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

Che Guevara, fully Ernesto “Che” Guevara

I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves.

History | Society | Spirit | Will | Society |

Ernst Haeckel, full name Ernst Heinrich Phillip August Haeckel

Neither of the primitive men we have spoken of, nor of those who immediately succeeded them, can we rightly predicate any knowledge of nature.

Circumstances | Day | Evolution | History | Ignorance | Important | Man | Phenomena |

E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

Even an economist might well ask: what is the point of economic progress, a so-called higher standard of living, when the earth, the only earth we have, is being contaminated by substances which may cause malformations in our children or grandchildren?

Conduct | Doubt | Knowledge | Life | Life | Little | Man | Meaning | Purpose | Purpose | Will |

E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

The neglect, indeed the rejection, of wisdom has gone so far that most of our intellectuals have not even the faintest idea what the term could mean. As a result, they always tend to try and cure a disease by intensifying its causes. The disease having been caused by allowing cleverness to displace wisdom, no amount of clever research is likely to produce a cure. But what is wisdom? Where can it be found? Here we come to the crux of the matter: it can be read about in numerous publications but it can be found only inside oneself.

Industry |

E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

The power of ordinary people, who today tend to feel utterly powerless, does not lie in starting new lines of action, but in placing their sympathy and support with minority groups which have already started.

Consequences | Poverty | Talking | Technology |

Erving Goffman

The stigmatized individual is asked to act so as to imply neither that his burden is heavy nor that bearing it has made him different from us; at the same time he must keep himself at that remove from us which assures our painlessly being able to confirm this belief about him. Put differently, he is advised to reciprocate naturally with an acceptance of himself and us, an acceptance of him that we have not quite extended to him in the first place. A PHANTOM ACCEPTANCE is thus allowed to provide the base for a PHANTOM NORMALCY.

Fate | Organic | Fate |

Erwin Schrödinger, fully Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger

God knows I am no friend of probability theory, I have hated it from the first moment when our dear friend Max Born gave it birth. For it could be seen how easy and simple it made everything, in principle, everything ironed and the true problems concealed. Everybody must jump on the bandwagon [Ausweg]. And actually not a year passed before it became an official credo, and it still is

Awe | Heart | Joy | Light | Man | Men | Pain | Self | Time | Woman |

E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

Social cohesion, cooperation, mutual respect, and above all, self-respect, courage in the face of adversity, and the ability to bear hardship—all this and much else disintegrates and disappears when these "psychological structures" are gravely damaged. A man is destroyed by the inner conviction of uselessness. No amount of economic growth can compensate for such losses—though this may be an idle reflection, since economic growth is normally inhibited by them.

Work |

Ernst Haeckel, full name Ernst Heinrich Phillip August Haeckel

In many of these languages there are numerals only for one, two, and three: no Australian language counts beyond four. Very many wild tribes can count no further than ten or twenty, whereas some very clever dogs have been made to count up to forty and even beyond sixty.

Existence | Faith | Force | History | Knowledge | Necessity | Nothing | Position | Science | Work |

Ernst Haeckel, full name Ernst Heinrich Phillip August Haeckel

It is, however, a most astonishing but incontestable fact, that the history of the evolution of man as yet constitutes no part of general education. Indeed, our so-called “educated classes" are to this day in total ignorance of the most important circumstances and the most remarkable phenomena which Anthropogeny has brought to light.

Better | Evolution | History | Honor | Struggle |

E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

All the indications are that the present structure of large-scale industrial enterprise, in spite of heavy taxation and an endless proliferation of legislation, is not conducive to the public welfare.

Experience | History | Mind |

Ernst Haeckel, full name Ernst Heinrich Phillip August Haeckel

This demand, that the doctrine of descent should be grounded on experiment, is so perverse and shows such ignorance of the very essence of our theory, that though we have never been surprised at hearing it continually repeated by ignorant laymen, from the lips of a Virchow it has positively astounded us. What can in this case be proved by experiment, and what can experiment prove?

Evolution | History | Inquiry | Light | Science | Study |

Ernest Shurtleff Holmes

The road to freedom lies not through mysteries or occult performances, but through the intelligent use of natural forces and laws.

Thought | Will | Intellect | Thought |

Che Guevara, fully Ernesto “Che” Guevara

Its tall chimneys throw up black smoke, impregnating everything with soot, and the miners' faces as they traveled the streets were also imbued with that ancient melancholy of smoke, unifying everything with its grayish monotones, a perfect coupling with the gray mountain days.

E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

There is nothing in the experience of the last twenty-five years to suggest that modern technology, as we know it, can really help us to alleviate world poverty, not to mention the problem of unemployment…we had better fact the question of technology - what does it do and that should it do? Can we develop a technology which really helps us to solve our problems – a technology with a human face?

People |

Ernest Hemingway, fully Ernest Miller Hemingway

'You're going to write straight and simple and good now. That's the start.'

Ernst Haeckel, full name Ernst Heinrich Phillip August Haeckel

I trust we may be able to arouse the same interest in this delicate field of inquiry as has been excited already in other branches of science; though we shall meet more obstacles here than elsewhere.

E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

When we move from small-scale to medium-scale, the connection between ownership and work already becomes attenuated; private enterprise tends to become impersonal and also a significant social factor in the locality; it may even assume more than local significance.

Ideas | People | Sense | Think |

Erwin Schrödinger, fully Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger

The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists.

Present |

Estonian Proverbs

Who is a piece of stick in youth will be a block of wood in old age.

Man | Will |