Richard Whately

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.

— Richard Whately

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

— Richard Whately

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

— Richard Whately

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

— Richard Whately

He only is exempt from failures who makes no efforts.

— Richard Whately

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

— Richard Whately

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

— Richard Whately

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

— Richard Whately

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

— Richard Whately

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.

— Richard Whately

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

— Richard Whately

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

— Richard Whately

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?

— Richard Whately

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

— Richard Whately