Norman Douglas Quotes

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To find a friend one must close one eye. To keep him...two.

Norman Douglas

Friendship, Eye, Two

Almanac (1941) p. 77

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Distrust of authority should be the first civic duty.

Norman Douglas

Firsts, Authority, Should

Norman Douglas (1922). “Alone”

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The secret of happiness is curiosity

Norman Douglas

Motivational, Happiness, Secret

Norman Douglas (2014). “South Wind”, p.43, Courier Corporation

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You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.

Norman Douglas

Business, Advertising, Nigeria Independence

SouthWind ch. 7 (1917)

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Has any man ever obtained inner harmony by simply reading about the experiences of others? Not since the world began has it ever happened. Each man must go through the fire himself.

Norman Douglas

Reading, Men, Fire

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The business of life is to enjoy oneself; everything else is a mockery.

Norman Douglas

Life, Business, Enjoy

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If you want to see what children can do, you must stop giving them things.

Norman Douglas

Children, Giving, Want

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Learn to foster an ardent imagination; so shall you descry beauty which others passed unheeded.

Norman Douglas

Imagination, Ardent

Norman Douglas (1932). “Paneros, Some Words on Aphrodisiacs and the Like”

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What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes? Take fifty of our current proverbial sayings—they are so trite, so threadbare, that we can hardly bring our lips to utter them. None the less they embody the concentrated experience of the race, and the man who orders his life according to their teaching cannot go far wrong. How easy that seems! Has any one ever done so? Never. Has any man ever attained to inner harmony by pondering the experience of others? Not since the world began! He must pass through the fire.

Norman Douglas

Teaching, Men, Fire

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A man who is stingy with saffron is capable of seducing his own grandmother.

Norman Douglas

Food, Grandmother, Men

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The sublimity of wisdom is to do those things living, which are to be desired when dying.

Norman Douglas

Wisdom, Dying, Sublimity

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You can construct the character of a man and his age not only from what he does and says, but from what he fails to say and do.

Norman Douglas

Character, Men, Age

Norman Douglas (1982). “South Wind”, p.337, Courier Corporation

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Shall I give you my recipe for happiness? I find everything useful and nothing indispensable. I find everything wonderful and nothing miraculous. I reverence the body. I avoid first causes like the plague.

Norman Douglas

Happiness, Laughter, Giving

Norman Douglas (1982). “South Wind”, p.164, Courier Corporation

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The pine stays green in winter... wisdom in hardship.

Norman Douglas

Winter, Hardship, Green

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The true cook is the perfect blend, the only perfect blend, of artist and philosopher. He knows his worth: he holds in his palm the happiness of mankind, the welfare of generations yet unborn.

Norman Douglas

Food, Artist, Perfect

Norman Douglas (1982). “South Wind”, p.312, Courier Corporation

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There is in us a lyric germ or nucleus which deserves respect; it bids a man to ponder or create; and in this dim corner of himself he can take refuge and find consolations which the society of his fellow creatures does not provide.

Norman Douglas

Men, Doe, Nucleus

Norman Douglas (1955). “A Selection from His Works”

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What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes? But the man who orders his life according to their teachings cannot go far wrong.

Norman Douglas

Teaching, Men, Order

Norman Douglas (1982). “South Wind”, p.154, Courier Corporation

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How hard it is, sometimes, to trust the evidence of one's senses! How reluctantly the mind consents to reality.

Norman Douglas

Reality, Mind, Sometimes

Norman Douglas (1982). “South Wind”, p.82, Courier Corporation

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Why always "not yet"? Do flowers in spring say "not yet"?

Norman Douglas

Spring, Flower, Carpe Diem

Norman Douglas (1930). “Three of them”

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The longer one lives, the more one realizes that nothing is a dish for every day.

Norman Douglas

Realizing, Dishes

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Bouillabaisse is only good because cooked by the French, who, if they cared to try, could produce an excellent and nutritious substitute out of cigar stumps and empty matchboxes.

Norman Douglas

Food, Trying, Culture

1911 Siren Land,'Rain on the Hills'.

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It is one of the maladies of our age to profess a frenzied allegiance to truth in unimportant matters, to refuse consistently to face her where graver issues are at stake.

Norman Douglas

Issues, Political, Society

Norman Douglas (1922). “Alone”

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You can cram a truth into an epigram - the truth, never.

Norman Douglas

Truth, Epigrams

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No great man is ever born too soon or too late.

Norman Douglas

Men, Too Late, Born

Norman Douglas (2014). “South Wind”, p.120, Courier Corporation

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Never take a solemn oath. People think you mean it.

Norman Douglas

Mean, Thinking, Keeping Promises

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Born: December 8, 1868
Died: February 7, 1952
Occupation: Writer
Cite this Page: Citation

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