Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Perry Miller

American Educator, Harvard Professor of Literature, Historian, Authority on American Puritanism

"There’s a moral asymmetry that takes hold of us teachers rather too commonly – we think of ourselves as offering service to others, giving them our best, and forget what’s in it for ourselves, the service that we’re receiving from our students."

"It is obvious that man dwells in a splendid universe, a magnificent expanse of earth and sky and heaven, which manifestly is built on a majestic plan, maintains some mighty design, though man himself cannot grasp it. Yet for him it is not a pleasant or satisfying world. In his few moments of respite from labor or from his enemies, he dreams that this very universe might indeed be perfect, its laws operating just as now they seem to do, and yet he and it somehow be in full accord. The very ease with which he can frame this image to himself makes the reality all the more mocking. ... It is only too clear that man is not at home in this universe, and yet he is not good enough to deserve a better. "

"I think this is a good example of the township taking a proactive stance rather than reaction, ... I think this is an excellent example of what we should be doing to take the township into the future."

"[There existed] an "equilibrium of forces, emotional and intellectual, within the Puritan creed."

"I'd love to speak my mind but I don't think I should at this point,"

"It is only too clear that man is not at home in this universe, and yet he is not good enough to deserve a better."

"It was the company that entered into the agreement, not an individual, so I'm kind of out in left field on some of this."

"New England had become, by remaining faithful to its radical dedication, a stronghold of reaction? New England was no longer a reformation, it was an administration. It was no longer battling that most of the populace should be left out of church-fellowship, but was striving to keep church-fellowship alive"

"They're investigating much, much more than that."

"Would be like not spraying your fields and hoping the weeds will stay away."