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

Tom Lehrer, fully Thomas Andrew Lehrer

I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky. In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics: Plagiarize! Plagiarize, let no one else's work evade your eyes, remember why the good Lord made your eyes, so don't shade your eyes, but plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize...

People |

Trofim Lysenko, fully Trofim Denisovich Lysenko

Darwin investigated the numerous facts obtained by naturalists in living nature and analysed them through the prism of practical experience.

Theoretical |

Thomas L. Friedman, fully Thomas Lauren Friedman

The fact is, parents and schools and cultures can and do shape people. The most important influence in my life, outside of my family, was my high school journalism teacher, Hattie M. Steinberg. She pounded the fundamentals of journalism into her students -- not simply how to write a lead or accurately transcribe a quote but, more important, how to comport yourself in a professional way. She was nearing sixty at the time I had her as my teacher and high school newspaper adviser in the late 1960s. She was the polar opposite of cool, but we hung around her classroom like it was the malt shop and she was Wolfman Jack. None of us could have articulated it then, but it was because we enjoyed being harangued by her, disciplined by her, and taught by her. She was a woman of clarity and principles in an age of uncertainty. I sit up straight just thinking about her!

Global | War | Will |

Woodrow Wilson, fully Thomas Woodrow Wilson

By 'radical,' I understand one who goes too far; by 'conservative,' one who does not go far enough; by 'reactionary,' one who won't go at all.

Authority | Nations | Peace | Right | Rights | World |

Woodrow Wilson, fully Thomas Woodrow Wilson

We shall not, I believe, be obliged to alter our policy of watchful waiting.

Nations | Peace | Right | World |

Woodrow Wilson, fully Thomas Woodrow Wilson

It is easier to change the location of a cemetery, than to change the school curriculum.

Authority | Civilization | Nations | Peace | People | Right | Rights | World |

Woodrow Wilson, fully Thomas Woodrow Wilson

The awakening of the people of China to the possibilities under free government is the most significant, if not the most momentous, event of our generation.

Cause | Humanity | Land | Life | Life | Unique |

Tom Robbins, fully Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins

If death wants me, let him ride up on a pale mount, ashes in his mouth, ice in his testicles. Frankly, I do not like the way death does business.

Attention | Cause | Day | Death | Humor | Irony | Light | Memory | Religion | Sense | Thought | Will | Thought |

William Shakespeare

But I will be a bridegroom in my death, and run into't as to a lover's bed. Antony and Cleopatra, Act iv, Scene 14

Extreme | Land | Rage |

Dan Dennett, fully Daniel Clement "Dan" Dennett

If you can approach the world's complexities, both its glories and its horrors, with an attitude of humble curiosity, acknowledging that however deeply you have seen, you have only scratched the surface, you will find worlds within worlds, beauties you could not heretofore imagine, and your own mundane preoccupations will shrink to proper size, not all that important in the greater scheme of things.

Lesson | Will | Work |

William James

If merely "feeling good" could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience.

Evolution | Survival |

William (Morley Punshon) McFee

If we go back a little way in the history of story-writing, we shall find that, following on the unique success of Dickens as a serialist, a number of other men achieved a somewhat similar success without the greatness.

Fate | Good | Means | Fate |

William Morris

I think that to all living things there is a pleasure in the exercise of their energies, and that even beasts rejoice in being lithe and swift and strong. But a man at work, making something which he feels will exist because he is working at it and wills it, is exercising the energies of his mind and soul as well as of his body. Memory and imagination help him as he works. Not only his own thoughts, but the thoughts of the men of past ages guide his hands; and, as a part of the human race, he creates. If we work thus we shall be men, and our days will be happy and eventful.

Men |

William Morris

Morn shall meet noon while the flower-stems yet move, though the wind dieth soon

Men |

Elif Safak

Hell is the here and now. Heaven too. Stop being afraid of hell and dream of paradise, because the one and the other is set in the present moment. Every time you fall in love, to ascend to heaven. Every time we hate, envy or confront someone, fall right into hellfire.

Hell | Present | Time |

Eleanor Holmes Norton

If diversity is what is a central value in every selective university in the United States, then it ought to be seen as a compelling interest by the Supreme Court.

Life | Life | Race |

Elizabeth Gilbert

People tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will descend like fine weather if you're fortunate. But happiness is the result of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly.

Good | Luck | Soul | Will | Work | Luck | Crisis | Happiness |

Elizabeth Gilbert

I tried to reassure him with every line about how the world is hard and unfair sometimes, but that it's all OK because he is so loved. He is surrounded by souls who would do anything to help him. And not only that--he has wisdom and patience of his own, buried deep inside his being, which will only reveal themselves over time and will always carry him through any trial. He is a gift from God to all of us.

Balance | Change | Tears | Old | Think |

Elizabeth Gilbert

People think a soul mate is someone who fits perfectly into one, and that is what all desire. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything you inhibits the shows you who you are so that you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because he tears down thy walls, and slaps you until you wake up.

Will | World | Happiness | Think |

Elizabeth Gilbert

Please go to this pizzeria. Order the margherita pizza with double mozzarella. If you do not eat this pizza when you are in Naples, please lie to me and tell me that you did.

Distress | Effort | Enough | Good | Soul | Will | World | Crisis | Happiness | Think |