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

Victor Hugo

One sometimes says: 'He killed himself because he was bored with life.' One ought rather to say: 'He killed himself because he was bored by lack of life.'

Unity |

Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl

As the inner life of the prisoner tended to become more intense, he also experienced the beauty of art and nature as never before. Under their influence he sometimes even forgot his own frightful circumstances. If someone had seen our faces on the journey from Auschwitz to a Bavarian camp as we beheld the mountains of Salzburg with their summits glowing in the sunset, through the little barred windows of the prison carriage, he would never have believed that those were the faces of men who had given up all hope of life and liberty. Despite that factor--or maybe because of it--we were carried away by nature's beauty, which we had missed for so long.

Love | Self |

Rig Veda, or The Rigveda

May we be blessed with the wealth of maximum capabilities. May we be blessed by the sermon of divine knowledge leading to our progress.

Action | Speech | Unity |

Atharva Veda, or Atharvaveda

In his hearth and home, in his palace, upon his soft and comfortable bed, day and night, the flower-girls scatter flower petals; but without the Lord's Name, the body is miserable. Horses, elephants, lances, marching bands, armies, standard bearers, royal attendants and ostentatious displays - without the Lord of the Universe, these undertakings are all useless.

Anxiety | Anxiety | Applause | Envy | Eternal | Ideals | Men | Praise | Self | Society | Society |

Atharva Veda, or Atharvaveda

Do not cage God in a picture frame. Do not confine him in an idol. He is all forms; He is all Names.

Delusion | God | Search | God |

Atharva Veda, or Atharvaveda

It takes time for a fruit to mature and acquire sweetness and become eatable; time is a prime factor for most good fortunes.

Cultivation | Delusion | Hypothesis | Means | People | Present | Wealth | Happiness |

Atharva Veda, or Atharvaveda

The devotee keeps his Beloved clasped tightly to his heart. The fools perform devotional worship by showing off; they dance and dance and jump all around, but they only suffer in terrible pain.

Sorrow | Wisdom |

Upanishads or The Upanishads NULL

You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny. - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

Delusion | Self | Sorrow | Unity |

Upanishads or The Upanishads NULL

The Self is within all, and it is without all. – Isha Upanishad

Body | Consciousness | Day | Heaven | Light | Mortal | Self | World |

Upanishads or The Upanishads NULL

When the mind is silent, beyond weakness or non-concentration, then it can enter into a world which is far beyond the mind, the highest End. - Maitreya Upanishad

Death | Self |

Upanishads or The Upanishads NULL

The self-existent Lord pierced the senses to turn outward. Thus we look to the world outside and see not the Self within us. A sage withdrew his senses from the world of change and, seeking immortality, looked within and beheld the deathless self. – Katha Upanishad

Self |

Upanishads or The Upanishads NULL

The sun that illuminates the pot both within and without is not destroyed with the destruction of the pot; so the Sakshi (witness) that illuminates the body is not destroyed with the destruction of the body. – Atmabodha Upanishad

Change | Lord | Self | World |

Václav Havel

Our concern is whether we can live with dignity in such a system, whether it serves people rather than people serving it.

Civilization | Era | Individual | Knowledge | Life | Life | Self |

Václav Havel

If I have accomplished anything good, then it's mainly because I've been driven by the need to know whether I can accomplish things I'm not sure I have the capacity for.

Day | Difficulty | Indifference | Man | Self | Sense | Silence | Sympathy |

Valmiki NULL

Wise men say that the root of victory is consultation and discussion with learned and wise men. .

Friend | Sorrow | Happiness |

Valmiki NULL

The one who abandons one’s own camp and joins the enemy’s camp will be killed by the very men of his former camp after the latter camp is completely destroyed by the former.

Good | Sorrow |

Valmiki NULL

To be under the control of another is to be condemned; it is the worst thing that can befall a person. Love and affection is possible only when a person is being seen and is not out of sight in a faraway place.

Happy | Life | Life | Sorrow | Happiness |

Tryon Edwards

Ridicule may be the evidence of wit or bitterness and may gratify a little mind, or an ungenerous temper, but it is no test of reason or truth.

Benevolence | God | Improvement | Obedience | Self | God |

Tripitaka or Tipitaka NULL

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

Life | Life | Looks | Self | Unity |

Tripitaka or Tipitaka NULL

We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.

Unity |