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

Michel de Montaigne, fully Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

Zeal and curiosity are the twin scourges of the soul: the latter prompts us to poke our noses into everything; the former prevents our leaving anything in doubt or undecided.

Curiosity | Doubt | Soul | Wisdom | Zeal |

Pierre Nicole

We need a reason to speak, but none to keep silent.

Need | Reason | Wisdom |

William Paley, Archdeacon of Saragossa

Old age brings us to know the value of the blessings which we have enjoyed, and it brings us also to a very thankful perception of those which yet remain. Is a man advanced in life? The ease of a single day, the rest of a single night, are gifts which may be subjects of gratitude to God.

Age | Blessings | Day | God | Gratitude | Life | Life | Man | Old age | Perception | Rest | Wisdom | Value |

Nikita Ivanovich Panin

In youth the days are short and the years are long; in old age the years are short and the days long.

Age | Old age | Wisdom | Youth | Youth | Old |

Thomas W. Palmer

A comfortable old age is the reward of a well-spent youth; instead of its introducing dismal and melancholy prospects of decay, it should give us hopes of eternal youth in a better world.

Age | Better | Eternal | Melancholy | Old age | Reward | Wisdom | World | Youth | Youth | Old |

Thomas Paine

Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself in all cases as the ages and generations which preceded it. The vanity and presumption of governing beyond the grave is the most ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies.

Age | Grave | Presumption | Wisdom |

Nikita Ivanovich Panin

The husband needs to be blind at times; the wife deaf; both need much of the time to be dumb.

Husband | Need | Time | Wife | Wisdom |

Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

In order to acquire intellect one must need it. One loses it when it is no longer necessary.

Need | Order | Wisdom | Intellect |

William Osler, fully Sir William Osler

The philosophies of one age have become the absurdities of the next, and the foolishness of yesterday has become the wisdom of tomorrow.

Age | Tomorrow | Wisdom |

Matthew B Ridgway, fully Matthew Bunker Ridgway

In setting our military goals we need first of all to recognize that most of the world’s most basic woes do not lend themselves to purely military solutions.

Goals | Need | Wisdom | World |

Publius Syrus

We should provide in peace what we need in war.

Need | Peace | War | Wisdom |

Theodore Roethke

What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.

Need | People | Wisdom |

Beverly Rubik

[Paraphrase from “Brain and Mind” article] “Local” healing reflects information from subtle bioenergy fields. By contrast, healing that appears non-local in space and time may be mediated by “information associated with conscious intention”... In electromagnetic healing... the living human organism contains many highly sensitive natural oscillators that join to form a collective “biofield.” This field is “a collective property of the organism and cannot be reduced to biomolecular events.” In this case, information is transmitted by external fields of similar frequency, with healing occurring through a “tuning” effect... “Information is about relationship and exists only in relationship.” Therefore, information grounded in love - “the highest-quality relationship” - may produce healing by overcoming information originated from the more mechanical levels of physical organization... “For science and medicine to embrace life’s full capacity and the full human potential we need to go beyond mechanical concepts that were developed for machines.”

Capacity | Contrast | Events | Intention | Life | Life | Love | Machines | Mind | Need | Organization | Property | Relationship | Science | Space | Time | Wisdom |

Friedrich Schiller, fully Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller

Time consecrates; and what is gray with age becomes religion.

Age | Religion | Time | Wisdom |

Frederick Seitz

A good scientist is a person in whom the childhood quality of perennial curiosity lingers on. Once he gets an answer, he has other questions.

Childhood | Curiosity | Good | Wisdom |