Quotes by John Erskine

“Do you love me because Im beautiful, or am I beautiful because you love me?”

“In marriage do thou be wise: prefer the person before money, virtue before beauty, the mind before the body; then thou hast a wife, a friend, a companion, a second self”

“Charm is more than just beauty.”

“Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing”

“Most people have some sort of religion, at least they know which church theyre staying away from”

“Opinion is that exercise of the human will which helps us to make a decision without information”

“Lets tell young people the best books are yet to written; the best painting, the best government the best of everything is yet to be done by them.”

“That which is called firmness in a king is called obstinacy in a donkey”

“In the simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where she wants and gets up and goes.”

“Only if we can restrain ourselves is good conversation possible. Good talk rises upon much discipline.”

“I thought maybe Id get a couple more, ... but not like this. Everyone said they are addicting. I just like having artwork on my body.”

It is fatal to suppose the great writer was too wise or too profound for us ever to understand him; to think of art so is not to praise but to murder it, for the next step after that tribute will be neglect of the masterpiece.

Whenever we read a book we love, we change it, to some extent. We read into it our own interpretations, and the meanings which the words have taken on in our time. If a book is so rigid that it cannot lend itself to these fluctuations, it is useful only while it seems strictly true, and afterwards it is completely out of date.

Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing.

Temperance is the control of all the functions of our bodies. The man who refuses liquor goes in for apple pie and develops a paunch is no ethical leader for me.

Theres a difference between beauty and charm. A beautiful woman is one I notice. A charming woman is one who notices me.