Don Marquis

“fire is beautifuland we know that if we gettoo close it will kill usbut what does that matterit is better to be happy for a momentand be burned up with beautythan to live a long timeand be bored all the while”

“An optimist is a man who has never had much experience.”

“Fate often puts all the material for happiness and prosperity into a man's hands just to see how miserable he can make himself with them.”

“Punctuality is one of the cardinal business virtues: always insist on it in your subordinates.”

“Honesty is a good thing, but it is not profitable to its possessor unless it is kept under control.”

“Publishing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.”

“Poetry is what Milton saw when he went blind.”

“By the time a bartender knows what drink a man will have before he orders, there is little else about him worth knowing.”

“Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.”

“The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race.”

“Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

“A pessimist is a person who has had to listen to too many optimists.”

“Some persons are likeable in spite of their unswerving integrity.”

“With regard to ghosts, while we have never believed in them, we have always been afraid of them.”

“In order to influence a child, one must be careful not to be that child's parent or grandparent.”

“Successful people are the ones who think up things for the rest of the world to keep busy at.”

“Did you ever notice that when a politician does get an idea he usually gets it all wrong.”

“If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that's read by persons who move their lips when they're reading to themselves.”

“Blood will tell, but often it tells too much.”

“When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: 'Whose?'”