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We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice — that is, until we have stopped saying “It got lost,” and say, “I lost it.”

— Sydney J. Harris On the Contrary (1964)

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Children

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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Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. This pleases me.

L. Frank Baum Introduction to The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)

So what if a kid dies? God will take care of him.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.

Rabindranath Tagore Stray Birds (1916)

Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults.

Thomas Szasz The Second Sin (1973)

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.