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

Felix Adler

The peace that passeth understanding is that which comes when the pain is not relieved, which subsists in the midst of the painful situation, suffusing it, which springs out of the pain itself, which shimmers on the crest of the wave of pain, which is the spear of frustration transfigured into the shaft of light. It is upon those we love that we must anchor ourselves spiritually in the last moments. The sense of interconnectedness with them stands out vividly by way of contrast at the very moment when our mortal connection with them is about to be dissolved. And the intertwining of our life with theirs, the living in the life that is in them, is but a part of our living in the infinite manifold of the spiritual life. The thought of this, as apprehended, not in terms of knowledge, but in immediate experience, begets the peace that passeth understanding. And it is upon the bosom of that peace that we can pass safely out of the realm of time and space.

Future | Past | Problems | Thinkers | Thought | Warning | Thought |

Felix Adler

The platform of an Ethical Society is itself the altar; the address must be the fire that burns thereon.

Contrast | Life | Life | Love | Mortal | Pain | Peace | Sense | Thought | Time | Understanding | Thought |

Felix Adler

There is a city to be built, the plan of which we carry in our heads, in our hearts. Countless generations have already toiled at the building of it. The effort to aid in completing it, with us, takes the place of prayer. In this sense we say, "Laborare est orare."

Daring | Life | Life | Man | Men | Present | Righteousness | Search | Theories | Thinkers | Thought | Time | Truth | Unity | Will | Woman | World | Youth | Youth | Learn | Thought |

H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken

If I had my way, any man guilty of golf would be ineligible for any office of trust in the United States.

Thought | Woman | Thought |

Hannah Arendt

The greatest evil perpetrated is the evil committed by nobodies, that is, by human beings who refuse to be persons

Thought | Wise | Thought |

Italian Proverbs

So many countries, so many customs.

People | Position | Rule | Speech |

Italian Proverbs

Of three things the devil makes a salad: advocate's tongues, notaries' fingers, and a third that shall be nameless.

Individual | Thought | Will | Thought |

Italian Proverbs

War makes robbers, and peace hangs them.

Authenticity | Good | Life | Life | Meaning | Means | Mystery | Thought | Worth | Thought |

Italian Proverbs

Who buys land buys war.

Emotions | Thought | Thought |

Italian Proverbs

Weddings and spiritual matters are heaven sent.

Life | Life | Thought | Thought |

Italian Proverbs

Where there's a will there's a way.

Mind | Thought | Thought |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

All the same, I should like it all plain and clear, said he obstinately, putting on his business manner (usually reserved for people who tried to borrow money off him), and doing his best to appear wise and prudent and professional and live up to Gandalf's recommendation. Also I should like to know about risks, out-of-pocket expenses, time required and remuneration, and so forth--by which he meant: What am I going to get out of it ? and am I going to come back alive?

Chance | Control | Good | Safe | Thought | Thought |

J. B. S. Haldane, fully John Burdon Sanderson Haldane

From the fact that there are 400,000 species of beetles on this planet, but only 8,000 species of mammals, he [Haldane] concluded that the Creator, if He exists, has a special preference for beetles.

Thought | Wrong | Thought |

J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.

Faith | People | Purpose | Purpose | Reading | Science | Thought | Time | Thought |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Come, Mr. Frodo!' he cried. 'I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you and it as well. So up you get! Come on, Mr. Frodo dear! Sam will give you a ride. Just tell him where to go, and he'll go.

Power | Thought | Thought |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Beautiful she is, sir! Lovely! Sometimes Luke a great tree in flower, sometimes like a white daffadowdilly, small and slender like. Hard as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars. Proud and far-off as a snow-mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with daisies in her hair in springtime.

Action | Global | Present | Property | Sense | System | Thought | Will | Thought |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

After some while Bilbo became impatient. Well, what is it? he said. The answer's not a kettle boiling over, as you seem to think by the noise you are making.

Gold | Journey | Right | Spirit | Thought | Wants | World | Wrong | Thought |

J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly

No matter how piercing and appalling his insights, the desolation creeping over his outer world, the lurid lights and shadows of his inner world, the writer must live with hope, work in faith.

Joy | Light | Mind | Sense | Thinking | Thought | Time | Thought |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.

Thought | Thought |