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Nuclear war is inevitable, says the pessimists Nuclear war is impossible, says the optimists Nuclear war is inevitable unless we make it impossible, says the realists.

Sydney J. Harris

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Sydney J. Harris
Age: 69 †
Born: 1917
Born: September 14
Died: 1986
Died: December 8
Journalist
London
England
Sydney Harris
Inevitable
Nuclear
Unless
Realists
Says
Pessimists
Impossible
Optimists
Peace
Realist
War
Pessimist
Make
Optimist

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Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.
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God cannot be solemn, or he would not have blessed man with the incalculable gift of laughter.
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And most of the failures in parent-child relationships, from my observation, begin when the child begins to acquire a mind and a will of its own, to make independent decisions and to question the omnipotence or the wisdom of the parent.
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Any philosophy that can be put in a nutshell belongs there.
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Somebody who never got over the embarrassing fact that he was born in bed with a lady.
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All our efforts to attain immortality-by statesmanship, by conquest, by science or the arts-are equally vain in the long run, because the long run is longer than any of us can imagine.
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Many people know how to work hard many others know how to play well but the rarest talent in the world is the ability to introduce elements of playfulness into work, and to put some constructive labor into our leisure.
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The reason that truth is stranger than fiction is that fiction has to have a rational thread running through it in order to be believable, whereas reality may be totally irrational.
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Once we assuage our conscience by calling something a necessary evil, it begins to look more and more necessary and less and less evil.
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Ancient boundaries are meaningless, except for political purposes old divisions of clan and tribe are sentimental remnants of the pre-atomic age neither creed nor color nor place of origin is relevant to the realities of modern power to utterly seek and destroy.
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Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.
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Those obsessed with health are not healthy the first requisite of good health is a certain calculated carelessness about oneself.
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If you cannot endure to be thought in the wrong, you will begin to do terrible things to make the wrong appear right.
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Elitism is the slur directed at merit by mediocrity.
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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.
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American parents, on the whole, do not want their sons to be artisans or craftsmen, but business or professional people. As a result, millions of youngsters are being prepared for careers they have little aptitude for - and little interest in except for dubious prestige.
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Western civilization has not yet learned the lesson that the energy we expend in 'getting things done' is less important than the moral strength it takes to decide what is worth doing and what is right to do.
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Character is something you forge for yourself temperament is something you are born with and can only slightly modify.
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Why are we willing to accept a new mathematical formula we don't understand as the product of a brilliant mind, while rejecting a new art form we don't understand as the product of a deranged mind?
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As WArden Lawes once said of convicts, no man can be called a failure until he has tried something he really likes, and fails at it.
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