Leo Rosten Quotes

Leo Rosten (22)

Birth:	11th April, 1908
Death:	19th February, 1997
Nationality:	Russian
Profession:	Humorist, Teacher

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Today's Anniversary - 25th May

Births

• 1969 - Anne Heche
• 1952 - Gordon Smith
• 1960 - Anthea Turner
• 1869 - Robbie Ross
• 1979 - Monica Keena

Deaths

• 1986 - Chester Bowles
• 1970 - Christopher Dawson
• 1937 - Henry Ossawa Tanner
• 2005 - Graham Kennedy
• 1919 - Madame C. J. Walker

• 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 and to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.

  Leo Rosten

  Topics in Inspirational, Life, Truth

  Tags in Compassion

• The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can’t help it.

  Leo Rosten

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Writing

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

  Leo Rosten

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Only, Come

• Words must surely be counted among the most powerful drugs man ever invented.

  Leo Rosten

• Why did God give me two ears and one mouth? So that I will hear more and talk less.

  Leo Rosten

• We see things as we are, not as they are.

  Leo Rosten

• Truth is stranger than fiction; fiction has to make sense.

  Leo Rosten

• The writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him different from others.

  Leo Rosten

• Some things are so unexpected that no one is prepared for them.

  Leo Rosten

• Satire is focused bitterness.

  Leo Rosten

• Proverbs often contradict one another, as any reader soon discovers. The sagacity that advises us to look before we leap promptly warns us that if we hesitate we are lost; that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but out of sight, out of mind.

  Leo Rosten

• If you are going to do something wrong at least enjoy it.

  Leo Rosten

• I never cease being dumbfounded by the unbelievable things people believe.

  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

• First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people.

  Leo Rosten

• Extremists think “communication” means agreeing with them.

  Leo Rosten

• Courage is the capacity to confront what can be imagined.

  Leo Rosten

• Any man who hates dogs and babies can’t be all bad.

  Leo Rosten

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

  Leo Rosten

• A writer writes not because he is educated but because he is driven by the need to communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood.

  Leo Rosten