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

James Fenimore Cooper

It is a terrible thought, that nothing is ever forgotten; that not an oath is ever uttered that does not continue to vibrate through all time, in the wide-spreading current of sound; that not a prayer is lisped, that its record is not to be found stamped on the laws of nature by the indelible seal of the Almighty's will.

Nature | Nothing | Prayer | Sound | Thought | Time | Will | Wisdom |

Shelagh Delaney

Think all you speak, but speak not all you think. Thoughts are your own; your words are so no more.

Wisdom | Words |

Adam Clarke

It is strictly and philosophically true in Nature and reason that there is no such thing as chance or accident; it being evident that these words do not signify anything really existing, anything that is truly an agent ore the cause of any event; but they signify merely men’s ignorance of the real and immediate cause.

Accident | Cause | Chance | Ignorance | Men | Nature | Reason | Wisdom | Words |

Arthur Cleveland Coxe

Flowers are words which even a babe may understand.

Wisdom | Words |

Saint Columbanus, aka Saint Columbanus of Bobbio NULL

Reprove the wise: your words will bring you thanks.

Will | Wisdom | Wise | Words |

William Cowper

It is a terrible thought, that nothing is ever forgotten; that not an oath is ever uttered that does not continue to vibrate through all times, in the wide spreading current of sound; that not a prayer is lisped, that its record is not to be found stamped on the laws of nature by the indelible seal of the Almighty's will.

Nature | Nothing | Prayer | Sound | Thought | Will | Wisdom |

Mary Baker Eddy

The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

Achievement | Devotion | Thought | Wisdom | Thought |

Albert Einstein

I believe that whoever tries to think things through honestly will soon recognize how unworthy and even fatal is the traditional bias against Negroes. What can the man of good will do to combat this deeply rooted prejudice? He must have the courage to set an example by words and deed, and must watch lest his children become influenced by racial bias.

Children | Courage | Example | Good | Man | Prejudice | Will | Wisdom | Words | Think |

François Fénelon, fully Francois de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon

Accustom yourself gradually to carry prayer into all your daily occupations. Speak, move, work, in peace, as if you were in prayer, as indeed you ought to be. Do everything with excitement, by the spirit of grace.

Excitement | Grace | Peace | Prayer | Spirit | Wisdom | Work |

Anatole France, pen name of Jacques Anatole Francois Thibault

The finest words in the world are only vain sounds if you cannot understand them.

Wisdom | Words | World | Understand |

François Fénelon, fully Francois de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon

True prayer is only another name for the love of God. Its excellence does not consist in the multitude of our words; for our Father knoweth what things we have need of before we ask Him. The true prayer is that of the heart, and the heart prays only for what it desires. To pray, then, is to desire - but to desire what God would have us desire.

Desire | Excellence | Father | God | Heart | Love | Need | Prayer | Wisdom | Words | Excellence | God |

Benjamin Franklin

I develop the habit of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence, never using, when I advanced anything that may possibly be disputed, the words certainly, undoubtedly, or any other that give the air of positiveness to an opinion, but rather say, I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so: It appear to me or should not think it, so or so, for such and such reasons; or I imagine it to be so, or it is so, if I am not mistaken. This habit I believe has been of great advantage to me when I have had occasion to inculcate my opinion and persuade men into measures that I have been, time to time, engaged in promoting.

Habit | Men | Opinion | Time | Wisdom | Words | Think |

Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna or by his Hebrew acronym Gra ("Gaon Rabbenu Eliyahu")

When you lead your sons and daughters in the good way, let your words be tender and caressing, in terms of disciplines that win the heart's assent.

Good | Heart | Wisdom | Words |

Madame Émile de Girardin, Delphine de Girardin, née Gay

The power of words is immense. A well-chosen word has often sufficed to stop a flying army, to change defeat into victory, and to save an empire.

Change | Defeat | Power | Wisdom | Words |