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

E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

It is only when we can see the world as a ladder, and when we can see man's position on the ladder, that we can recognize a meaningful task for man's life on earth.

Little | Man | Rest | Terrorism |

E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

Socialists should insist on using the nationalized industries not simply to out-capitalize the capitalists—an attempt in which they may or may not succeed—but to evolve a more democratic and dignified system of industrial administration, a more humane employment of machinery, and a more intelligent utilization of the fruits of human ingenuity and effort.

Ability | Courage | Growth | Man |

E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

The task, then, is to bring into existence millions of new workplaces in the rural areas and small towns. That modern industry, as it has arisen in the developed countries, cannot possibly fulfill this task should be perfectly obvious. It has arisen in societies which are rich in capital and short of labor and therefore cannot possibly be appropriate for societies short of capital and rich in labor.

Man |

Erving Goffman

Knowing that his audiences are capable of forming bad impressions of him, the individual may come to feel ashamed of a well-intentioned honest act merely because the context of its performance provides false impressions that are bad. Feeling this unwarranted shame, he may feel that his feelings can be seen; feeling that he is thus seen, he may feel that his appearance confirms these false conclusions concerning him. He may then add to the precariousness of his position by engaging in just those defensive maneuvers that he would employ were he really guilty. In this way it is possible for all of us to become fleetingly for ourselves the worst person we can imagine that others might imagine us to be.

Alienation | Experience | Individual | Self |

Estonian Proverbs

Who is a piece of stick in youth will be a block of wood in old age.

Man | Will |

Estonian Proverbs

A man who has learned much is rich.

Man | Woman |

Estonian Proverbs

When God gives a child, he also gives the clothing.

Death | Man | Money |

Estonian Proverbs

Who is careless will be unhappy.

Man |

Estonian Proverbs

A poor beggar is the one who begs without a bag.

Harm | Man |

Ethiopian Proverbs

The little stars will always shine while the great sun is often eclipsed.

Heart | Man | Wise |

Ethiopian Proverbs

Anticipate the good so that you may enjoy it.

Man |

Estonian Proverbs

The marriage where the husband is the head and the wife the heart.

Man |

Ethiopian Proverbs

Advise and counsel him; if he does not listen, let adversity teach him.

Man |

Étienne Gilson, fully Étienne Henry Gilson

Thus the same statement that guarantees that God exists and that his most suitable name is He Who Is, also reveals to us the perfect simplicity of the divine essence. And indeed, God did not say: I am this or that, but simply I Am. I am what? I am ‘I Am.’ So, more than ever, the statement of Exodus seems to soar above in a kind of empty space, where the attraction of the weight of philosophy can no longer be felt. The work of reason is good, healthy, and important, for it proves that, left to itself, philosophy can establish with certitude the existence of the primary being whom everyone calls God. But a single word of the sacred text at once puts us in personal relations with him. We say his name, and by the simple fact of saying it, it teaches us the simplicity of the divine essence.

Absolute | Experience | Light | Man | Truth | Intellect |

Étienne Bonnot de Condillac

Further, laws and public transactions, together with everything that deserved the attention of mankind, were multiplied to such a degree, that the memory grew too weak for so heavy a burden; and human societies increased in such a manner, that the promulgation of the laws could not, without difficulty, reach the ears of every individual.

Ideas | Man | Memory |

Eugen Herrigel

You have described only too well, replied the Master, where the difficulty lies...The right shot at the right moment does not come because you do not let go of yourself. You...brace yourself for failure. So long as that is so, you have no choice but to call forth something yourself that ought to happen independently of you, and so long as you call it forth your hand will not open in the right way--like the hand of a child.

Danger | Life | Life | Man | Soul | Time | Danger |

Étienne Pivert de Senancour

I can do what I want, but the trouble is that I do not quite know what to do.

Enjoyment | Love | Man | Pain | Pleasure | Sense |

Étienne Gilson, fully Étienne Henry Gilson

Not merely to learn philosophy, but to become a philosopher, this is what is now at stake. It does not involve giving up philosophy as a science; it rather involves aiming at possessing philosophy in a different and more exalted way as included in wisdom itself, to which it is in the same relation as a body to its soul. Then also does the philosophical life truly begin, and its beginning does not consist in any addition to already acquired learning; it rather looks like falling in love, like answering the call of a vocation, or undergoing the transforming experience of a conversion.

Life | Life | Man |

Étienne Pivert de Senancour

Without doubt it is natural to include that love long what we love so much.

Love | Man | Melancholy | Pain | Pleasure | Sense |

Étienne Pivert de Senancour

The man is perishable. It can, but perish in resistant, and if nothing we are booked, not do not that this is a justice!

Enjoyment | Love | Man |