Quotes to inspire and reflect

The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.

FEW MISFORTUNES CAN BEFALL A BOY WHICH BRING WORSE CONSEQUENCES THAN TO HAVE A REALLY AFFECTIONATE MOTHER.

IT IS A MELANCHOLY TRUTH THAT EVEN GREAT MEN HAVE THEIR POOR RELATIONS.

This was the trouble with families. Like invidious doctors, they knew just where it hurt.

AFTER A GOOD DINNER ONE CAN FORGIVE ANYBODY, EVEN ONE’S OWN RELATIONS.

DON’T HOLD YOUR PARENTS UP TO CONTEMPT. AFTER ALL… IT IS JUST POSSIBLE THAT YOU MAY TAKE AFTER THEM.

Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends.

WHEN A SINISTER PERSON MEANS TO BE YOUR ENEMY, THEY ALWAYS START BY TRYING TO BECOME YOUR FRIEND.

A FRIEND IS ONE TO WHOM ONE MAY POUR OUT THE CONTENTS OF ONE’S HEART, CHAFF AND GRAIN TOGETHER, KNOWING THAT GENTLE HANDS WILL TAKE AND SIFT IT.

Love is blind; friendship closes its eyes.

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

I CHOOSE MY FRIENDS FOR THEIR GOOD LOOKS, MY ACQUAINTANCES FOR THEIR GOOD CHARACTERS, AND MY ENEMIES FOR THEIR GOOD INTELLECTS.

A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.

’TIS THE PRIVILEGE OF FRIENDSHIP TO TALK NONSENSE, AND TO HAVE HER NONSENSE RESPECTED.

Friendship is a sheltering tree.

There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends.

Thy friendship oft has made my heart to ache: Do be my enemy – for friendship’s sake.

WE MAKE OUR FRIENDS, WE MAKE OUR ENEMIES; BUT GOD MAKES OUR NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOUR.

Incessant company is as bad as solitary confinement.

HE’S MY FRIEND THAT SPEAKS WELL OF ME BEHIND MY BACK.

Youth is wholly experimental.

EACH FRIEND REPRESENTS A WORLD IN US, A WORLD POSSIBLY NOT BORN UNTIL THEY ARRIVE.

NO MAN KNOWS HE IS YOUNG WHILE HE IS YOUNG.

Everybody’s youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness.

If you’re young and talented, it’s like you have wings.

YOUTH SMILES WITHOUT ANY REASON. IT IS ONE OF ITS CHIEFEST CHARMS.

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

AGE MAY HAVE ONE SIDE, BUT ASSUREDLY YOUTH HAS THE OTHER. THERE IS NOTHING MORE CERTAIN THAN THAT BOTH ARE RIGHT, EXCEPT PERHAPS THAT BOTH ARE WRONG.

What Youth deemed crystal, Age finds out was dew.

WHAT IS YOUTH EXCEPT A MAN OR A WOMAN BEFORE IT IS READY OR FIT TO BE SEEN?

Be on the alert to recognise your prime at whatever time of your life it may occur.

I THOUGHT I HATED EVERYBODY, BUT WHEN I GREW UP I REALISED IT WAS JUST CHILDREN I DIDN’T LIKE.

SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE ENEMY OF ALL ART, BE IT ACTING, WRITING, PAINTING, OR LIVING ITSELF, WHICH IS THE GREATEST ART OF ALL.

Treat a work of art like a prince. Let it speak to you first.

The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing.

THERE IS ONLY ONE POSITION FOR AN ARTIST ANYWHERE: AND THAT IS, UPRIGHT.

Good painters imitate nature, bad ones spew it up.

THE HISTORY OF ART IS THE HISTORY OF REVIVALS.

I DOUBT THAT ART NEEDED RUSKIN ANY MORE THAN A MOVING TRAIN NEEDS ONE OF ITS PASSENGERS TO SHOVE IT.

Nothing is capable of being well set to music that is not nonsense.

THERE ARE TWO MEN INSIDE THE ARTIST, THE POET AND THE CRAFTSMAN. ONE IS BORN A POET. ONE BECOMES A CRAFTSMAN.

Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.

There are only two styles of portrait painting; the serious and the smirk.

ALL ART IS QUITE USELESS.

IF I CAN STOP ONE HEART FROM BREAKING, I SHALL NOT LIVE IN VAIN.

Unbeing dead isn’t being alive.

LIFE’S A BITCH. YOU’VE GOT TO GO OUT AND KICK ASS.

May you live all the days of your life.