Great Throughts Treasury

"Suppose you were compelled to give up - to forget all the words you know except seven - what seven words would you keep?... The most important words to keep are: You and I... without these two there would need to be no others... You, I, Give, God, Love, Beauty, Earth."

"The appearance of things changes according to the emotions, and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves."

"The filth of a body cannot reach a pure soul."

"The highest virtue here may be least in another world."

"The kindness of the people is but an empty shell containing no gem or precious pearl. With two hearts do people live; a small one of deep softness, the other of steel. And kindness is too often a shield, and generosity too often a sword."

"The lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the housed as a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master."

"The person who is limited in heart and thought is inclined to love that which is limited in life, and the weak-sighted cannot see more than one cubit ahead upon the path he treads, nor more than one cubit of the wall upon which he rests his shoulder."

"The Reality of Life is Life itself, whose beginning is not in the womb, and whose ending is not in the grave. For the years that pass are naught but a moment in eternal life; and the world of matter and all in it is but a dream compared to the awakening which we call the terror of Death."

"The soul does not see anything in life save that which is in the soul itself. It does not believe except in its own private event, and when it experiences something, the outcome becomes a part of it."

"The secret of the heart is encased in sorrow, and only in sorrow is found our joy, while happiness serves but to conceal the deep mystery of life."

"The purpose of the spirit in the heart is concealed, and by outer appearance cannot be judged."

"The significance of a man is not in what he attains, but rather in what he longs to attain."

"The thirst of soul is sweeter than the wine of material things, and the fear of spirit is dearer than the security of the body."

"The true light is that which emanates from within man, and reveals the secrets of the heart to the soul, making it happy and contented with life."

"The truly great man is he who would master no one, and who would be mastered by none."

"To be modest in speaking truth is hypocrisy."

"The will of humanity cannot change the will of God."

"Truth is like the stars; it does not appear except from behind obscurity of the night. Truth is like all beautiful things in the world; it does not disclose its desirability except to those who first feel the influence of falsehood. Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness."

"Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too self-ful to seek other than itself."

"Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."

"Well, you and I are two poets working together. We are friends. I want nothing from you, and you want nothing from me. We share life."

"Whoever would be a teacher of men let him begin by teaching himself before teaching others; and let him teach by example before teaching by word. For he who teaches himself and rectifies his own ways is more deserving of respect and reverence than he who would teach others and rectify their ways."

"Worship does not require solitude."

"You cannot laugh and be unkind at the same time."

"Your body is the harp of your soul."

"Your daily life is your temple and your religion."

"Your spirit’s life, my brother, is encompassed by loneliness, and were it not for that loneliness and solitude, you would not be you, nor would I be I. Were it not for this loneliness and solitude, I would come to believe on hearing your voice that is was my voice speaking; or seeing your face, that it was myself looking into a mirror."

"All things in this creation exist within you, and all things in you exist in creation; there is no border between you and the closest things, and there is no distance between you and the farthest things, and all things, from the lowest to the loftiest, from the smallest to the greatest, are within you as equal things. In one atom are found all the elements of the earth; in one motion of the mind are found the motions of all the laws of existence; in one drop of water are found the secrets of all the endless oceans; in one aspect of you are found all the aspects of existence."

"All work is empty save when there is love."

"Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof."

"Happiness is a myth we seek, if manifested surely irks; like river speeding to the plain, on its arrival slows and murks. For man is happy only in his aspiration to the heights; when he attains his goal, he cools and longs for other distant flights."

"Happiness on earth is but a fleet, passing ghost, which man craves at any cost in gold or time. And when the phantom becomes the reality, man soon wearies of it."

"Art arises when the secret vision of the artist and the manifestation of nature agree to find new shapes."

"Darkness may hide the trees and the flowers from the eyes but it cannot hide love from the soul."

"A sense of humor is a sense of proportion."

"Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror."

"Every beauty and greatness in this world is created by a single thought or emotion inside a man. Every thing we see today, made by past generations, was, before its appearance, a thought in the mind of a man or an impulse in the heart of a woman."

"Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."

"Beauty is that which attracts your soul, and that which loves to give and not to receive. When you meet Beauty, you feel that the hands deep within your inner self are stretched forth to bring her into the domain of your heart. It is a magnificence combined of sorrow and joy; it is the Unseen which you see, and the Vague which you understand, and the Mute which you hear - it is the Holy of Holies that begins in yourself and ends vastly beyond your earthly imagination."

"He who endeavours to cleave the body from the spirit, or the spirit from the body is directing his heart away from truth."

"How ignorant are those who see, without question, the abstract existence of some of their senses, but insist upon doubting until that existence reveals itself to all their senses. Is not faith the sense of the heart as truly as sight is the sense of the eye?... How strange is the one who dreams in truth of a beautiful reality, and then, when he endeavours to fashion it into form but cannot succeed, doubts the dream and blasphemes the reality and distrusts the beauty!"

"How noble is the sad heart who would sing a joyous song with joyous hearts."

"If your knowledge teaches you not the value of things, and frees you not from the bondage to matter, you shall never come near the throne of Truth."

"Is there any place where there is no traffic in empty talk? Is there on this earth one who does not worship himself talking."

"Knowledge and understanding are life's faithful companions who will never prove untrue to you. For knowledge is your crown, and understanding your staff; and when they are with you, you can possess no greater treasures."

"If we were to do away with the various religions, we would find ourselves united and enjoying one great faith and religion, abounding in brotherhood."

"He who repeats what he does not understand is no better than an ass that is loaded with books."

"In much of your talking, thinking is half murdered. For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly."

"Jesus was not sent here to teach the people to build magnificent churches and temples amidst the cold wretched huts and dismal hovels... He came to make the human heart a temple, and the soul an altar, and the mind a priest."

"Learning is the only wealth tyrants cannot despoil. Only death can dim the lamp of knowledge that is within you. The true wealth of a nation lies not in its gold or silver but in its learning, wisdom, and in the uprightness of its sons."