Leo C Rosten Quotes & Sayings

Truth is stranger than fiction; fiction has to make sense. — Leo Rosten

I came to believe it not true that "the
coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man
only one." I think it is the other way around:
It is the brave who die a thousand deaths.
For it is imagination, and not just conscience,
which doth make cowards of us all. Those
who do not know fear are not truly brave.
— Leo Rosten

If you're going to do something wrong, at least enjoy it. — Leo Rosten

I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all. - Leo Rosten — Joshua Becker

Courage is the capacity to confront what can be imagined. — Leo Rosten

I sometimes think there is a dimension beyond the four of experience and Einstein: insight, that fifth dimension which promises to liberate us from bondage to the long, imperfect past — Leo Rosten

O, to be sure, we laugh less and play less and wear uncomfortable disguises like adults, but beneath the costume is the child we always are, whose needs are simple, whose daily life is still best described by fairy tales. — Leo Rosten

For some not to be martyrs is martyrdom indeed. — Leo Rosten

You understand people better if you look at them-no matter how old or impressive or important they may be-as if they were children. For most men never mature; they simply grow taller. — Leo Rosten

First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people. — Leo Rosten

Happiness comes only when we push our brains and hearts to the farthest reaches of which we are capable. — Leo Rosten

An angel is a spiritual creature created by God without a body for the service of Christendom and the church. — Leo Rosten

Thinking is harder work than hard work. — Leo Rosten

Her cooking suggested she had attended the Cordon Noir. — Leo Rosten

Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed. — Leo Rosten

A shnorrer knocked on the door of the rich man's house at six-thirty in the morning. The rich man cried, "How dare you wake me up so early?" "Listen," said the shnorrer, "I don't tell you how to run your business, so don't tell me how to run mine. — Leo Rosten

The hardest part of growing up is learning how to wait — Leo Rosten

Writer Leo Rosten famously quipped: 'Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty.' The — Ashwin Sanghi

In the dark colony of night, when I consider man's magnificent capacity for malice, madness, folly, envy, rage, and destructiveness, and I wonder whether we shall not end up as breakfast for newts and polyps, I seem to hear the muffled cries of all the words in all the books with covers closed. — Leo Rosten

Happiness, in the ancient, noble sense, means self-fulfillment - and is given to those who use to the fullest whatever talents God ... bestowed upon them. — Leo Rosten

Anybody who hates dogs and babies can't be all bad. — Leo Rosten

Where was it ever promised us that life on this earth can ever be easy, free from conflict and uncertainty, devoid of anguish and wonder and pain? ... The purpose of life is to matter, to be productive, to have it make some difference that you lived at all. — Leo Rosten

I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that gentleness is to be expected only from the strong. — Leo Rosten

Humor is the affectionate communication of insight. — Leo Rosten

I never cease being dumbfounded by the unbelievable things people believe. — Leo Rosten

Machines certainly can solve problems, store information, correlate, and play games - but not with pleasure. — Leo Rosten

The twelfth-century poet Abraham ibn Ezra, whom you encountered in high school as Browning's Rabbi ben Ezra (may his tribe increase), limpidly described the shlimazl's lot when he wrote: If I sold lamps, The sun, In spite, Would shine at night. — Leo Rosten

Satire is focused bitterness. — Leo Rosten

Everyone, in some small sacred sanctuary of the self, is nuts. — Leo Rosten

There was no answer, no solution, no sop, no deliverance. What, then, did I do? I read faster. — Leo Rosten

Hope is ambiguous, but fear is precious. — Leo Rosten

It is not that which is beautiful that pleases us, but that which pleases is is called beautiful. — Leo Rosten