“Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.”
What does it mean to be good? These quotes explore virtue, decency, kindness, and the daily choices that add up to a life well lived. Not preachy — just thoughtful observations from people trying to do right in a complicated world.
“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.”
“Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.”
“Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.”
“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”
“You know the good part about all those executions in Texas? Fewer Texans.”
“There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.”
“Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he's well dressed. There ain't much credit in that.”
“The sage does not hoard. The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself, The more he gives to others, the more he gets himself. The Way of Heaven does one good but never does one harm. The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete.”
“My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you'll be happy if not, you'll become a philosopher.”
“No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.”
“When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad I'm better.”
“Sarcasm I now see to be, in general, the language of the devil for which reason I have long since as good as renounced it.”
“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.”
“It is good to express a thing twice right at the outset and so to give it a right foot and also a left one. Truth can surely stand on one leg, but with two it will be able to walk and get around.”
“Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.”
“If it looks good, you'll see it. If it sounds good, you'll hear it. If its marketed right, you'll buy it. But... If its real... you'll feel it.”