Edward W. Howe

Some men are alive simply because it is against the law to kill them.

You needn’t love your enemy, but if you refrain from telling lies about him, you are doing well enough.

Instead of loving your enemies – treat your friends a little better.

If you don’t learn to laugh at troubles, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you grow old.

Men have as exaggerated an idea of their rights as women have of their wrongs.

When a friend is in trouble, don’t annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it.

When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have.

There is always a type of man who says he loves his fellow men, and expects to make a living at it.

A thief believes everybody steals.

Americans detest all lies except lies spoken in public or printed lies.

Some men storm imaginary Alps all their lives, and die in the foothills cursing difficulties which do not exist.

When you are in trouble, people who call to sympathize are really looking for the particulars.

A theory is no more like a fact than a photograph is like a person.

It is hard to convince a high-school student that he will encounter a lot of problems more difficult than those of algebra and geometry.

People are always neglecting something they can do in trying to do something they can’t do.

What people say behind your back is your standing in the community.

If a man has money, it is usually a sign, too, that he knows how to take care of it; don’t imagine his money is easy to get simply because he has plenty of it.

A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice.

Living up to ideals is like doing everyday work with your Sunday clothes on.

No man would listen to you talk if he didn’t know it was his turn next.

No woman ever falls in love with a man unless she has a better opinion of him than he deserves.

The sounder your argument, the more satisfaction you get out of it.

If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers.

There is nothing so well known as that we should not expect something for nothing – but we all do and call it Hope.