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

Auguste-Marseille Barthélemy

The absurd man is he who never changes.

Absurd | Character | Man |

Isaac Barrow

If we desire to live securely, comfortably, and quietly, that by all honest means we should endeavor to purchase the good will of all men, and provoke no man’s enmity needlessly; since any man’s love may be useful, and every man’s hatred is dangerous.

Character | Desire | Good | Love | Man | Means | Men | Will |

Max Beerbohm, fully Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm

To say that a man is vain simply means that he is pleased with the effect he produces on other people. A conceited man is satisfied with the effect he produces on himself.

Character | Man | Means | People |

Ahikar or Ahiqar NULL

The beauty of man is in his faithfulness, and his hatefulness is the lying of his lips.

Beauty | Character | Lying | Man | Beauty |

Ahikar or Ahiqar NULL

A man knows not what is in the heart of his fellow.

Character | Heart | Man | Wisdom |

Antisthenes NULL

A wise man will always be contented with his condition, and will live rather according to his precepts of virtue, than according to the customs of his country.

Character | Man | Virtue | Virtue | Will | Wise |

Isaac Barrow

As a stick, when once it is dry and stiff you may break it, but you can never bend it into a straighter posture; so doth the man become incorrigible who is settled and stiffened into vice.

Character | Man |

Apocrypha NULL

The heart of fools is in their mouth, but the mouth of the wise is in their heart.

Character | Heart | Wise |

Khajah Abdullah Ansari of Herat, Abu Ismaïl Abdullah ibn Abi-Mansour Mohammad or Khajah Abdullah Ansari of Herat

The company of a good man is the light of the soul, of an evil man the poison of life.

Character | Evil | Good | Life | Life | Light | Man | Soul |

Saul Bellow

A man is only as good as what he loves.

Character | Good | Man |

Philip S. Berg, originally Feivel Gruberger

Our souls are like streams that can never rest until they once again mingle with the Infinite sea... We are here to earn the beneficence of the Creator. This is a process sometimes too difficult to accomplish in one lifetime, but fortunately we are provided with as many lifetimes as necessary.

Character | Rest |

Fred de Armond

A man who truly wants to make the world better should start by improving himself and his attitudes.

Better | Character | Man | Wants | World |