dish for every day. Norman Douglas dishes realizing One can always trust to time. Insert a wedge of time and nearly everything straightens itself out. Norman Douglas wedges change time The sublimity of wisdom is to do those things living, which are to be desired when dying. Norman Douglas sublimity dying wisdom How often could things be remedied by a word. How often is it left unspoken. Norman Douglas left often-is communication