"When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’" ― Sydney J. Harris Topic(s): Life More From Sydney J. Harris "The beauty of “spacing” children many years apart lies in the fact that parents have time to learn the mistakes that were made with the older ones – which permits them to make exactly the opposite mistakes with the younger ones." "Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be." "Almost no one is foolish enough to imagine that he automatically deserves great success in any field of activity; yet almost everyone believes that he automatically deserves success in marriage." More In Life "Some of the worst mistakes of my life have been haircuts."― Jim Morrison "I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back."― Maya Angelou "There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart’s desire. The other is to gain it."― George Bernard Shaw