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

Saint Francis de Sales NULL

Make friends with the angels, who though invisible are always with you. Often invoke them, constantly praise them, and make good use of their help and assistance in all your temporal and spiritual affairs.

Angels | Good | Praise | Friends |

Talmud or The Talmud NULL

The highest praise is silence. Even a pearl of infinite value, any praise given it detracts from it.

Praise | Silence |

Thomas Wilson

He who loves praise loves temptation.

Praise | Temptation |

Elias Canetti

One should use praise to recognize what one is not.

Praise |

Epictetus "the Stoic" NULL

These are the signs of a wise man: to reprove nobody, to praise nobody, to blame nobody, nor event speak of himself or his own efforts.

Blame | Praise | Wise |

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

He who unreservedly accepts whatever God may give him in this world – humiliation, trouble, and trial from within or from without – has made a great step towards self-victory; he will not dread praise or censure, he will not be sensitive; or if he finds himself wincing, he will deal so cavalierly with his sensitiveness that it will soon die away. Such full resignation and unfeigned acquiescence is true liberty, and hence arises perfect simplicity.

Dread | God | Praise | Resignation | Will | World | Trial | God |

Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

So long as men praise you, you can only be sure that you are not yet on your own path but on someone else's.

Men | Praise |

Gilbert Keith "G.K." Chesteron

It is not only possible to say a great deal in praise of play; it is really possible to say the highest things in praise of it. It might reasonably be maintained that the true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground. To be at last in such secure innocence that one can juggle with the universe and the stars, to be so good that one can treat everything as a joke — that may be, perhaps, the real end and final holiday of human souls.

Earth | Good | Heaven | Innocence | Life | Life | Object | Praise | Universe |

Han Fei, also Han Fei Zi, Han Feitzu and Han Fei Tzu

The law does not fawn on the noble; the string does not yield to the crooked. Whatever the law applies to, the wise cannot reject nor can the brave defy. Punishment for fault never skips ministers, reward for good never misses commoners. Therefore, to correct the faults of the high, to rebuke the vices of the low, to suppress disorders, to decide against mistakes, to subdue the arrogant, to straighten the crooked, and to unify the folkways of the masses, nothing could match the law. To warn the officials and overawe the people, to rebuke obscenity and danger, and to forbid falsehood and deceit, nothing could match penalty. If penalty is severe, the noble cannot discriminate against the humble. If law is definite, the superiors are esteemed and not violated. If the superiors are not violated, the sovereign will become strong and able to maintain the proper course of government. Such was the reason why the early kings esteemed legalism and handed it down to posterity. Should the lord of men discard law and practice selfishness, high and low would have no distinction. Hence to govern the state by law is to praise the right and blame the wrong.

Blame | Falsehood | Fault | Good | Law | Lord | Men | Nothing | Practice | Praise | Punishment | Reason | Rebuke | Reward | Right | Will | Wise | Fault | Govern |

Heinrich Heine

He only profits from praise who values criticism.

Praise |

Jerome P. Fleishman

Most of us, swimming against tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement and we'll make the goal. Say "Thank you!" whenever you think of it. Say "Nice job!" to that workman who put extra effort into his task. Say "Atta boy!" to the fellow who is struggling through in the face of odds. You'll get a whale of a lot of joy out of life that way. And people will love you.

Effort | Joy | Life | Life | Love | Need | Nothing | People | Praise | Will | World | Trouble | Think |

Joanna Baillie

Half-uttered praise is to the curious mind, as to the eye half-veiled beauty is, more precious than the whole.

Beauty | Praise | Beauty |

John Wooden, fully John Robert Wooden

You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one.

Criticism | Praise | Weakness |

John C. Maxwell

Affirmation from others is fickle and fleeting. If you want to make an impact during your lifetime, you have to trade the praise you could receive from others for the things of value that you can accomplish. You can’t be ‘one of the boys’ and follow your destiny at the same time.

Destiny | Praise | Receive | Value |

Dōgen, aka Dōgen Kigen, Eihei Dōgen, titled as Dōgen Zenji NULL

What the worldly praise is not always wise, is not always holy; what the worldly disparage is not always wise, is not always holy.

Praise |

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

None strive to know their proper merit but strain for wisdom, beauty, spirit And lose the praise that is their due when they've the impossible in view.

Merit | Praise | Spirit |

Krishna, also Kreeshna, Krsna, Lord Krishna NULL

Those who have conquered themselves...live in peace, alike in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, praise and blame...To such people a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same...Because they are impartial, they rise to great heights.

Gold | People | Pleasure | Praise |