Great Throughts Treasury

"The gods are watching, but idly, yawning."

"The higher the moral tone, the more suspect the speaker."

"The lonely become either thoughtful or empty."

"The magic of procedure: do this after that and thus before so; then your wish will be granted."

"The man in the street is always a stranger."

"The lion cares less about being king of the beasts than about finding his dinner."

"The horse stares at its captor, barely remembering the free kicks of youth."

"The man of sensibility is too busy talking about his feelings to have time for good deeds."

"The laughter of the aphorism is sometimes triumphant, but seldom carefree."

"The novel avoids the sublime and seeks out the interesting."

"The Media: bold sex and violence, timid politics and morals"

"The passions are the same in every conflict, large or small."

"The Ordinary Life: the misery seems planned, the happiness accidental."

"The only peace is being out of earshot."

"The power of lying is much less than the power of what is not to be discussed."

"The ravaged face in the mirror hides the enchanting youth that is the real me."

"The real secrets are not the ones I tell."

"The passion for money is never fickle."

"The routines of tourism are even more monotonous than those of daily life."

"The same old thing - even if it's champagne - is still the same old thing."

"The sage belongs to the same obsolete repertory as the virtuous maiden and the enlightened monarch."

"The self-righteous feel no need to be charming, and thus double their offensiveness."

"The self-righteous rule out the possibility that they are what has gone wrong."

"The time I kill is killing me."

"The shades of respectability begin to close about the greying head."

"Theory can leave questions unanswered, but practice has to come up with something"

"The tragic hero prefers death to prudence. The comedian prefers playing tricks to winning. Only the villain really plays to win."

"There are different rules for reading, for thinking, and for talking. Writing blends all three of them."

"The sewing machine joins what the scissors have cut asunder, plus whatever else comes in its path."

"Think carefully before asking for justice. Mercy might be safer."

"Thinking about the universe has now been handed over to specialists. The rest of us merely read about it."

"Three meals plus bedtime make four sure blessings a day."

"To be successful be ahead of your time, but only a little."

"To understand someone, find out how he spends his money."

"Treat unhappiness as a defect and fewer would embrace it"

"Three people marooned on a desert island would soon reinvent politics."

"To understand a literary style, consider what it omits."

"Ultimately, blind faith is the only kind."

"Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris."

"Unemployment diminishes people. Leisure enlarges them."

"True self is the part of us that does not change when circumstances do."

"Truth can remain silent. Lies must be spoken."

"Unlike the actual, the fictional explains itself."

"Vacations prove that a life of pleasure is overrated."

"Violence stops thought; Hence its popularity as a pain-killer"

"We are more tied to our faults than to our virtues."

"Was there little time between the invention of language and the coming of true and false?"

"Well-behaved: he always speaks as if his mother might be listening."

"We are prepared for insults, but compliments leave us baffled."

"When a man bores a woman, she complains. When a woman bores a man, he ignores her."