Great Throughts Treasury

"The truth is incontrovertible, manic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is."

"The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is."

"The United States is like giant boiler. Once the fire is lighted under it, there is no limit to the power it can generate."

"The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative."

"The uncertainty and importance of the present reduce the past and future to comparative insignificance, and clear the mind of minor worries. And when all is over, memories remain which few men do not hold precious."

"The United States is a land of free speech. Nowhere is speech freer - not even here where we sedulously cultivate it even in its most repulsive form."

"The unnatural and increasingly rapid growth of the feeble-minded and insane classes, coupled as it is with steady restriction among all the thrifty, energetic and superior stocks constitutes a national and race danger which is impossible to exaggerate. I feel that the source from which the stream of madness is fed should be cut off and sealed before another year has passed."

"The V sign is the symbol of the unconquerable will of the occupied territories, and a portent of the fate awaiting the Nazi tyranny."

"The very first thing the President did was to show me the new Presidential Seal, which he had just redesigned. He explained, 'The seal has to go everywhere the President goes. It must be displayed upon the lectern when he speaks. The eagle used to face the arrows but I have re-designed it so that it now faces the olive branches ? what do you think?' I said, 'Mr. President, with the greatest respect, I would prefer the American eagle's neck to be on a swivel so that it could face the olive branches or the arrows, as the occasion might demand.'"

"The vice of capitalism is the fundamental Post Allamtsawih for bounties, but the fundamental virtue of socialism are equitable sharing of miseries"

"The vistas of possibility are only limited by the shortness of life."

"The wars of people will be more terrible than those of kings."

"The War was decided in the first twenty days of fighting, and all that happened afterwards consisted in battles which, however formidable and devastating, were but desperate and vain appeals against the decision of Fate."

"The way to achieve happiness is to try for perfection that is impossible to achieve, and spend the rest of your life trying to achieve it."

"The world looks with some awe upon a man who appears unconcernedly indifferent to home, money, comfort, rank, or even power and fame. The world feels not without a certain apprehension, that here is someone outside its jurisdiction; someone before whom its allurements may be spread in vain; someone strangely enfranchised, untamed, untrammeled by convention, moving independent of the ordinary currents of human action."

"The whole map of Europe has been changed ... but as the deluge subsides and the waters fall short we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again."

"The water was not fit to drink. To make it palatable, we had to add whiskey. By diligent effort, I learned to like it."

"The world today is ruled by harassed politicians absorbed in getting into office or turning out the other man so that not much room is left for debating the great issues on their merits"

"Their horse cavalry, of which they had twelve brigades, charged valiantly against the swarming tanks and armored cars but could not harm them with their swords and lances."

"Their insatiable lust for power is only equaled by their incurable impotence in exercising it."

"The worst quarrels only arise when both sides are equally in the right and in wrong."

"Then our word to the United States, and actually declared war upon"

"There are a lot of lies going around... and half of them are true."

"There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true."

"There are few virtues that the Poles do not possess and there are few errors they have ever avoided."

"There are few words which are used more loosely than the word Civilization. What does it mean? It means a society based upon the opinion of civilians. It means that violence, the rule of warriors and despotic chiefs, the conditions of camps and warfare, of riot and tyranny, give place to parliaments where laws are made, and independent courts of justice in which over long periods those laws are maintained. That is Civilization?and in its soil grow continually freedom, comfort, and culture. When Civilization reigns, in any country, a wider and less harassed life is afforded to the masses of the people. The traditions of the past are cherished, and the inheritance bequeathed to us by former wise or valiant men becomes a rich estate to be enjoyed and used by all."

"There are two main characteristics of the House of Commons which will command the approval and the support of reflective and experienced Members. The first is that its shape should be oblong and not semicircular. Here is a very potent factor in our political life. The semicircular assembly, which appeals to political theorists, enables every individual or every group to move round the center, adopting various shades of pink according as the weather changes. I am a convinced supporter of the party system in preference to the group system. I have seen many earnest and ardent Parliaments destroyed by the group system. The party system is much favored by the oblong form of chamber. It is easy for an individual to move through those insensible gradations from left to right, but the act of crossing the Floor is one which requires serious attention. I am well informed on this matter for I have accomplished that difficult process, not only once, but twice."

"There are men in the world who derive as stern an exaltation from the proximity of disaster and ruin, as others from success."

"There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you."

"There but for the grace of God, goes God. [on Stafford Cripps]"

"There comes a precious moment in all of our lives when we are tapped on the shoulder and offered the opportunity to do something very special that is unique to us and our abilities, what a tragedy it would be if we are not ready or willing."

"There comes a special moment in everyone?s life, a moment for which that person was born. That special opportunity, when he seizes it, will fulfill his mission ? a mission for which he is uniquely qualified. In that moment, he finds greatness. It is his finest hour."

"There is at least one thing worse than fighting with allies ? And that is to fight without them"

"There he stalks, that wuthering height. [on John Reith]"

"There is a good saying to the effect that when a new book appears one should read an old one."

"There is a hush over all Europe, nay, over all the world. Alas! it is the hush of suspense, and in many lands it is the hush of fear. Listen! No, listen carefully, I think I hear something yes, there it was quite clear. Don?t you hear it? It is the tramp of armies crunching the gravel of the parade-grounds, splashing through rain-soaked fields, the tramp of two million German soldiers and more than a million Italians going on maneuvers yes, only on maneuvers!"

"There is a kind of intolerant spirit now abroad which arises out of the growing power of party and other machinery ? a spirit which resents individual opinion, which clamors for uniformity and political Test Acts."

"There is more blood than paint upon these hands. All those thousands of men killed. We thought it would be a little job, and so it might have been if it had begun in the right way."

"There is always much to be said for not attempting more than you can do and for making a certainty of what you try. But this principle, like others in life and war, has it exceptions."

"There is in the act of preparing, the moment you start caring."

"There is less there than meets the eye."

"There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained."

"There is no better exercise than to study and devour a picture, and then, without looking at it again, to attempt the next day to reproduce it."

"There is no limit to the ingenuity of man if it is properly and vigorously applied under conditions of peace and justice."

"There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies."

"There is no need to exaggerate the part played in the creation of Bolshevism and in the actual bringing about of the Russian Revolution, by these international and for the most part atheistical Jews, it is certainly a very great one; it probably outweighs all others. With the notable exception of Lenin, the majority of the leading figures are Jews. Moreover, the principal inspiration and driving power comes from the Jewish leaders. Thus Tchitcherin, a pure Russian, is eclipsed by his nominal subordinate Litvinoff, and the influence of Russians like Bukharin or Lunacharski cannot be compared with the power of Trotsky, or of Zinovieff, the Dictator of the Red Citadel (Petrograd) or of Krassin or Radek -- all Jews. In the Soviet institutions the predominance of Jews is even more astonishing. And the prominent, if not indeed the principal, part in the system of terrorism applied by the Extraordinary Commissions for Combating Counter-Revolution has been taken by Jews, and in some notable cases by Jewesses. The same evil prominence was obtained by Jews in the brief period of terror during which Bela Kun ruled in Hungary. The same phenomenon has been presented in Germany (especially in Bavaria), so far as this madness has been allowed to prey upon the temporary prostration of the German people. Although in all these countries there are many non-Jews every whit as bad as the worst of the Jewish revolutionaries, the part played by the latter in proportion to their numbers in the population is astonishing."

"There is no merit in putting off a war for a year if, when it comes, it is far worse or much harder to win."

"There is no room for the dilettante, the weakling, for the shirker, or the sluggard. The mine, the factory, the dockyard, the salt sea waves, the field to till, the home, the hospital, the chair of the scientist, the pulpit of the preacher - from the highest to the humblest tasks, all are of equal honor; all have their part to play."

"There is no such thing as a good tax."

"There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion."