Leo Rosten Quotes

“A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead.”

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

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

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

“The purpose of life is not to be happy—but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all.”

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

“I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that gentleness is to be expected only from the strong.”