Knowledge fills a large brain; it merely inflates a small one. Sydney J. Harris More Quotes by Sydney J. Harris More Quotes From Sydney J. Harris Filth is always a sign of weakness - in the mouth of the user and in the mind of the writer. Sydney J. Harris weakness mouths mind The generality of mankind is lazy. What distinguishes men of genuine achievement from the rest of us is not so much their intellectual powers and aptitudes as their curiosity, their energy, their fullest use of their potentialities. Nobody really knows how smart or talented he is until he finds the incentives to use himself to the fullest. God has given us more than we know what to do with. Sydney J. Harris lazy smart men The public examination of homosexuality in our contemporary life is still so coated with distasteful moral connotations that even a reviewer is bound to wonder uneasily why he was selected to evaluate a book on the subject, and to assert defensively at the outset that he is happily married, the father of four children and the one-time adornment of his college boxing, track and tennis teams. Sydney J. Harris team father children Making out an invitation list for a party brings out the worst in everyone. It is then that our most ruthless estimates of the people we know come into play. Sydney J. Harris party play people A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future. Sydney J. Harris We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice—that is, until we have stopped saying, It got lost, and say, I lost it. Sydney J. Harris When I hear somebody sigh that Life is hard, I am always tempted to ask, Compared to what? Sydney J. Harris When I hear somebody say 'Life is hard', I am always tempted to ask 'Compared to what?' Sydney J. Harris i-am say life-is-hard life