O. Henry Quotes - Page 2

To a woman nothing seems quite impossible to the powers of the man she worships.

Women's weapon, water-drops.

There is no well defined boundary line between honesty and dishonesty. The frontiers of one blend with the outside limits of the other, and he who attempts to tread this dangerous ground may be sometimes in the one domain and sometimes in the other.

Beauty is Nature in perfection; circularity is its chief attribute. Behold the full moon, the enchanting golf ball, the domes of splendid temples, the huckleberry pie, the wedding ring, the circus ring, the ring for the waiter, and the "round" of drinks.

I wanted to paint a picture some day that people would stand before and forget that it was made of paint. I wanted it to creep into them like a bar of music and mushroom there like a soft bullet.

Yes, I get dry spells. Sometimes I can't turn out a thing for three months. When one of those spells comes on I quit trying to work and go out and see something of life. You can't write a story that's got any life in it by sitting at a writing table and thinking. You've got to get out into the streets, into the crowds, talk with people, and feel the rush and throb of real life-that's the stimulant for a story writer.

There is one day that is ours. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.

When a man begins to be hilarious in a sorrowful way you can bet a million that he is dyeing his hair.

Turn up the lights. I don't want to go home in the dark.

There is a saying that no man has tasted the full flavour of life until he has known poverty, love and war. The justness of this reflection commends it to the lover of condensed philosophy. The three conditions embrace about all there is in life worth knowing. A surface thinker might deem that wealth should be added to the list. Not so. When a poor man finds a long-hidden quarter-dollar that has slipped through a rip into his vest lining, he sounds the pleasure of life with a deeper plummet than any millionaire can hope to cast.

If you live in an atmosphere of luxury, luxury is yours whether your money pays for it, or another's.

It was beautiful and simple, as truly great swindles are.

Perhaps there is no happiness in life so perfect as the martyr's.

She plucked from my lapel the invisible strand of lint (the universal act of woman to proclaim ownership).

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

It couldn't have happened anywhere but in little old New York.

There are a few editor men with whom I am privileged to come in contact. It has not been long since it was their habit to come in contact with me. There is a difference.

She had become so thoroughly annealed into his life that she was like the air he breathed--necessary but scarcely noticed.

By nature and doctrines I am addicted to the habit of discovering choice places wherein to feed.

Of habit, the power that keeps the earth from flying to pieces; though there is some silly theory of gravitation.

Humans were denied the speech of animals. The only common ground of communication upon which dogs and men can get together is in fiction.

It gives men courage and ambition and the nerve for anything. It has the colour of gold, is clear as a glass and shines after dark as if the sunshine were still in it.

East is East, and West is San Francisco, according to Californians. Californians are a race of people; they are not merely inhabitants of a State.

There is a saying that no man has tasted the full flavor of life until he has known poverty, love, and war.

Men to whom life had appeared as a reversible coat - seamy on both sides.