Great Throughts Treasury

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

Related Quotes

William Cohen, fully William Sebastian Cohen

To the extent that this bombing interrupted the training activities of a terrorist network, they may be more safe.

Security | Service |

William Cohen, fully William Sebastian Cohen

I believe that we have been complacent as a society. We have failed to fully comprehend the gathering storm. Even now after September 11, it is far from clear that our society truly appreciates the gravity of the threat we face or is yet willing to do what is necessary to counter it. Even after September 11, and after anthrax and ricin attacks in the U.S., I remain concerned that the controversy over not finding Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction will lead to the erroneous assumption that all the talk about the dangers of WMD is just another exercise in the cynical exploitation of fear. After all, it is commonly noted, there have been no attacks since 9/11. This is a dangerous delusion. The enemy is not only coming, he has been here. He is already amongst us. He will continue to try to examine our weaknesses, exploit the crevices in our security, and destroy our way of living as well as our lives.

Decision | Important | Public | Service |

William Cowper

His mind his kingdom, and his will his law.

Past | Service | Time |

Walter Pater, fully Walter Horatio Pater

The various forms of intellectual activity which together make up the culture of an age, move for the most part from different starting-points, and by unconnected roads.

Life | Life | Service |

Washington Gladden

O Master, let me walk with Thee in lowly paths of service free; tell me Thy secret; help me bear the strain of toil, the fret of care.

Service |

Washington Gladden

Teach me thy patience; still with thee in closer, dearer company, in work that keeps faith sweet and strong, in trust that triumphs over wrong.

Service |

Wayne Dyer, fully Wayne Walter Dyer

If you want to know what your thoughts were like yesterday, look at your body today. If you want to know what your body will be like tomorrow, look at your thoughts today.

Purpose | Purpose | Service | Will |

Wei Wu Wei, pen name for Terence James Stannus Gray

The practice of meditation is represented by the three monkeys, who cover their eyes, ears and mouths so as to avoid the phenomenal world. The practice of non-meditation is ceasing to be the see-er, hearer or speaker while eyes, ears and mouths are fulfilling their function in daily life.

Awakening | Consciousness | Existence | Service |

W. Brugh Joy, fully William Brugh Joy

Snakes and spiders symbolize the underworld Feminine, a symbol of the sensate world and the physical body. They are associated with the mystery of the creation of the world. This is viewed negatively in the West, yet if one has only known the Divine Mother in its beautific state, its caring, nurturing aspect, at some point you are going to have to encounter its wrathful side, that devours, that enmeshes and consumes, and to honor those forces. Every great thing is birthed out of its counterpart. When you are going through a descent mystery, there is a difference between being dragged into it, and consciously going through the descent. When you are going through a descent, you need to remember you have to submit to its forces, not yours, and unless you are willing to submit to it, which means even dismemberment and death in the process, don’t bother.

Control | Peace | Power | Service | World |

W. Brugh Joy, fully William Brugh Joy

A Human relationship can begin when the projection collapses.

Beauty | Consecration | God | Service | Will | Beauty | God |

W. Edwards Deming, fully William Edwards Deming

The various segments of the system of profound knowledge proposed here cannot be separated. They interact with each other. Thus, knowledge of psychology is incomplete without knowledge of variation.

Problems | Service | System | World |

W. Edwards Deming, fully William Edwards Deming

People are born with intrinsic motivation, self-esteem, dignity, curiosity to learn, joy in learning.

Business | Good | Problems | Service | World | Business | Leader | Think |

Voltaire, pen name of François-Marie Arouet NULL

I know of nothing more laughable than a doctor who does not die of old age.

Men | Service |

Vimala Thakar

We have accepted the watertight compartments of society, the fragmentation of living as factual and necessary. We live in relationship to these fragments and accept the internalized divisions—the various roles we play, the contradictory value systems, the opposing motives and priorities—as reality. We are at odds with ourselves internally; we believe that the inner is fundamentally different from the outer, that what is me is quite separate from the not-me, that divisions among people and nations are necessary, and yet we wonder why there are tensions, conflicts, wars in the world. The conflicts begin with minds that believe in fragmentation and are ignorant of wholeness.

Acceptance | Action | Awareness | Culture | Desire | Meaning | Passion | Peace | Problems | Purpose | Purpose | Right | Service | Society | Will | Society | Awareness |

Vimala Thakar

There is much unexplored potential in each human being. We are not just flesh and bone or an amalgamation of conditionings. If this were so, our future on this planet would not be very bright. But there is infinitely more to life, and each passionate being who dares to explore beyond the fragmentary and superficial into the mystery of totality helps all humanity perceive what it is to be fully human. Revolution, total revolution, implies experimenting with the impossible. And when an individual takes a step in the direction of the new, the impossible, the whole human race travels through that individual.

Acceptance | Action | Consciousness | Cynicism | History | Indifference | Integration | Majority | People | Service | Society | Spirituality | Work | Society |

Vincent van Gogh, fully Vincent Willem van Gogh

Some good must come by clinging to the right. Conscience is a man's compass, and though the needle sometimes deviates, though one often perceives irregularities in directing one's course by it, still one must try to follow its direction.

Fate | Good | Mind | Service | Study | Unfaithfulness | Fate | Friendship | Think |

Vincent van Gogh, fully Vincent Willem van Gogh

I'm able to get by very well in life, and also with my work, without beloved God. But I, a suffering human being, cannot survive without there being something greater than myself, which for me is my whole life- the creative power... I want to paint m

Love | Nature | Sincerity | Work |

Virginia Woolf, nee Stephen, fully Adeline Virginia Woolf

The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.

Affectation | Business | Famous | Genius | Good | Need | Posterity | Sincerity | Skill | Will | Business |

Vernon Howard, fully Vernon Linwood Howard

It is utterly useless to try to change the outer world, for it is but a reflection of inner causes. The true seeker seeks to change himself.

Knowing | Sincerity |