O. Henry quotes

O. Henry was an American short story writer known for his witty, clever plots and surprise endings. His stories often focused on the everyday lives of ordinary people, capturing both humor and pathos. He became famous for his unique narrative style and lasting influence on American literature. Here are 73 of his quotes:

Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. (O. Henry)
If man knew how women pass the time when they are alone, they'd never marry. View quote
O. Henry
It was beautiful and simple as all truly great swindles are. View quote
O. Henry
A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows. View quote
O. Henry
She plucked from my lapel the invisible strand of lint (the universal act of woman to proclaim ownership). View quote
O. Henry
It couldn't have happened anywhere but in little old New York. View quote
O. Henry
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. View quote
O. Henry
Bohemia is nothing more than the little country in which you do not live. If you try to obtain citizenship in it, at once the court and retinue pack the royal archives and treasure and move away beyond the hills. View quote
O. Henry
Turn up the lights. I don't want to go home in the dark. View quote
O. Henry
Love, when it is ours, is the other name for self-abnegation and sacrifice. When it belongs to people across the airshaft it means arrogance and self-conceit. View quote
O. Henry
A story with a moral appended is like the bill of a mosquito. It bores you, and then injects a stinging drop to irritate your conscience. (O. Henry)
Write what you like; there is no other rule. View quote
O. Henry
Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence. View quote
O. Henry
You can't appreciate home till you've left it, money till it's spent, your wife till she's joined a woman's club, nor Old Glory till you see it hanging on a broomstick on the shanty of a consul in a foreign town. View quote
O. Henry
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. View quote
O. Henry
There is one day that is ours. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American. View quote
O. Henry
The true adventurer goes forth aimless and uncalculating to meet and greet unknown fate. View quote
O. Henry
If ever there was an aviary overstocked with jays it is that Yaptown-on-the-Hudson, called New York. View quote
O. Henry
What is the world at its best but a little round field of the moving pictures with two walking together in it? View quote
O. Henry
Whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 per cent from the curative power of medicines. View quote
O. Henry
Not very long ago some one invented the assertion that there were only "Four Hundred" people in New York City who were really worth noticing. But a wiser man has arisen - the census taker - and his larger estimate of human interest has been preferred in marking out the field of these little stories of the "Four Million." (O. Henry)
Take of London fog 30 parts; malaria 10 parts, gas leaks 20 parts, dewdrops gathered in a brickyard at sunrise 25 parts; odor of honeysuckle 15 parts. Mix. The mixture will give you an approximate conception of a Nashville drizzle. View quote
O. Henry
History is bright and fiction dull with homely men who have charmed women. View quote
O. Henry
In time truth and science and nature will adapt themselves to art. Things will happen logically, and the villain be discomfited instead of being elected to the board of directors. But in the meantime fiction must not only be divorced from fact, but must pay alimony and be awarded custody of the press despatches. View quote
O. Henry
A burglar who respects his art always takes his time before taking anything else. View quote
O. Henry