Great Throughts Treasury
This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Charles Baudelaire
French Poet, Essayist, Art Critic, and Translator of Edgar Allan Poe
"Laughter is satanic, and, therefore, profoundly human. It is born of Man’s conception of his own superiority… It is at once a sign of infinite grandeur and of infinite wretchedness; of infinite wretchedness by comparison with the absolute Being who exists as an idea in Man’s mind; of an infinite grandeur by comparison with animals."
"The habit of doing one's duty drives out fear."
"For the merchant, even honesty is a financial speculation."