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

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

Courage will now be your best defense against the storm that is at hand-?that and such hope as I bring.

Love | People | Work |

J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly

We must beware the revenge of the starved senses, the embittered animal in its prison.

Father | Knowledge | Love | Time |

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

All have their worth and each contributes to the worth of the others.

Nature | Technology | Time |

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

And when [B‰or] lay dead, of no wound or grief, but stricken by age, the Eldar saw for the first time the swift waning of the life of Men, and the death of weariness which they knew not in themselves; and they grieved greatly for the loss of their friends. But B‰or at the last had relinquished his life willingly and passed in peace; and the Eldar wondered much at the strange fate of Men, for in all their lore there was no account of it, and its end was hidden from them.

Important | Public | Slavery |

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

It was a reaction from the old idea of protoplasm, a name which was a mere repository of ignorance.

Love |

J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly

Britain, which in the years immediately before this war was rapidly losing such democratic virtues as it possessed, is now being bombed and burned into democracy.

Compassion | Intolerance | Meaning | Means | People | Pity | Practice | Religion | Time | World |

J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly

As we read the school reports on our children, we realize a sense of relief, that can rise to delight, that, thank Heaven, nobody is reporting in this fashion on us.

Ambiguity | Better | Compassion | Enemy | Failure | Injustice | Injustice | Justice | Little | Means | People | Religion | Sense | Tradition | Understanding | Work | Failure |

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

And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring? passed out of all knowledge.

Debt | Enough | Family | Labor | Land | Means | Money |

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

A tree there tower Tall and branching That house upholding The hall's wonder Its leaves their hangings Its limbs rafters Its mighty bole In the midst standing.

Fear | Love | Right |

J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly

We should like to have some towering geniuses, to reveal us to ourselves in color and fire, but of course they would have to fit into the pattern of our society and be able to take orders from sound administrative types.

Father | Future | Light | Past | Think |

J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly

The wisdom of one generation will be the folly of the next.

Future | Past |

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

But it is said: Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger. The choice is yours: to go or wait.' 'And it is also said,' answered Frodo: 'Go not to the Elves for counsel for they will answer both no and yes.' 'Is it indeed?' laughed Gildor. 'Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.

Better | Day | Debt | Experiment | Family | Life | Life | Need | Rest | Sense | Will | Following |

J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly

It had the old double keyboard, an entirely different set of keys for capitals and figures, so that the paper seemed a long way off, and the machine was as big and solid as a battle cruiser. Typing was then a muscular activity. You could ache after it. If you were not familiar with those vast keyboards, your hand wandered over them like a child lost in a wood. The noise might have been that of a shipyard on the Clyde. You would no more have thought of carrying one of those grim structures as you would have thought of travelling with a piano.

Bible | God | Means | Personality | God | Bible |

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

And you, Ringbearer' she said, turning to Frodo. 'I come to you last who are not last in my thoughts. For you I have prepared this.' She held up a small crystal phial: it glittered as she moved it and rays of white light sprang from her hand. 'In this phial,' she said,' is caught the light of Earendil's star, set amid the waters of my fountain. It will shine still brighter when night is about you. May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out. Frodo took the phial, and for a moment as it shone between them, he saw her again standing like a queen, great and beautiful.

Little | Means | Opposition | Research |

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

But fear no more! I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not wish for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo.

Good | Nature | Need | Slavery | Work |

J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly

But the point is, now, at this moment, or any moment, we're only cross-sections of our real selves. What we really are is the whole stretch of ourselves, all our time, and when we come to the end of this life, all those selves, all our time, will be us - the real you, the real me. And then perhaps we'll find ourselves in another time, which is only another kind of dream.

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

A small oversight, but it proved fatal. Small oversights often do.

Dreams | Goals | Hate | Love | Need | Pain | People | Regret | Forgive | Learn |

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

He led the way in under the huge branches of the trees. Old beyond guessing, they seemed. Great trailing beards of lichen hung from them, blowing and swaying in the breeze. Out of the shadows, the hobbits peeped, gazing back down the slope: little furtive figures that in the dim light looked like elf-children in the deeps of time peering out of the Wild Wood in wonder at their first Dawn.

Evolution | Future | Important | Learning | Science |