A bad conscience toward a servant engenders persecution; toward a master, murmuring.
A boast seeks love but never succeeds.
A Christian father pictures God to his children.
A church that takes the substance out of religion must emphasize the trappings.
A civil society must tolerate dissent without losing a passion for truth.
A closed mind has no protection from being wrong.
A common failing of youth is to place forever before tomorrow rather than afterward.
A file is another kind of wastebasket.
A fool is never more foolish than when he is trying to be clever.
A friend is someone who is sad when you go and happy when you come back.
A kiss is love condensed, a song is joy expanded, and a nap is peace descended.
A liar never recognizes the man who recognizes a liar.
A little girl will turn out fine if she relieves every tear with at least five giggles.
A lover enthrones her as a lady, but a loafer demotes her to a lackey.
A machine is but a man's thought.
A man believes what suits his pride; a woman, what suits her happiness.
A man cannot afford to lose his family or his integrity.
A man is too busy if he has no time to throw out his dry pens and stubby pencils.
A man may be the biggest wimp who ever lived, and yet his wife feels safer when he is at home.
A man may feel safer by believing a falsehood, but safety lies in truth alone.
A man of conscience can be crueler than a man without, because zeal in his cruelty helps him feel that he is right.
A man of pride is the devil's pawn.
A man receives a call to the ministry only after he has answered the call to integrity.
A man who doesn't need others to love him is a man in love with himself.
A man with an ugly temper is someone you avoid if you can and cajole if you must.
A man's best friend is generally himself.
A man's property extends beyond his own yard to every place in the world that has a picnic table.
A man's stature is not measured by a ruler.
A man's work is his identity; his self-respect; indeed, his life.
A modern university is where people make a living by disputing the obvious and proposing the ridiculous.
A moment for the hurt, a lifetime for the healing.
A moment's violence can unmake the painstaking work of generations.
A pessimist thinks of life as a journey from problem to problem; an optimist, as a journey from solution to solution.
A piece of entertainment reinforces what you are; a work of art changes you.
A point is the opposite of infinity.
A problem is like a predator; it gives chase when you try to run away.
A reader who skims wants to see the ending, while a reader who takes his time enjoys the whole story. For the one, a story is a problem to be solved; for the other, an experience to be lived.
A self-centered person is soon alone.
A simple apology can erase the past and rewrite the future.
A spiritual man is first of all nice.
A well-ordered life is a healthy life.
A woman cannot expect her husband to talk more if she tries to do all the talking.
A woman who eats as much as her husband will soon weigh as much.
A woman's fingers are made for fabric, a man's for wood.
A writer always has the last word.
Accepting your lot in life is not so hard as waiting to see what it is.
All men are created equal, but half of the equal are not men.
All roads to the land of Evil fall within its borders.
All sin depends on the illusion that a moment is worth eternity.
Although Jesus promised that by faith we could move mountains, we feel mighty pleased with ourselves if by faith we manage to move a few spadefuls.
Always give main attention to the main consideration.
Always turn right.
America has an attention span of five minutes and a love span of five months.
America is a nation of children addicted to toys and tantrums.
America is reincarnate Rome. We too started as a republic, excelled at building roads, fielded invincible armies, and lusted after sex and violence. And we have come to the same end. We have been overrun by the barbarians, and the barbarians are us.
An eternity of chances could never have produced anything as exalted as life or depraved as death.
An evil man is a bad boy with adult resources.
Any commitment a man makes can only be as strong as his commitment to the truth.
Any line of investigation that faithfully follows the truth in any field of inquiry eventually leads to God.
Any race of aliens that had not by now intervened to set things right in this world would not be worth finding.
Any scholar is a fraud who fails to credit the mountain upon which he builds his little mound.
Anyone who gets in the way of God opening a door will be slammed in the face.
Anyone who visits a wild place befouled by man can see that evolutionists are wrong. Man came not from apes, but from pigs.
Apart from God, man at his best is like a blighted flower or broken violin.
Art is fluency, science is rigor, and religion is love; also, art is beauty, science is knowledge, and religion is God; therefore, art is joy, science is joy, and religion is joy.
As a breed, criminals are uncommonly dumb.
As the Sabbath was made for rest, so the wilderness was made for solitude.
As you get older, your eyes drift toward the big picture and lose sight of details.
Be as critical of your own opinions as you are of another's.
Be flexible in matters of convenience, but not in matters of conscience.
Because he is blind to principle, a pragmatist rarely solves a fundamental problem.
Belief in luck is the most characteristic form of human stupidity.
Better ageless than young.
Better to be registered in the Hall of Faith than in the Hall of Hypocrites.
Both sanity and survival require a sense of humor.
Boys run with the herd, girls divide into cliques, and a couple withdraws to itself.
Building new roads merely makes congestion in new places.
By tomorrow, half of today's problems will vanish by spontaneous combustion.
Cherish the fine moments, for they are few and fleeting.
Christianity is not an option that you may choose if it suits you. It is the truth. You must choose it whether it suits you or not.
Contemporaries have harsh words for a man of action, but posterity has harsher words for a man of inaction.
Cowardice is not being afraid, but letting fear stop you.
Critical thinking is not only to recognize and spurn what is false, but also to recognize and embrace what is true.
Death is the end of possibilities.
Definitions are the bedrock of clear thinking.
Despair is not the end of chances, but of hope.
Despite its gentle touch, humor can wound dignity and bruise innocence.
Discipline turns a difficult child into a delightful adult.
Doctors are fine, but don’t let them do your thinking for you.
Don't blame your stupidity on old age. You've had this problem a long time.
Don't criticize the faulty execution of a generous impulse.
Don't judge a job until it's done.
Don't start life as a proud person. You'll find that the way down can be a long road.
Every classic system of philosophy starts with self and leads to doubt about the existence or knowability of anything else.
Every day is an adventure in discovering the provision of God.
Every man assumes that his life is the measure of human experience.
Every man assumes that what he is good at is most important.
Every man wants three things: a way to lose weight without eating less, a way to get rich without working, and a way to live without getting older.
Every negative thought and word nibble away at your joy.
Every weakness is a strength disguised.
Everyone has a past to be remembered and a past to be forgotten.
Everything takes longer than you think, except life itself.
Evil is real but not final. It is merely the prelude to something good that God will accomplish through it.
Fanaticism thrives where there is neither common decency nor common sense.
Fantasy is good only for a mind well exercised with reality.
Feed impatiens, water marigolds, and give petunias a haircut.
Finding God is not a matter of proving what must be, but of discovering what is.
For any question of truth, there are many wrong answers and only one right answer.
For safety while driving, maximize distance to the nearest cars and minimize distance to the edge of the road.
For want of a minus sign in somebody's calculations, the bridge collapsed.
Freedom is not to do whatever you want now, but to do now whatever you would approve after thirty more years of growth and reflection.
Gambling is a fool's investment, alcohol is a fool's refreshment, and pornography is a fool's marriage.
Genius must have its peculiarities, if only to recognize itself.
Genius works while talent poses.
Get on the right side of any debate as quick as you can.
Getting old is an adventure nobody lives through.
Give power to an ideologue and he will do a lot of damage.
God created the common cold to keep us from getting too satisfied with life.
God enjoys proving that we cannot figure Him out.
God gave us roosters to help us wake up, dogs to warn us of danger, and spiders to show us when to clean.
God grades only for effort.
God grants us religious freedom only when we convert it into greater good than we would achieve under persecution.
God is always prodding us to move, so we had better move the right way.
God lavishes grace on the humble while leaving the proud to their excuses.
God makes us look up by letting us sink low.
God never does a miracle to spare men from ordinary wholesome labor.
God never made a man out of a monkey, but the devil can make a monkey out of a man.
God showed that He understood the human heart when He gave Ten Commandments and not Ten Suggestions.
God wants only one thing from us, and that is everything.
God will never be a debtor to His own servant.
God will not let anyone suffer for generosity.
Good health is freedom to put your mind and heart on things besides yourself.
Good work is the art of getting started and the science of not quitting.
Gossip never recommends a fair trial.
Half of life's trouble is real; the other half is hysteria.
He who dabbles in things naughty will end up an addict of things vile.
He who dares to do right is discerning, but he who dares to do wrong is dumb.
He who dehumanizes an enemy is scarcely human himself.
He who forsakes his wife for a much younger woman will learn someday that he has traded his soul for a broken heart.
He who insists he is right when facts prove him wrong is a fool of the first magnitude.
He who thinks only of himself has nothing to think about.
He who thinks that a good manager never resorts to bluffing, blustering, or bullying has never had a dumb dog.
Helplessness saves you a lot of work.
How long you live depends significantly on whether you have something to live for.
If a Christian dies, he is the only one who is not sad.
If a dispute arises in your child's marriage, side with the spouse if possible.
If a man is self-willed, everything he touches turns to dross.
If a mother's influence could be measured, so could the sum of a man, but if a man's value and potential are beyond measure, so is a mother's influence.
If every wise man has a blind spot, surely the rest of us should be humble in our opinions.
If students say a test is hard, the grades will be deplorable; if they say it is easy, the grades will be slightly better.
If there were evolution, it would proceed not by survival of the fittest, but by demise of the dumbest.
If they can sell a bottle of water for a dollar, next they will charge high prices for upscale packaging of clean air.
If you go to what you think is the line between good and evil, you will find that you have already crossed it.
If you have delusions of dignity, take a job managing teenagers.
If you refuse to think, the nourishment that would have supplied energy to your brain will turn to fat.
If you tell a wicked man his wrongs, he will listen only to find a way of saving himself and hurting you.
If you wait to be friendly until someone takes an interest in you, you will lead a lonely life.
If you want a good job, apply to the Throne.
If you win by cheating, you take the joy of victory away from every contestant.
Ignorance carries no mirror.
In a corrupt society, nothing works right.
In a small town, anybody's business is everybody's business.
In a society where greed dominates, there will be legalization of every vice, for every vice has a market.
In a young man's opinions there is generally more testosterone than truth.
In an old man's opinions there is generally more wind than wisdom.
In Christian service, the right skills are less important than the right heart.
In his hatred of Christians, a persecutor never realizes that a hatred so universal for a people so innocuous is a sure sign they are right.
In many arguments, everybody is wrong.
In response to mere shadows of solid information, people scurry from one baseless opinion to another.
In seeking redress, a victim may become a victim again.
In teaching, it is better to plow in a few ideas than to skim over many.
In teaching, never go on unless they know.
In the modern church there is a crisis in doctrine and a crisis in separation from the world, but more fundamental is a crisis in integrity.
In the modern world, adolescence is a disease spreading to the whole population.
In the realm of ideas, one genius outmatches a multitude of lesser minds.
In their best and worst moments, men differ little from each other. It is in their regular habits that they stand apart.
Intelligence shines most brightly through questions.
It is a mercy of God that we do not reflect upon the fragility of our pleasures when they engage us.
It is amazing how many problems can be avoided by the simple application of experience.
It is hollow praise before you perform.
It is humbling to reach the age when your children really do know better.
It is most important to be thankful when you're not.
It is never right to keep a promise to do wrong.
It is no longer an apple a day. Now it is regular water, whole grain, and fish, not to mention frequent servings of red tomatoes, orange carrots, yellow squash, green broccoli, blue blueberries, purple grapes, brown nuts, white garlic, and black pepper.
It is not unspiritual to be simply human.
It is sad that few women make themselves attractive by appealing to a man's better nature.
It is the lot of genius to suffer the revenge of C students.
It was not in their Jewishness that the Jews killed Christ, but in their humanity, for we are all Christ-killers.
It's not a good day when your enemy is glad to see you.
It's not a really bad senior moment unless you can't remember what to call it.
Jargon is banality masquerading as expertise.
Jest is the name of many swords.
Jesus taught, the way to gain is to give, the way to live is to die, and the way to rule is to serve.
Keep a loose hold on your theories.
Kindness is the soul of fellowship.
Ladies, to hold your husband's eye, keep your waistline; to hold his love, keep your smile.
Let the devil do his worst. Someday God will show that it was His best.
Life has its fine moments. Most of them come on Friday.
Life has no mercy on a youth's folly.
Life is a pilgrimage from the passing to the permanent.
Life is doing what you have to do as best you can.
Life is like a game in having winners and losers, but nobody gets to play again.
Life is more fun if you can laugh at yourself.
Life is too short for bad moods.
Life will teach you not to make the same mistake twice. Unfortunately, you will keep making new mistakes.
Live as though you will never get a chance to explain yourself.
Logic cannot improve the uncertainty of your premises.
Loneliness is sitting in a cave on a sunny day.
Love and family occupy seventy percent of a woman's thoughts, thirty percent of a man's.
Love is never deserved. It comes with a relationship and is unconditional.
Love is the most contagious of all virtues.
Lying in the dungeon of every heart is a monster waiting for sin to open the door.
MacDonald's created the Big Mac, but God created fruits and vegetables.
Machines can do many things, but they have no common sense.
Make peace with tomorrow, or you will be at war with yesterday.
Man abhors an empty place.
Many original minds are lost by their own generation and found by another.
Many people marry the wrong person, but at the altar the wrong person becomes the right person.
Many very good things are less than one perfect thing.
Many who think they would make the best leader would merely fail to a degree most spectacular.
Master the obvious before you meddle with the obscure.
Medicine cannot undo the effects of vice.
Men, a flirt will not die of disappointment if you ignore her.
Men, before your wife will obey you gladly, you must earn her respect.
Men will be judged not only for what they do, but also for what they approve.
Men, your job is not to resent your wife's faults, but to help her improve.
Men, your wife must obey you, but don't make her obey a fool.
Mercy is the only quality of a man's soul that sets the standard for how God will treat him.
Modern business always assumes that a new gadget has the best resumé.
Much of the world's evil arises from perverted concepts of manhood.
Much of your unhappiness is the result of not getting what would make you even unhappier.
Much truth worth knowing is not easy.
Never balk at the price tag on doing right. Let God pay the bill.
Never be quick to answer a question about the future.
Newlyweds may bicker over who will be boss, but when their first child comes, there is no longer any question.
No man has ever yet rejected a woman because he was smarter.
No theory of evolution can explain music or poetry.
No use arguing with the inevitable.
Not our circumstances, but our reaction to them, determines whether we are happy.
Nothing drains life's energy like sorrow or renews it like joy.
Nothing feels so good as to stop hurting.
Nothing occupies the mind like a question of love.
Nothing smells so good and tastes so bad as coffee or a pipe.
Old age is our last lesson in humility.
On a dark morning, life is a losing battle against stupidity; on a bright morning, life is an opportunity to teach.
Once does not make a rule.
Once I reach a conviction about what is right, I will not change for love or money, but you can try chocolate.
One consolation for the aged is that you do not need a sharp memory to make good judgments and enjoy life.
One form of reckless conduct endangering your life is to be cheerful on Monday.
Only a fool would rather be wrong than lose an argument.
Only truth has to struggle for a hearing.
Paranoia breeds paranoia.
People are always in a hurry to close their minds.
“Petty” is rather short of “pretty.”
Photographs are but a chronicle of one's decline.
Plan longer and work shorter.
Plants are the basis of world economy.
Play your life to an audience of one, God.
Put a bully in his place before he puts you at his mercy.
Rain turns miles of brown into smiles of green.
Reserve is loneliness revealed.
Ridicule is a cheap substitute for reason.
Rough handling of a little girl produces a big girl who is full of fears.
Self-confidence comes when you act in your capacity as you instead of in your capacity as nobody.
Senility may be only an advanced case of boredom.
Sin always progresses from self-indulgence to cruelty.
Smile first, laugh last, and love always.
Snow outside brings snuggling inside.
Stay where you are unless you know where you are going.
Summer goeth before a fall.
The art of writing is finding raw diamonds and cutting them to perfection.
The basic ill in our economy is that we want luxury in our leisure more than self-fulfillment in our work.
The best way to treat a cold is to ignore it.
The biggest traffic jam is on the road to success.
The challenge in growing older is to preserve your self-respect while you are losing your mind, your coordination, and your ability to keep from dribbling on your shirt.
The cheapest is rarely a savings.
The chief consolation for baldness is that it is better to have something inside than outside.
The children often pioneer a family's departure from Biblical faith. God uses our children to test us.
The choice at an election is generally between the power of radicalism and the power of business.
The criminal mind, though it may be intricate, is always small.
The daily cross is the daily slight.
The day is for work, the evening for reflection, and the night for renewal.
The defense of liberty has been supplanted by the defense of sin.
The devil goes to church if someone takes him.
The devil is a master of mind games.
The devil is always trying to concentrate power in the hands of a few proud men, easy to control, because through them he can control everybody.
The devil works both sides of the street.
The difference between a believer and an unbeliever is a little bit of knowledge and a great deal of grace.
The eager swain should know that a woman who causes you grief is not worth grieving over.
The enemies of God shelter within their hearts all the darkness of the universe.
The essence of life is not to pursue dreams, but to overcome trials.
The explanation least flattering to self is usually right.
The explanation that sees other people as really sensitive and smart is usually wrong.
The face filling your screen may have feet standing in hell.
The fair schemer should know that a man you must chase is not worth catching.
The first, last, and hardest sin to eradicate is pride.
The first rule of good health is to do nothing unusual.
The further we pass through history, the better we see the future.
The genius of democracy is that it handles the great questions of the day by submitting them to the court of reason instead of surrendering them to the fist of coercion.
The heart is one place that can never be filled.
The idealist trying to haul the world to a better place has not yet taken up the slack in his rope.
The law of liberty is love because love liberates us from the temptation to break any other law.
The loneliest calling is to be wise.
The Lord dispenses favor where He discovers faith.
The main trend of modern times is the juvenilization of society.
The mark of poetry is music. The rhymes play the repeated notes of a melody and the meter sounds a regular beat.
The measure of your happiness is how much you welcome tomorrow.
The measure of your ill-treatment is how dizzy you are from turning the other cheek.
The measure of your success is not how much money you have, but how many people will love you even if you fail.
The more alluring, the less enduring.
The nature of love is not to take possession, but to give satisfaction.
The old should live for the sake of the young, not the young for the sake of the old.
The only barrier to learning is time presently wasted.
The only escapes from stress are coma and death.
The only reason we haven't made contact with aliens is that they don't exist.
The only result of banging on a closed door is bruised knuckles.
The peccadilloes of one generation become the vices of the next.
The pillars of democracy are education and morals. In the ruins after you topple the first, you will find only demagoguery; after you topple the second, only corruption. The result in either case will be the rebirth of tyranny.
The portion of deviltry in villainy is always hard to figure.
The power of the purse is held by the poorest of taste.
The present world system is a consuming pit where dying men scramble for a few moments of deficient joy.
The proof of our materialism is that we value old things more than old people.
The purpose of a committee is not to determine truth, but to create for every member the illusion that truth depends on his opinion.
The quickest way to meet your fear is to run from it.
The saddest words beneath the sun, vacation's done.
The secret of happiness is to never grow tired of good things.
The test of any improvement is how long it will take to eliminate or accept the drawbacks.
The test of your honesty is not whether you are sincere in making a promise, but whether you are diligent in keeping it.
The things that did not happen were impossible.
The three movers of history are money, lust, and loyalty.
The trouble with being an intellectual is that you are prone to the most extreme forms of stupidity.
The two windows to a man's soul are his children and his jokes.
The twofold wonder of salvation is that while God saves us from the worst, He gives us His best.
The usual fate of a gadfly is to be swatted.
The way back is always shorter than the way going.
The wellspring of all righteousness is love.
The wiser the sentiment, the less likely it is original.
The wisest bird has not the brightest plumage.
The world is God's nursery, exposing His children to just enough evil to inoculate them against it and to establish their love for Him.
The world is so much better when people do little things right.
The worse we imagine others to be, the better we feel about ourselves.
The young need some adventures to learn the fragility of life.
There is a close connection between lack of faith and lack of imagination.
There is always enough stuff to fill the space.
There is no cure for small-mindedness.
There is no democracy in the realm of ideas, where the only sovereign is truth.
There is no hope if morning does not bring it.
There will be no more progress if a nation substitutes faith in progress for faith in Providence.
They who would resist any political tyranny bow to the tyranny of fashion.
Time is the best judge of every decision.
To avoid contradiction, gossip lurks in secret places.
To be grouchy or gloomy wastes precious moments of life.
To be ugly is a trial; to be beautiful is a trap; to be ordinary is a treasure.
To grasp one idea is to open up many questions.
To grow up is to stop bending the truth to advantage and to accept that advantage lies in the truth.
To guard their hearts, keep their heads out of Hollywood.
To live with a slob is cruel and unusual punishment.
To reify semantic distinctions is the mark of second-rate minds.
To sleep soundly, uncover your feet and your ears.
To the modern intellectual who has sold out to nonsense, I say, beware lest you become expendable.
Today's loudest call for liberty comes from tomorrow's tyrant.
Truth is never as interesting as speculation.
Unbelief at last reduces a man to complete stupidity.
Unless you choose to be small, you will never be tall.
Video entertainment is candy for the eye.
What a person is, is not so important as what he desires to be. The power of God can close the gap.
What is good for me is good for you, and what is good for you is good for me, because there is only one good.
What men do with perfect freedom of choice agrees with what God has already determined.
What saves you from vanity is a sense of the ridiculous.
What we call the news is generally the olds.
What you hate in an enemy is either the bad you are or the good you have forsaken.
What you love is what you are willing to die for, not cry for.
Whatever else a poem may offer, only the music is essential. Imagery, vividness of time and place, exalted feeling, and lofty words make the music better, but do not make it music.
When extreme opinions fire at each other, the only casualty may be truth in the middle.
When we consider that the sky mutates into a different glorious scene every morning and evening, how can we doubt that the world was made by a great artist?
When we finally reach the future, the world is less different and interesting than we hoped.
When you are young, life is eternity, but when you are old, life is yesterday.
When you get old, just living makes you tired.
When you know how, you're too old.
Whereas a philosopher wants to find truth, a lawyer wants to make it.
Wherever you wander, there's no cooking like Ma's.
Whoever parleys with the devil will end up crucifying a good man.
Wisdom is native intelligence with a cutting edge honed by the Bible.
Women and fires need constant attention.
Worse than an enemy is a stupid enemy.
You can be either God's fool or a fool.
You can't live happily ever after unless you go to heaven.
You can't lose any good thing by doing the right thing.
You hurry to wait longer.
You know you are getting old if the biggest excitement in your life is when you accidentally take the wrong pill.
You know you are getting old if, when taking a shower, you can't remember which parts you've already cleaned.
You learn how to love from being loved.
You measure a young person's potential by their innocence and honesty.
You must make a mess to do a job.
You need not apologize for necessity.
You see a man's true quality in how he proceeds when he must cause you pain.
You should never have high expectations for the beginning of anything.
You probably won't be appreciated until you're dead, so you might as well be glad you're not appreciated.
You'll never see a “No Vacancy” sign on Grandpa's lap.
Your face confesses what you don't say.
Your face puts your words in bold print.
Your habits when young determine your health when old.
Your life passes before the eyes of a world indifferent to your excuses.
You're not old; you're collectible, and by the grace of God you may become vintage or antique.
Youth is a curable disease.

Disclaimer

Each of these aphorisms has arisen from my own experience of life. You can see that the vast majority are certainly original. Yet because there is nothing new under the sun and wisdom is never new, it is possible that some of these sayings are close to what others have said in the past. It is possible that a few are not original even in their wording. But I have not consciously plagiarized anyone else's work. As these sayings have come to my mind, it has seemed to me that I invented them. If you can document that any comes from another source, I shall be glad to give credit where it is due.