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

Grace Helen Yerbury, fully Grace Helen Davies Yerbury

If man's religion is of any importance, it is not just a garment of expression of unity with and security in the professed beliefs of a special group. It is rather an attitude of respect for himself, his God, his fellowman, which underwrites all his activity, which is allowed freedom of expression within the limitations of that respect.

Freedom | God | Man | Religion | Respect | Security | Unity | Wisdom | Respect |

R. H. Blyth, fully Reginald Horace Blyth

A man’s religion is what he thinks about his relation to the universe, or rather, is what he feels about this relation; or better, it is what he does about this relation; or best it is how he acts.

Better | Man | Religion | Universe |

Leo Baeck

Piety… respects the little – the little man, the little task, the little duty. Through the little, religion meets the greatness that lies behind.

Duty | Greatness | Little | Man | Piety | Religion |

William Barrett, fully William Christopher Barrett

The decline of religion in modern times means simply that religion is no longer the uncontested center and ruler of man’s life., and that the church is no longer the final and unquestioned home and asylum of his being.

Church | Life | Life | Man | Means | Religion |

Robert Blatchford, fully Robert Peel Glanville Blatchford

Religions are not revealed; they are evolved. If a religion were revealed by God, that religion would be perfect in whole and in part, and would be as perfect as the first moment of its revelation as after ten thousand years of practice.

God | Practice | Religion | Revelation |

Henri Bergson, aka Henri-Louis Bergson

Through religion all men get a little of what a few privileged souls possess in full.

Little | Men | Religion |

Thomas A. Carney

A man must put his mind into his religion if he will keep his heart in it.

Heart | Man | Mind | Religion | Will |

John Bunyan

You must also own religion in rags, as well as when in silver slippers; and stand by him, too, when bound in irons, as well as when he walketh the streets with applause.

Applause | Religion |

Francis Herbert Bradley

In religion fear and approval to some extent must always combine... In religion approval implies devotion, and devotion seems hardly possible, unless there is some fear, if only the fear of estrangement.

Devotion | Fear | Religion | Approval |

Samuel Butler

People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and at seeing it practiced.

People | Religion |

Samuel Butler

Is there any religion whose followers can be pointed to as distinctly more amiable and trustworthy than those of any other?

Religion |

Benjamin Cardozo, fully Benjamin Nathan Cardozo

The submergence of self in the pursuit of an ideal, the readiness to spend oneself without measure, prodigally, almost ecstatically, for something intuitively apprehended as great and noble, spend oneself one know not why - some of us like to believe that this is what religion means.

Means | Religion | Self |

Paul Davies

In spite of the fact that religion looks backward to revealed truth while science looks forward to new vistas and discoveries, both activities produce a sense of awe and a curious mixture of humility and arrogance in practitioners. All great scientists are inspired by the subtlety and beauty of the natural world that they are seeking to understand. Each new subatomic particle, every unexpected object, produces delight and wonderment. In constructing their theories, physicists are frequently guided by arcane concepts of elegance in the belief that the universe is intrinsically beautiful.

Arrogance | Awe | Beauty | Belief | Elegance | Humility | Looks | Object | Religion | Science | Sense | Theories | Truth | Universe | World | Beauty |

Charles A. Ellwood

The real religious problem of our society is to secure the general acceptance of a religion adapted to the requirements of continuous progress towards an ideal, consisting of all humanity.

Acceptance | Humanity | Progress | Religion | Society | Society |

Stephen A. Erickson

An important way to distinguish philosophy from religion is that philosophy, at its best, raises questions, whereas religion provides answers. Answers can sometimes lose their force, however, if the questions to which they provide answers have somehow been lost, muted, or superseded. But philosophy can never end. As long as we live, we are going to ask ourselves about the meaning of life. Some have written about the “end of philosophy.” It has been thought that philosophy exists only if you can construe life as a journey traveling to a new and different dimension. Some have said that the cognitive sciences, linguistics, neuroscience, and so forth will advance so much that traditional technical problems of philosophy will diminish. Insofar as philosophy is a pursuit of the art of living providing (often conflicting) guidance for living, there is a future for philosophy.

Art | Distinguish | Force | Future | Guidance | Important | Journey | Life | Life | Meaning | Philosophy | Problems | Religion | Thought | Will | Guidance | Art | Thought |

James Feibleman

A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.

Myth | Religion |

Mahatma Gandhi, fully Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, aka Bapu

I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.

Humility | Means | Nothing | Politics | Religion |