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

William Shakespeare

Recreation is not being idle; it is easing the wearied part by change of occupation.

William Shakespeare

Sleep she as sound as careless infancy.

Day | Man |

Elizabeth Gilbert

He is only happy when he can maintain himself - mentally and spiritually - at the intersection between a vertical line and horizontal one, in a state of perfect balance. For this, he needs to know where he is located every moment, both in his relationship to the divine and to his family here on earth. If he loses that balance, he loses his power.

Learning | Words |

William Shakespeare

Sorrow concealed, like an oven stopp'd, Doth burn the heart to cinders, where it is. Titus Andronicus (Marcus at II, iv)

Honor | Nothing | World |

William Shakespeare

Some sins do bear their privilege on earth, And so doth yours; your fault was not your folly.

Birth | Power | Spirit |

Elizabeth Gilbert

I’m not laughing. I was actually crying. And please don’t laugh at me now, but I think the reason it’s so hard for me to get over this guy is because I seriously believed David was my soul mate. He probably was. Your problem is you don’t understand what that word means. People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that’s what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that’s holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you’ll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it. Your problem is, you just can’t let this one go. It’s over, Groceries. David’s purpose was to shake you up, drive you out of your marriage that you needed to leave, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light could get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you had to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master and beat it. That was his job, and he did great, but now it’s over. Problem is, you can’t accept that his relationship had a real short shelf life. You’re like a dog at the dump, baby – you’re just lickin’ at the empty tin can, trying to get more nutrition out of it. And if you’re not careful, that can’s gonna get stuck on your snout forever and make your life miserable. So drop it.But I love him. So love him. But I miss him. So miss him. Send him some love and light every time you think about him, then drop it. You’re just afraid to let go of the last bits of David because then you’ll be really alone, and Liz Gilbert is scared to death of what will happen if she’s really alone. But here’s what you gotta understand, Groceries. If you clear out all that space in your mind that you’re using right now to obsess about this guy, you’ll have a vacuum there, an open spot – a doorway. And guess what the universe will do with the doorway? It will rush in – God will rush in – and fill you with more love than you ever dreamed. So stop using David to block that door. Let it go.

Care | Death | Depression | Loneliness | Love | Need | Nothing | Will |

Elizabeth Gilbert

I wonder if I am capable of being somebody’s sun, somebody’s everything. Am I centered enough now to be the center of somebody else’s life?

Argument | Family | Friend | Good | History | Ideas | Woman | Think |

Elizabeth Gilbert

I still can’t say whether I ever want children….I can only say how I feel now--grateful to be on my own. I also know that I won’t go forth and have children just in case I might regret missing it later in life; I don’t think this is a strong enough motivation to bring more babies onto the earth.

Daring | Display | Individual |

Elizabeth Gilbert

Indeed, when I came to Italy, I expected to encounter a certain amount of resentment, but have received instead empathy from most Italians. In any reference to George Bush, people only nod to Berlusconi, saying, We understand how it is - we have one, too.

Confidence | Man |

William Shakespeare

Such duty as the subject owes the prince, Even such a woman oweth to her husband.

Comfort | Men |

Elizabeth Gilbert

I'm so excited about school. I'm such a shameless student. I laid my clothes out last night, just like I did before my first day of first grade, with my patent leather shoes and my new lunch box. I hope the teacher will like me.

Care | Depression | Loneliness | Love | Need | Nothing | Will |

Elizabeth Gilbert

Whenever I get lonely these days I think: So be lonely, Liz. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again use another person's body or emotions as scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings.

Time |

Elizabeth Browning, fully Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Thy lips which spake wrong counsel, I kiss close.

Angels | Earth | Heaven | Pity | Will |

Elizabeth Gilbert

So miss him. Send him some love and light every time you think about him, then drop it.

God | Joy | Mortal | Soul | Strength | God |

Elizabeth Lesser

Spirituality is a brave search for the truth about existence, fearlessly peering into the mysterious nature of life.

Beginning | Happy | Life | Life | Meaning | Soul | Wisdom | Forgive |

Elizabeth Gilbert

There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all through history. How much do you love me? And who's in charge? Everything else is somehow manageable. But these two questions of love and control undo us all, trip us up and cause war, grief and suffering.

Anxiety | Anxiety |

Elizabeth Gilbert

Sean said: My father is necessary to learn meditation nirvana, could actually save your life, it will teach you how to live your mind. His father turned to him and said gently: But mainly mental inhabitant son.

Angels |

Elizabeth Gilbert

The patron god of children born on Thursdays is Shiva the Destroyer, and that the day has two guiding animal spirits--the lion and the tiger. The official tree of children born on Thursday is the banyan. The official bird is the peacock. A person born on Thursday is always talking first, interrupting everyone else, can be a little aggressive, tends to be handsome (a playboy or playgirl, in Ketut's words) but has a decent overall character, with an excellent memory and a desire to help other people.

Better | Comfort | Sadness |

Elizabeth Browning, fully Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The beautiful seems right by force of beauty and the feeble wrong because of weakness.

Angels |

Elizabeth Gilbert

So when modern-day religious conservatives wax nostalgic about how marriage is a sacred tradition that reaches back into history for thousands of uninterrupted years, they are correct, but in only one respect - only if they happen to be talking about Judaism. Christianity simply does not share that deep and consistent historical reverence toward matrimony. Lately it has, yes- but not originally. For the first thousand or so years of Christian history, the church regarded monogamous marriage as marginally less wicked that flat-out whoring but only very marginally.

Care | Death | Depression | Friend | Lending | Life | Life | Loneliness | Love | Mind | Mistake | Need | Nothing | Office | Reason | Reflection | Sadness | Security | Time | Waiting | Will | Writing |