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

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

I think that we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death, unless they so imminently threaten immediate interference with the lawful and pressing purposes of the law that an immediate check is required to save the country.

Law | Man | Mind | Think |

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Fear not the future, weep not for the past. Nothing in the world is single, All things by a law divine In one another's being mingle — Why not I with thine?

Fear | Future | Law | Nothing | Past | World |

Plutarch, named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus after becoming Roman citizen NULL

A mere law to give all men equal rights is but useless, if the poor man must sacrifice those rights to their debts, and, in the very seats and sanctuaries of equality, the courts of justice, the offices of state, and the public discussions, be more than anywhere at the beck and bidding of the rich.

Equality | Justice | Law | Man | Men | Public | Rights | Sacrifice |

Plato NULL

Every man’s soul has by the law of his birth been a spectator of eternal truth, or it would never have passed into this our mortal frame.

Birth | Eternal | Law | Man | Mortal | Soul | Truth |

Plato NULL

If a man were born so divinely gifted that he could naturally apprehend the truth, he would have no need of laws to rule over him; for there is no law or order which is above knowledge, nor can mind, without impiety, be deemed the subject or slave of any man, but rather the lord of all. I speak of mind, true and free, and in harmony with nature. But then there is no such mind anywhere, or at least not so much and therefore we must choose law and order, which are second best.

Harmony | Impiety | Knowledge | Law | Lord | Man | Mind | Nature | Need | Order | Rule | Truth |

Peyton Conway March

There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life - happiness, freedom and peace of mind - are always attained by giving them to someone else.

Freedom | Giving | Law | Life | Life | Mind | Nature | Peace |

Plato NULL

No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.

Law | Understanding |

Pythagoras, aka Pythagoras of Samos or Pythagoras the Samian NULL

Wealth is a weak anchor, and glory cannot support a man; this is the law of God, that virtue only is firm, and cannot be shaken by a tempest.

Glory | God | Law | Man | Virtue | Virtue | Wealth |

Pope John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła, aka Saint John Paul the Great NULL

When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society.

Conscience | Freedom | Humanity | Law | Men | Purpose | Purpose | Rule | Society |

Pope Leo XIII, born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci NULL

Where a law is enacted contrary to reason, or to the eternal law, or to some ordinance of God, obedience is unlawful, lest while obeying man, we become disobedient to God.

Eternal | God | Law | Man | Obedience | Reason |

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Law rules throughout existence, a Law which is not intelligent but Intelligence.

Existence | Intelligence | Law |

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A little consideration of what takes place around us every day would show us that a higher law than that of our will regulates events; that only in our easy, simple spontaneous action are we strong, and by contenting ourselves with obedience we become divine.

Action | Consideration | Day | Events | Law | Little | Obedience | Will |

Robert Browning

Progress is the law of life, man is not man as yet.

Law | Life | Life | Man | Progress |

Robert Bellah, fully Robert Neelly Bellah

It was the deep belief of the founders of the republic could succeed only with virtuous citizens. Only if there was a moral law within would citizens be able to maintain a free government.

Belief | Government | Law | Moral law |

Richard Bach, fully Richard David Bach

The only true law is that which leads to freedom. There is no other.

Freedom | Law |

Ronald Reagan, fully Ronald Wilson Reagan

I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.

Cause | Government | Hope | Law | Liberty | Man | People | Government |