Don Marquis - a few quotes

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.

The most pleasant and useful persons are those who leave some of the problems of the universe for God to worry about.

The people who have willpower enough to quit their vices don’t seem to have so many vices to quit.

The humorist is a philosopher who breaks the sad news gently because he is so sorry for the world.

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

There is luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel no one else has a right to blame us.

The trouble with the public is that there is too much of it; what we need in public is less quantity and more quality.

The sort of man who brags about his ancestors is never bragged about by his descendants.

Philanthropy is the business of giving it back to the people you took it from.

Ours is a world where people don’t know what they want and are willing to go through hell to get it.

Man cannot be uplifted; he must be seduced into virtue.

Some persons are likable in spite of their unswerving integrity.

Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

An idea isn't responsible for the people who believe in it.

When man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him WHOSE.

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

The bees got their governmental system settled millions of years ago, but the human race is still groping.

If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you But if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.

If cremation became universal, some of us would lose our one chance of owning real estate.

Live that you wouldn’t be afraid to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.

When you can’t have anything else, you can have virtue.

I drink only to make my friends seem interesting.

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

He worked like hell in the country so he could live in the city, where he worked like hell so he could live in the country.

Drinking used to be a mighty commonplace matter, but Prohibition has brought a smack of adventure into it that makes it really enjoyable.