Quotes by Ben Stein

“Jump into the middle of things, get your hands dirty, fall flat on your face, and then reach for the stars.”

“The human spirit needs to accomplish, to achieve, to triumph to be happy.”

“Somewhere there is a map of how it can be done.”

“You must take the first step. The first steps will take some effort, maybe pain. But after that, everything that has to be done is real-life movement.”

“Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows.”

“Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over gain, and you will grow stronger until have accomplished a purpose - not the one you began with perhaps, but one youll be glad to remember.”

“The successful people of this world take life as it comes. They just go out and deal with the world as it is.”

“There is no sudden leap into the stratosphere... There is only advancing step by step, slowly and tortuously, up the pyramid towards your goals...”

Screaming at children over their grades, especially to the point of the childs tears, is child abuse, pure and simple. Its not funny and its not good parenting. It is a crushing, scarring, disastrous experience for the child. It isnt the least bit funny.

I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it sis my duty ... This is my highest and best use as a human.

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I dont feel threatened. I dont feel discriminated against.

It doesnt bother me a bit when people say, Merry Christmas to me. I dont think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it.

I was a trial lawyer. At the same time, I was a teacher. I taught about the political and social content of film for American University. Then I left and became a teacher at the University of California at Santa Cruz. I taught about the political and social content of film, but I also taught a course in law for undergraduates.

We are not supposed to be all equal. Lets just forget that. We are supposed to have equal rights under law. If we do that, we have done enough.

Its really amazing that in the age of unbelief, as a smart man called it, there isnt even more fraud. After all, with no God, theres no one to ever call you to account, and no accounting at all if you can get away with it.

Its amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions.

Sleep makes people calmer, more alert, less fearful - just plain happier, or so I see around me and in me. I am sure that if this great nation were to concentrate on getting more sleep, we would be a happier, more confident people, and that by itself would be a major achievement.

If you want to fight the evil you see in finance and industry, get to work reading the corporate filings, see if there has been fraud, and where you find it, report it to the SEC or write about it or blog about it.

I dont really consider myself to be a personal finance expert compared with some others. There are quite a few that know a lot more than I do.

My pals, such as they are, in Hollywood, ask me why I love to travel to D.C. so much, why its a vacation destination for me. I say, Because I sometimes have perfect days there.