Skip to content

The acceptance of ambiguity implies more than the commonplace understanding that some good things and some bad things happen to us. It means that we know that good and evil are inextricably intermixed in human affairs; that they contain, and sometimes embrace, their opposites; that success may involve failure of a different kind, and failure may be a kind of triumph.

— Sydney J. Harris Clearing the Ground (1986)

Another quote →

Topics

Failure

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 →

You may also like

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

Muhammad

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

Al-Tirmidhi

A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible.

George Orwell The Prevention of Literature (1946)

Imagination is a force that can actually manifest a reality.

James Cameron

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.