Great Throughts Treasury

"He who does not tire, tires adversity."

"Pain adds rest unto pleasure, and teaches the luxury of health."

"Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. "

"Search out the wisdom of Nature, there is depth in all her doings."

"Look too on this poor planet of ours, Torn by the storms of mysterious powers, Evil contending with good from its birth, Wrenching in battle the heartstrings of earth,— Ah! what infinities circle us here, Strangeness and wonderment swathing the sphere!"

"Man liveth from hour to hour, and knoweth not what may happen; Influences circle him on all sides, and yet must he answer for his actions: For the being that is master of himself, bendeth events to his will, But a slave to selfish passions is the wavering creature of circumstance."

"The sun of the mind, and the life of the heart is Wisdom. She is pure and full of light, crowning grey hairs with lustre, And kindling the eye of youth with a fire not its own."

"Mind is not as merchandise which decreaseth in the using, but like the passions of men, which rejoice and expand in exertion."

"The choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation."

"Memory may be but a power of coming to the treasury of Fact, A momentary self-desertion, an absence in spirit from the now, An actual coursing hither and thither, by the mind, slipped from its leash, A life, as in the mystery of dreams, spent within the limits of a moment."

"In the morning of life, before its wearisome journey, The youthful soul doth expand, in the simple luxury of being; It hath not contracted its wishes, nor set a limit on its hopes; The wing of fancy is unclipped, and sin hath not seared the feelings: Each feature is stamped with immortality, for all its desires are infinite, And it seeketh an ocean of happiness, to fill the deep hollow within."

"In a dream thou mayst live a lifetime, and all be forgotten in the morning: Even such is life, and so soon perisheth its memory."

"Society is a chain of obligations, and its links must support each other; The branch cannot but wither, that is cut from the parent vine."

"Where thou perceivest knowledge, bend the ear of attention and respect; But yield not further to the teaching, than as thy mind is warranted by reasons. Better is an obstinant disputant, that yieldeth inch by inch, Than the shallow traitor to himself, who surrendereth to half an argument."

"Once more, in the matter of wealth: if thou throw thine all on a chance, Men will come around thee, and wait, and watch the turning of the wheel; And if, in the lottery of life, thou draw a splendid prize, What foresight hadst thou, and skill! yea, what enterprize and wisdom! But, if it fall out against thee, and thou fail in thy perilous endeavour, Behold, the simple did sow, and hath reaped the right harvest of his folly. And the world will be gladly excused, nor will reach out a finger to help; For why should this speculative dullard be a whirlpool to all around him? Go to, let him sink by himself: we knew what the end of it would be. For the man hath missed his mark, and his fellows look no further."

"To the timid heart, to the child of unbelief and dread, That leaneth on his own weak staff, and trusteth the sight of his eyes, The evil he feared shall come, for the soil is ready for the seed."

"Wealth hath never given happiness, but often hastened misery."

"Happiness is a road-side flower, growing on the highways of Usefulness, Plucked, it shall wither in thy hand; passed by, it is fragrance to thy spirit."

"Hatred is the atmosphere of hell."

"Confidence is conqueror of men; victorious both over them and in them; The iron will of one stout heart shall make a thousand quail; A feeble dwarf, dauntlessly resolved, will turn the tide of battle, And rally to a nobler strife the giants that had fled."

"Keep justice, keep generosity, yielding to neither singly."

"A kingdom is a nest of families, and a family is a small kingdom."

"A spark is a molecule of matter, yet may it kindle the world; vast is the mighty ocean, but drops have made it vast. Despise not thou small things, either for evil or for good; for a look may work thy ruin, or a word create thy wealth."

"Writing is eternal, For therein the dead heart liveth, the clay-cold tongue is eloquent, And the quick eye of the reader is cleared by the reed of the scribe. As a fossil in the rock, or a coin in the mortar of a ruin, So the symbolled thoughts tell of a departed soul: The plastic hand hath its witness in a statue, and exactitude of vision in a picture, And so, the mind, that was among us, in its writings is embalmed."

"Ridicule is a weak weapon when pointed at a strong mind; but common people are cowards and dread an empty laugh. "

"Memory is not wisdom; idiots can by rote repeat volumes. Yet what is wisdom without memory? "

"Error is a hardy plant; it flourisheth in every coil; In the heart of the wise and good, alike with the wicked and foolish; For there is no error so crooked, but it hath in it some lines of truth."

"Anger is a noble infirmity; the generous failing of the just; the one degree that riseth above zeal, asserting the prerogative of virtue. "

"If thou art master to thyself, circumstances shall harm thee little."

"A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men."

"Few and precious are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter. To what shall their rarity be likened? What price shall count their worth? Perfect and much to be desired, and giving joy with riches, no lovely thing on earth can picture all their beauty."

"Knowledge holdeth by the hilt, and heweth out a road to conquest; Ignorance graspeth the blade, and is wounded by its own good sword."

"Better to read a little with thought, than much with levity and quickness."

"O Death, what art thou? a stern and silent usher, leading to the judgment for Eternity, after the trial scene of Time."

"There is nothing so false that a sparkle of truth is not in it."

"Travel is a ceaseless fount of surface education, but its wisdom will be simply superficial, if thou add not thoughts to things."

"Be understood in thy teaching and instruct to the measure of capacity. Precepts and rules are repulsive to a child, but happy illustration wins him."

"Better is the wrong with sincerity, than the right with falsehood."

"All things being are in mystery; we expound mysteries by mysteries."

"The streams of small pleasures fill the lake of happiness."

"Trifles lighter than straws are levers in the building up of character."

"Wealth hath never given happiness, but often hastened misery; enough hath never cause misery, but often quickened happiness."