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

Evelyn Underhill

The spiritual life is a stern choice. It is not a consoling retreat from the difficulties of existence, but an invitation to enter fully into that difficult existence, and there apply the Charity of God, and bare the cost.

Contrast | God | Prayer | Worth | God |

Evan Esar

People who live in glass houses should take out insurance.

Example | Worth |

Evelyn Waugh, fully Evelyn Arthur St. John Waugh

If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe and Aloysius in a good temper...

Worth |

Ezra Taft Benson

Pride is characterized by "What do I want out of life?" rather than by "What would God have me do with my life?" It is self-will as opposed to God's will. It is the fear of man over the fear of God.

Care | Devil | Force | God | Looks | Man | Men | Pride | Self | Spirit | God |

Ezra Taft Benson

One of the marks of an educated man today is to know what not to read--what not to see or what not to listen to.

Attention | Cause | Family | Man | Problems | Self | Woman |

Ezra Pound, fully Ezra Weston Loomis Pound

I have tried to write Paradise. Do not move. Let the wind speak. That is paradise. Let the Gods forgive what I have made. Let those I love try to forgive what I have made.

Worth |

Ezra Pound, fully Ezra Weston Loomis Pound

The act of bell ringing is symbolic of all proselytizing religions. It implies the pointless interference with the quiet of other people.

Worth |

Faith Baldwin

One of the dreariest spots on life's road is the point of conviction that nothing will ever again happen to you.

Gratitude | Praise | Time |

Fannie Hurst

Few enjoy noisy overcrowded functions. But they are a gesture of goodwill on the part of host or hostess, and also on the part of guests who submit to them.

Worth |

Felix Adler

By ceaseless efforts to live the good life we maintain our moral sanity. Not from without, but from within, flow the divine waters that renew the soul.

Ends | Excellence | Life | Life | Worth | Excellence |

Ezra Pound, fully Ezra Weston Loomis Pound

Humanity is the rich effluvium, it is the waste and the manure and the soil, and from it grows the tree of the arts.

Cause | Dirty | Reading | Will | Worth |

Ezra Pound, fully Ezra Weston Loomis Pound

One discards rhyme, not because one is incapable of rhyming neat, fleet, sweet, meet, treat, eat, feet but because there are certain emotions or energies which are nor represented by the over-familiar devices or patterns.

Worth |

Gustave Flaubert

Print: to see one's name in print! - Some people commit a crime for no other reason.

System | Worth |

Gustave Flaubert

Nevertheless the flames did die down -- whether exhausted from lack of supplies or choked by excessive feeding. Little by little, love was quenched by absence; regret was smothered by routine; and the fiery glow that had reddened her pale sky grew gray and gradually vanished... But the storm kept raging, her passion burned itself to ashes, no help was forthcoming, no new sun rose to the horizon. Night closed in completely around her, and she was left alone in a horrible void of piercing cold.

Fortune | World | Worth |

H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken

As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

Praise | Child |

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are, to some extent, a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it, piece by piece--by thought, choice, courage and determination.

Worth |

H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken

A fool who, after plain warning, persists in dosing himself with dangerous drugs should be free to do so, for his death is a benefit to the race in general.

Earth | Heart | Life | Life | Man | Smile | Will | Worth |

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

A kiss on the beach when there is a full moon is the closest thing to heaven.

Worth |