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Young people know less than we do, but they understand more; their perception has not yet been blunted by compromise, fatigue, rationalization, and the mistaking of mere respectability for morality.

— Sydney J. Harris The Best of Sydney J. Harris (1975)

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Respect

More quotes by Sydney J. Harris

A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future.

On the Contrary (1964)

An idealist believes the short run doesn’t count. A cynic believes the long run doesn’t matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.

The principal difference between love and hate is that love is an irradiation, and hate is a concentration.

Strictly Personal (1953)

The core in the mystery of what we call personality resides in the individual mix between character and temperament.

Clearing the Ground (1986)

Character is something you forge for yourself; temperament is something you are born with and can only slightly modify.

Clearing the Ground (1986)

All Sydney J. Harris quotes →

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A daughter who respects you while you’re alive is far better than a son who performs the rites and rituals after you’re gone.

Sanu Sharma

There is a price which is too great to pay for peace, and that price can be put in one word. One cannot pay the price of self-respect.

Woodrow Wilson

The wise treat self-respect as non-negotiable, and will not trade it for health or wealth or anything else.

Thomas Szasz The Second Sin (1973)

Only he who has measured the dominion of force, and knows how not to respect it, is capable of love and justice.

Simone Weil Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Sydney J. Harris (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.