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

Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch, aka Maggid of Mezeritch

I cannot teach you the ten principles of service. But a little child and a thief can show you what they are. From the child you can learn three things: He is merry for no particular reason; never for a moment is he idle; when he needs something, he demands it vigorously. The thief can instruct you in seven things: He does his service by night; if he does not finish what he has set out to do, in one night, he devotes the next night to it; he and those who work with him love one another; he risks his life for small gains; what he takes has so little value for him that he gives it up for a very small coin; he endures blows and hardship, and it matters nothing to him; he likes his trade and would not exchange it for any other.

Character | Life | Life | Little | Love | Nothing | Principles | Reason | Service | Teach | Work | Child | Learn | Value |

Stephen Vincent Benét

Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.

Character | Day | Life | Life | Wisdom |

Honoré de Balzac

Glory is a poison, good to be taken in small doses.

Character | Glory | Good |

John Armstrong

Virtue, the strength and beauty of the soul, is the best gift of heaven; a happiness that, even above the smiles and frowns of fate, exalts great Nature’s favorites; a wealth that ne’er encumbers, nor can be transferr’d.

Beauty | Character | Fate | Heaven | Nature | Soul | Strength | Virtue | Virtue | Wealth | Beauty | Happiness |

Arthur Aughey

The chief secret of comfort lies in not suffering trifles to vex us, and in prudently cultivating an undergrowth of small pleasures, since very few great ones are let on long leases.

Character | Comfort | Suffering | Trifles |

Gamaliel Bailey

Keep thy spirit pure from worldly taint by the repellent strength of virtue.

Character | Spirit | Strength | Virtue | Virtue |

Francis Ellington Abbot

Just as a tested and rugged virtue of the moral hero is worth more than the lovely, tender, untried innocence of the child, so is the massive strength of a soul that has conquered truth for itself worth more than the soft peach-bloom faith of a soul that takes truth on trust.

Character | Faith | Hero | Innocence | Soul | Strength | Trust | Truth | Virtue | Virtue | Worth |

Apocrypha NULL

Be not a slave to your passions, less they consume your strength like a bull.

Character | Strength |

Buddha, Gautama Buddha, or The Buddha, also Gotama Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha and Buddha Śākyamuni NULL

Do not overlook negative actions merely because they are small; however small a spark may be, it can burn a haystack as big as a mountain.

Character |

Christian Nestell Bovee

The small courtesies sweeten life; the great ennoble it.

Character | Life | Life |

Buddha, Gautama Buddha, or The Buddha, also Gotama Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha and Buddha Śākyamuni NULL

Faith, modesty, humbleness, endeavor and wisdom are the great sources of strength to him who is seeking Enlightenment. Among these, wisdom is the greatest of all and the rest are but aspects of wisdom.

Character | Enlightenment | Faith | Modesty | Rest | Strength | Wisdom |

Hugh Blair

All the principles which religion teaches, and all the habits which it forms, are favorable to strength of mind. It will be found that whatever purifies fortifies also the heart.

Character | Heart | Mind | Principles | Religion | Strength | Will |

Jean de La Bruyère

Patience and time do more than strength or passion.

Character | Passion | Patience | Strength | Time |

Liane Cardes

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.

Character | Effort | Intelligence | Strength |

Miguel de Cervantes, fully Miguel de Cervantes Saaversa

There is a time for some things, and a time for all things; a time for great things, and a time for small things.

Character | Death | Time | Will |

Harold C. Chase, Jr.

The wise person possesses humility. He knows that his small island of knowledge is surrounded by a vast sea of the unknown.

Character | Humility | Knowledge | Wise |