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

Louis-Aimé Martin

It requires two indiscreet persons to institute a quarrel; one individual cannot quarrel alone.

Character | Individual |

Louis-Aimé Martin

Love is a flame which burns in heaven and whose soft reflections radiate to us. Two worlds are opened, two lives given to it. It is by love that we double our being; it is by love that we approach God.

Character | God | Heaven | Love |

Amen-em-apt NULL

Another good thing in the heart of God is to pause before speaking.

Character | God | Good | Heart | Wisdom | God |

Shlomo Wolbe, aka Wilhelm Wolbe

When you have desires to do something wrong, you might feel so embarrassed with yourself for not being on a higher level that you try to repress those desires and forget about them. This is a mistake since it is not dealing with the problem but covering it up. Ignoring your inner feelings and reactions is dangerous. Be aware of what you desire, and have a dialogue with yourself to overcome it.

Character | Desire | Feelings | Mistake | Wrong |

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 |

W. H. Auden, fully Wystan Hugh Auden

It is axiomatic that we should all think of ourselves as being more sensitive than other people because, when we are insensitive in our dealings with others, we cannot be aware of it at the time: conscious insensitivity is a self-contradiction.

Character | Contradiction | People | Self | Time | Wisdom | Think |

Honoré de Balzac

Glory is a poison, good to be taken in small doses.

Character | Glory | Good |

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 |

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

Fasting is only saving bread, but if you have conquered the heart you have conquered everything.

Character | Heart | Wisdom |

Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus

Do every act of your life as if it were your last.

Character | Life | Life |

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 |