Quotes from Norman Douglas

No great man is ever born too soon or too late.

The secret of happiness is curiosity

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.

Learn to foster an ardent imagination; so shall you descry beauty which others passed unheeded.

I can find no room in my cosmos for a deity save as a waste product of human weakness, the excrement of the imagination.

What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes?

There is a kinship, a kind of freemasonry, between all persons of intelligence, however antagonistic their moral outlook.

They who are all things to their neighbors cease to be anything to themselves.

The longer one lives, the more one realizes that nothing is a dish for every day.

You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertising.

Distrust of authority should be the first civic duty.

The business of life is to enjoy oneself; everything else is a mockery.

There is so much goodness in real life- do let us keep it out of our books.

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.

One can always trust to time. Insert a wedge of time and nearly everything straightens itself out.

You can cram a truth into an epigram - the truth, never.

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.

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

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

Why always, "not yet"? Do flowers in spring say, "not yet"?

It seldom pays to be rude. It never pays to be only half-rude.

Justice is too good for some people, and not good enough for the rest.

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

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