Norman Douglas Quotes & Sayings

“Never take a solemn oath. People think you mean it.”

“To find a friend one must close one eye - to keep him, two.”

“The pine stays green in winter... wisdom in hardship.”

“Shall I give you my recipe for happiness? I find everything useful and nothing indispensable. I find everything wonderful and nothing miraculous. I reverence the body. I avoid first causes like the plague.”

“A man can believe a considerable deal of rubbish, and yet go about his daily work in a rational and cheerful manner.”

“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.”

“Distrust of authority should be the first civic duty.”

“It takes a wise man to handle a lie, a fool had better remain honest.”

“Many a man who thinks to found a home discovers that he has merely opened a tavern for his friends.”

“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.”