Leo Rosten quotes

Leo Rosten was an American writer, humorist, and linguist, widely known for popularizing Yiddish culture in the United States. His most famous work is "The Joys of Yiddish," which introduced countless readers to the richness and humor of the Yiddish language. He delighted generations with his stories and insights into language, laughter, and human nature. Here are 31 of his quotes:

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

Leo Rosten

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

Leo Rosten

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

Leo Rosten

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

Leo Rosten

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

Leo Rosten

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

Leo Rosten

Courage is the capacity to confirm what can be imagined.

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

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

Leo Rosten

What's green, hangs on a wall and whistles? [A Herring].

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

Humor is the affectionate communication of insight.

Leo Rosten

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

Leo Rosten

Satire is focused bitterness.

Leo Rosten

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

Leo Rosten

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

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

If at first you don't succeed, before you try again, stop to figure out what you did wrong.

Leo Rosten

Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty.

Leo Rosten

Humor is, I think, the subtlest and chanciest of literary forms. It is surely not accidental that there are a thousand novelists, essayists, poets or journalists for each humorist. It is a long, long time between James Thurbers.

Leo Rosten

Acting is a form of deception, and actors can mesmerize themselves almost as easily as an audience.

Leo Rosten

For some not to be martyrs is martyrdom indeed.

Leo Rosten