Best Richard Whately Quotes

He only is exempt from failures who makes no efforts.

Unless people can be kept in the dark, it is best for those who love the truth to give them the full light.

Everyone wishes to have truth on his side, but not everyone wishes to be on the side of truth.

As one may bring himself to believe almost anything he is inclined to believe, it makes all the difference whether we begin or end with the inquiry, What is truth?

Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument.

Weak arguments are often thrust before my path; but although they are most insubstantial, it is not easy to destroy them. There is not a more difficult feat known than to cut through a cushion with a sword.

It is the neglect of timely repair that makes rebuilding necessary.

Men are like sheep, of which a flock is more easily driven than a single one.

To be always thinking about your manners is not the way to make them good; the very perfection of manners is not to think about yourself.

Lose an hour in the morning, and you will spend all day looking for it.

In our judgment of human transactions, the law of optics is reversed, we see most dimly the objects which are close around us.

Honesty is the best policy; but he who is governed by that maxim is not an honest man.

A man who gives his children habits of industry provides for them better than by giving them a fortune.

Curiosity is as much the parent of attention, as attention is of memory.