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

John Chrysostom, fully Saint John Chrysostom

Let us pass to the despotic part of the soul, spirit. We must not eliminate it utterly from the youth nor yet allow him to use it all the time. Let us train boys from earliest childhood to be patient when they suffer wrongs themselves, but, if they see another being wronged, to sally forth courageously and aid the sufferer in fitting measure. –

Harm | Neglect | Reading |

Saint Thomas Aquinas, aka Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis or Doctor Universalis

A man should remind himself that an object of faith is not scientifically demonstrable, lest presuming to demonstrate what is of faith, he should produce inconclusive reasons and offer occasion for unbelievers to scoff at a faith based on such ground.

Choice | Free choice | Man |

Sam Ervin, fully Samuel James "Sam" Ervin, Jr.

Murder and theft have been committed since the earliest history of mankind, but that fact has not made murder meritorious or larceny legal.

Books | Choice | Conscience | Deeds | Earth | God | Heart | Lesson | Life | Life | Little | Loneliness | Mankind | Mind | Nature | Prejudice | Solitude | Study | Truth | Will | Words | Deeds | God |

Samuel Butler

Marriage is distinctly and repeatedly excluded from heaven. Is this because it is thought likely to mar the general felicity?

Better | Good | Ideas | Neglect | Opinion |

Samuel Butler

Our ideas are for the most part like bad sixpences, and we spend our lives trying to pass them on one another.

Balance | Choice | Future |

Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

I deny the lawfulness of telling a lie to a sick man for fear of alarming him; you have no business with consequences, you are to tell the truth.

Choice | Consideration | Lord |

Samuel Horsley

In the beautiful character of the blessed Jesus there was not a more striking feature than a certain sensibility which disposed him to take part in every one’s affliction to which he was a witness, and to be ready to afford it a miraculous relief. He was apt to be particularly touched by instances of domestic distress, in which the suffering arises from those feelings of friendship growing out of natural affection and habitual endearment, which constitute the perfection of man as a social creature, and distinguish the society of the human kind from the instinctive herdings of the lower animals.

Education | Government | Neglect | Government |

Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

Those writers who lie on the watch for novelty can have little hope of greatness; for great things cannot have escaped former observation.

Confidence | Genius | Knowledge | Maxims | Neglect | Nothing | Will |

Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

The present time is seldom able to fill desire or imagination with immediate enjoyment, and we are forced to supply its deficiencies by recollection or anticipation.

Care | Good | History | Neglect | Present | Study |

Samuel Richardson

Too liberal self-accusations are generally but so many traps for acquittal with applause.

Choice | Woman |

Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

When men come to like a sea-life, they are not fit to live on land.

Choice | Neglect |

Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

Where grief is fresh, any attempt to divert it only irritates.

Children | Choice | Inquiry | Life | Life | Light | Little | Marriage | Parents | Principles | Society | Will | Wonder | Society |

Samuel Smiles

"Give me a standing place," said Archimedes, "and I will move the world" - Goethe has changed the postulate into the precept. "Make good thy standing place, and move the world."

Choice | Lord | Love | Salvation | Skill | Suffering | Time | Will | Wisdom |

Sidney Madwed

The motivation for all personal behavior is to produce a sense of FEEL GOOD, a sense of inner peace and well-being. To expect a person to go against his desire to feel good or as good as he can feel under any momentary condition is illogical and irrational. In the observation of human behavior, one will notice every human act is a response to a personal need. This is true whether one signs a million dollar contract, scratches one's nose, rolls over in bed, or just day dreams his life away. People will do things which seem contrary to this concept, but the bottom line is they perceive some kind of payoff which will make them feel good. And the payoff is almost always emotional. When you ask people why they want to be financially independent, they might say that they could buy things without having to worry about where the money will come from. And when they worry, they don't FEEL GOOD. A drug addict, a compulsive eater, an alcoholic and anyone with a compulsive habit will continue with their habits because at the moment of action they believe and feel it will make them feel good. That is why breaking compulsive habits are so difficult.

Choice | Failure | Freedom | Success | Will | Failure |

Sidney Madwed

Every child is musical. Unfortunately this natural gift is squelched before it has time to develop. From my all life experience I remember being laughed at because my voice and the words I sang didn't please someone. My second grade teacher, Miss Stone would not let me sing with the rest of the class because she judged my voice as not musical and she said I threw the class off key. I believed her which led to the blockage of my appreciation of music and blocked my ability to write poetry. Fortunately at the age of 57 I had a significant emotional event which unblocked my ability to composed poetry which many people believe have lyrical qualities.

Awareness | Behavior | Better | Choice | Consequences | Expectation | Giving | Important | Opportunity | People | Reason | Receive | Will | Awareness | Expectation |

Sigmund Freud, born Sigismund Schlomo Freud

When someone abuses me I can defend myself, but against praise I am defenseless.

Choice | Decision | Important |

Simone Weil

Contemplating an object fixedly with the mind, asking myself, 'What is it?' without thinking of any other object or relating it to anything else for hours on end.

Authority | Choice | Conquest | Constraint | Culture | Enough | Freedom | Liberty | Need | Obedience | Power | Soul | Truth |

Simone Weil

Nothing can ever justify the assumption that any man, whoever he may be, has been deprived of this power. It is a power which is only real in this world in so far as it is exercised. The sole condition for exercising it is consent. This act of consent may be expressed, or it may not be, even tacitly; it may not be clearly conscious, although it has really taken place in the soul. Very often it is verbally expressed although it has not in fact taken place. But whether expressed or not, the one condition suffices: that it shall in fact have taken place. To anyone who does actually consent to directing his attention and love beyond the world, towards the reality that exists outside the reach of all human faculties, it is given to succeed in doing so. In that case, sooner or later, there descends upon him a part of the good, which shines through him upon all that surrounds him.

Choice | God | Good | Majority | Necessity | Pious | Thought | God | Thought |

Alexander Fleming, fully Sir Alexander Fleming

It has been demonstrated that a species of penicillium produces in culture a very powerful antibacterial substance which affects different bacteria in different degrees. Generally speaking it may be said that the least sensitive bacteria are the Gram-negative bacilli, and the most susceptible are the pyogenic cocci ... In addition to its possible use in the treatment of bacterial infections penicillin is certainly useful... for its power of inhibiting unwanted microbes in bacterial cultures so that penicillin insensitive bacteria can readily be isolated.

Chance | Literature | Merit | Neglect | Observation | Study | Truth | Work |