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

Joseph Campbell

We have not even to risk the adventure alone for the hero’s of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had though to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. And where we had though to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone we shall be with all the world.

Adventure | Hero | Risk | Thought | Time | Thought |

Julia Ward Howe

Beneath all differences of doctrine or discipline there exists a fundamental agreement as to the simple, absolute essentials in religion.

Absolute | Discipline | Doctrine |

Junius, psyeudonym of unknown English Political Writer NULL

To attack vices in the abstract, without touching persons, may be safe fighting indeed, but it is fighting with shadows.

Fighting | Safe |

Lactantius, fully Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius NULL

For if God is a title of the highest power, He must be incorruptible, perfect, incapable of suffering, and subject to no other being; therefore they are not gods whom necessity compels to obey the one greatest God.

God | Necessity | Title | God |

Kofi Annan, fully Kofi Atta Annan

Whether our task is fighting poverty, stemming the spread of disease or saving innocent lives from mass murder, we have seen that we cannot succeed without the leadership of the strong and the engagement of all

Disease | Fighting | Engagement | Leadership |

Leo Tolstoy, aka Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy or Tolstoi

The hero of my tale, whom I love with all the power of my soul, whom I have tried to portray in all his beauty, who has been, is, and will be beautiful, is Truth.

Hero | Love | Power | Will |

Lewis Mumford

The cycle of the machine is now coming to an end. Man has learned much in the hard discipline and the shrewd, unflinching grasp of practical possibilities that the machine has provided in the last three centuries: but we can no more continue to live in the world of the machine than we could live successfully on the barren surface of the moon.

Discipline | Man | World |

Lou Holtz, fully Louis Leo "Lou" Holtz

There is a thin line between discipline and harassment. Discipline breeds success; harassment breeds contempt.

Discipline |

Lord Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

Regularity in the hours of rising and retiring, perseverance in exercise, adaptation of dress to the variations of climate, simple and nutritious aliment, and temperance in all things are necessary branches of the regimen of health.

Perseverance |

Lydia Sigourney, fully Lydia Huntley Sigourney, née Lydia Howard Huntley

Regularity in the hours of rising and retiring, perseverance in exercise, adaptation of dress to the variations of climate, simple and nutritious aliment, and temperance in all things are necessary branches of the regimen of health.

Perseverance |

Marcel Proust, fully Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust

We feel very strongly that our own wisdom begins where that of the author leaves off and we could like him to provide us with desires... That is the value of reading and is also its inadequacy. To make it into discipline is to give too large a role to what is only an incitement. Reading is on the threshold of the spiritual life it can introduce us to it: it does not constitute it.

Discipline | Life | Life | Reading | Wisdom | Value |

Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, Muslim name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

We have to keep in mind at all times that we are not fighting for integration, nor are we fighting for separation. We are fighting for recognition...for the right to live as free humans in this society.

Fighting | Mind | Right |

Marcel Proust, fully Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust

Reading is at the threshold of the spiritual life; it can introduce us to it. It does not constitute it ... There are certain cases of spiritual depression in which reading can become a sort of curative discipline ... reintroducing a lazy mind into the life of the Spirit

Depression | Discipline | Life | Life | Mind | Reading |

Maltbie Babcock, fully Maltbie Davenport Babcock

Although there is nothing so bad for conscience as trifling, there is nothing so good for conscience as trifles. Its certain discipline and development are related to the smallest things. Conscience, like gravitation, takes hold of atoms. Nothing is morally indifferent. Conscience must reign in manners as well as morals, in amusements as well as work. He only who is "faithful in that which is least" is dependable in all the world.

Amusements | Conscience | Discipline | Good | Manners | Nothing |

Mark Twain, pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens

The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the prompting of a brave, determined spirit.

Perseverance |

Maria Montessori

Social grace, inner discipline and joy. These are the birthright of the human being who has been allowed to develop essential human qualities.

Discipline |

Marie Curie, fully Marie Skłodowska-Curie, originally Manya Sklodowska

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.

Confidence | Perseverance |

Martin van Creveld

The problem is that you cannot prove yourself against someone who is much weaker than yourself. They are in a lose/lose situation. If you are strong and fighting the weak, then if you kill your opponent then you are a scoundrel... if you let him kill you, then you are an idiot. So here is a dilemma which others have suffered before us, and for which as far as I can see there is simply no escape.

Fighting | Kill |

Mary McCarthy

We all live in suspense from day to day; in other words, you are the hero of your own story.

Day | Hero | Suspense |

Max Cleland, fully Joseph Maxwell Cleland

Being a soldier, fighting for this country, is neither Republican nor Democrat.

Fighting |