Carolyn Wells

"A cynic is a man who looks at the world with a monocle in his mind's eye."

"Of two evils choose the prettier."

"A guilty conscience is the mother of invention."

"A blunder at the right moment is better than cleverness at the wrong time."

"The books we think we ought to read are poky, dull, and dry; The books that we would like to read we are ashamed to buy; The books that people talk about we never can recall; And the books that people give us — oh, they’re the worst of all!"

"I love the Christmas-tide, and yet, I notice this, each year I live; I always like the gifts I get, But how I love the gifts I give!"

"“A noble theme!” the tyro cried; And straightway scribbled off a sonnet. “A noble theme,” the poet sighed; “I am not fit to write upon it.”"

"They borrow books they will not buy, They have no ethics or religions; I wish some kind Burbankian guy Could cross my books with homing pigeons!"

"Advice is one of those things it is far more blessed to give than to receive."

"It is the interest one takes in books that makes a library. And if a library have interest it is; if not, it isn't."

"Youth is a silly, vapid state, Old age with fears and ills is rife; This simple boon I beg of Fate — A thousand years of Middle Life."

"He laughs best who laughs last, The wiseacres vow; But I am impatient, I want to laugh now."

"I don't believe the half I hear, Nor the quarter of what I see! But I have one faith, sublime and true, That nothing can shake or slay; Each spring I firmly believe anew All the seed catalogues say!"