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

Arthur Aughey

Faith without evidence is, properly, not faith, but prejudice or presumption; faith beyond evidence is superstition, and faith contrary to evidence is either insanity or willful perversity of mind.

Character | Evidence | Faith | Insanity | Mind | Prejudice | Presumption | Superstition |

Simeon ben Azai, sometimes Ben Azai

He who, for the sake of learning, lowers himself by exposing his ignorance, will ultimately be elevated.

Character | Ignorance | Learning | Will |

Augustine Baker

Prayer is the most perfect and most divine action that a rational soul is capable of. It is of all actions and duties the most indispensably necessary.

Action | Character | Prayer | 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 |

Henri Bergson, aka Henri-Louis Bergson

It is the whole soul, in fact, that gives rise to the free decision, and the act will be so much the freer the more the dynamic series with which it is connected tends to be the fundamental self... but the moments at which we thus grasp ourselves are rare, and that is why we are rarely free.

Character | Decision | Dynamic | Self | Soul | Will |

George Matthew Adams

It's what each of us sows, and how, that gives to us character and prestige. Seeds of kindness, goodwill, and human understanding, planted in fertile soil, spring up into deathless friendships, big deeds of worth, and a memory that will not soon fade out. We are all sowers of seeds - and let us never forget it!

Character | Deeds | Kindness | Memory | Understanding | Will | Worth | Deeds |

Thomas Adams

He who reforms himself, has done much toward reforming others; and one reason why the world is not reformed, is, because each would have others make a beginning, and never thinks of himself doing it.

Beginning | Character | Reason | World |

Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus

Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.

Character | Good | Will |

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 |

Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa, also known as Rabbeinu Behaye

It is integrity that invests man with immortality, and bestows upon him the privilege of direct communion with God.

Character | God | Immortality | Integrity | Man | Privilege |

Austonius, fully Decimus Magnus Ausonius

If thou does aught good, do it quickly. For what is done quickly will be acceptable. Favors slowly granted are unfavorably received.

Character | Good | Will |

Simeon ben Azai, sometimes Ben Azai

Despise not any man, and do not spurn anything; for there is no man that has not his hour, nor is there anything that has not its place.

Character | Despise | Man |

J.M. Barrie, fully Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet

The praise that comes of love does not make us vain, but humble rather.

Character | Love | Praise | Wisdom |