Great Throughts Treasury

"I cannot think why we should be astonished at all the evils which exist in the Church, when those who ought to be models on which all may pattern their virtues are annulling the work wrought in the religious Orders by the spirit of the saints of old." - Saint Teresa of Ávila, aka Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada NULL

"Learn to self-conquest, persevere thus for a time, and you will perceive very clearly the advantage which you gain from it. As soon you apply yourself to orison, you will at once feel your senses gather themselves together: they seem like bees which return to the hive and there shut themselves up to work at the making of honey. At the first call of the will, they come back more and more quickly. At last, after countless exercises, of this kind, God disposes them to a state of utter rest and of perfect contemplation." - Saint Teresa of Ávila, aka Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada NULL

"Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us." - Saint Teresa of Ávila, aka Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada NULL

"Remember the maxim of the Romans which states that by union and counsel we can achieve anything." - Saint Vincent de Paul

"The net result of my experience on the matter is the judgment I have formed, that true religion - true religion, Gentlemen, true religion is to be found amongst the poor." - Saint Vincent de Paul

"If I were asked for a one-sentence sound bite on religion, I would say I was against it." - Salman Rushdie, fully Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie

"God as now generally conceived of is only the last witch." - Samuel Butler

"The man who loves war is an enemy to the human race." - Samuel Gompers

"We want more school houses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more constant work and less crime; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures, to make manhood more noble, womanhood more beautiful and childhood more happy and bright. These in brief are the primary demands made by the Trade Unions in the name of labor. These are the demands made by labor upon modern society and in their consideration is involved the fate of civilization." - Samuel Gompers

"Let him that desires to see others happy, make haste to give while his gift can be enjoyed, and remember that every moment of delay takes away something from the value of his benefaction." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

"Ignorance per se is not nearly as dangerous as ignorance of ignorance." - Sydney J. Harris

"In so doing, the idea forces itself upon him that religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis, and he is optimistic enough to suppose that mankind will surmount this neurotic phase, just as so many children grow out of their similar neurosis." - Sigmund Freud, born Sigismund Schlomo Freud

"When you're young, you don't really know quite what you're aiming at. You're very impulsive and acting on impulse, which is very important and valuable. But you're kind of swimming in a blind sea. When you get older, you have more of a sense of direction." - Sinéad O’Connor, fully Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor

"I can never bring you to realize the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumb-nails, or the" - Arthur Conan Doyle, fully Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle

"Be careful and do not lightly condemn the actions of others. We must consider the intention of our neighbor, which is often good and pure, although the act itself seems blameworthy." - Ignatius Loyola, aka Saint Ignatius of Loyola

"If the love of God is in your heart, you will understand that to suffer for God is a joy to which all earthly pleasures are not be to compared." - Ignatius Loyola, aka Saint Ignatius of Loyola

"I consider those fallen mourners more blessed than those who have not fallen and are not mourning over themselves; because as a result of their fall, they have risen by a sure resurrection." - John Climacus, fully Saint John Climacus, aka John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus and John Sinaites

"Men may be ungrateful, but the human race is not so." - Stanislas de Boufflers, fully Marquis Stanislas-Jean de Boufflers, Chevalier de Boufflers

"It is not so much of being rich that makes the happiness of the future." - Stendhal, pen name of Marie Henn Beyle or Marie-Henri Beyle NULL

"The existence of God is the foundation of all religion. The whole building totters if the foundation be out of course: if we have not deliberate and right notions of it, we shall perform no worship, no service, yield no affection to him. If there be not a God, it is impossible there can be one; eternity is essential to the notion of a God; so all religion would be vain, and unreasonable, to pay homage to that which is not in being, nor ever can be." - Stephen Charnock

"Barbarism has, and can have, no place in a civilized world. It is our duty toward the people living in barbarism to see that they are freed from their chains, and we can free them only by destroying barbarism itself. The missionary, the merchant, and the soldier may each have to play a part in this destruction, and in the consequent uplifting of the people. Exactly as it is the duty of a civilized power scrupulously to respect the rights of all weaker civilized powers and gladly to help those who are struggling toward civilization, so it is its duty to put down savagery and barbarism. As in such a work human instruments must be used, and as human instruments are imperfect, this means that at times there will be injustice; that at times merchant or soldier, or even missionary, may do wrong. Let us instantly condemn and rectify such wrong when it occurs, and if possible punish the wrongdoer. But shame, thrice shame to us, if we are so foolish as to make such occasional wrongdoing an excuse for failing to perform a great and righteous task. Not only in our own land, but throughout the world, throughout all history, the advance of civilization has been of incalculable benefit to mankind, and those through whom it has advanced deserve the highest honor. All honor to the missionary, all honor to the soldier, all honor to the merchant who now in our own day have done so much to bring light into the world’s dark places." - Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt

"When I see others astonishingly blind to their failings, I suppose it to be my own case, and should think that man my friend who helps to open my eyes." - Thomas Adam

"The eye is the pulse of the soul; as physicians judge the heart by the pulse, so we by the eye." - Thomas Adams

"if you would approve yourself to God, walking by faith, not by sight, you must quiet yourself in the will and purpose of God, and not insist that it should be according to your mind." - Thomas Boston

"Sometimes when reading Goethe I have the paralyzing suspicion that he is trying to be funny." - Thomas Carlyle

"The difference between Orthodoxy or Mydoxy and Heterodoxy or Thy-doxy." - Thomas Carlyle

"To redeem a world sunk in dishonesty has not been given them. Solely over one man therein thou hast quite absolute control. Him redeem, him make honest." - Thomas Carlyle

"The worth of a thing is known by its want." - Thomas D'Urfey

"Establishing friendships include many capabilities, especially for unselfish and to appreciate the greatness of the soul as well as the attractiveness of others." - Thomas Hughes

"The doctrine of man finding his true reality in his remembrance of God in whose image he was created, is basically Biblical and was developed by the Church Fathers in connection with the theology of grace, the sacraments, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the surrender of our own will, the “death” of our selfish ego, in order to live in pure love and liberty of spirit, is effected not by our own will (this would be a contradiction in terms!) but by the Holy Spirit. To “recover the divine likeness,” to “surrender to the will of God,” to “live by pure love,” and thus to find peace, is summed up as “union with God in the Spirit,” or “receiving, possessing the Holy Spirit.” This, as the 19th-century Russian hermit, St. Seraphim of Sarov declared, is the whole purpose of the Christian (therefore a fortiori the monastic) life. St. John Chrysostom says: “As polished silver illumined by the rays of the sun radiates light not only from its own nature but also from the radiance of the sun, so a soul purified by the Divine Spirit becomes more brilliant than silver; it both receives the ray of Divine Glory and from itself reflects the ray of this same glory.” Our true rest, love, purity, vision and quiet is not something in ourselves, it is God the Divine Spirit. Thus we do not “possess” rest, but go out of ourselves into him who is our true rest." - Thomas Merton

"We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us." - Thomas Merton

"Honest men are the soft easy cushions on which knaves repose and fatten." - Thomas Otway

"Government ought to be as much open to improvement as anything which appertains to man, instead of which it has been monopolized from age to age, by the most ignorant and vicious of the human race. Need we any other proof of their wretched management, than the excess of debts and taxes with which every nation groans, and the quarrels into which they have precipitated the world?" - Thomas Paine

"On Another’s Sorrow - Can I see another’s woe, And not be in sorrow too? Can I see another’s grief, And not seek for kind relief? Can I see a falling tear, And not feel my sorrow’s share? Can a father see his child Weep, nor be with sorrow fill’d? Can a mother sit and hear An infant groan, an infant fear? No, no! never can it be! Never, never can it be! And can He who smiles on all Hear the wren with sorrows small, Hear the small bird’s grief and care, Hear the woes that infants bear, And not sit beside the nest, Pouring pity in their breast; And not sit the cradle near, Weeping tear on infant’s tear; And not sit both night and day, Wiping all our tears away? O, no! never can it be! Never, never can it be! He doth give His joy to all; He becomes an infant small; He becomes a man of woe; He doth feel the sorrow too. Think not thou canst sigh a sigh, And thy Maker is not by; Think not thou canst weep a tear, And thy Maker is not near. O! He gives to us His joy That our grief He may destroy; Till our grief is fled and gone He doth sit by us and moan." - William Blake

"God made the country, and man made the town. - What wonder, then, that health and virtue should most abound, and least be threatened in the fields and groves." - William Cowper

"But, Lord, if we go into the things that are useless why two thirds of the world would have to turn to manual labor. That's really the only essential thing there is. Anyhow they was a good bunch and they had a good convention and it was good to meet 'em." - Will Rogers, fully William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers

"Well, they finally stopped us from sending marines to every war that we could hear of. They are having one in Afghanistan. The thing will be over before Congress can pronounce it, much less find out where it is located." - Will Rogers, fully William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers

"[The Devil said:] It seems but yesterday that I launched Hell’s Five Hundred Year Plan.… I saw that Hell had to move with the tide and leave the rest to rationalism, liberalism and universal compulsory education… At first there was some opposition in Hell. Baal, Beelzebub and a handful of almost aboriginal demons who are still living in the 10th Century B.C. and have not had an idea since the Fall, naturally opposed the New Deal." - Whittaker Chambers, born Jay Vivian Chambers, aka Jay David Whittaker Chambers

"A man is not primarily a witness against something. That is only incidental to the fact that he is a witness for something. A witness, in the sense that I am using the word, is a man whose life and faith are so completely one that when the challenge comes to step out and testify for his faith, he does so, disregarding all risks, accepting all consequences." - Whittaker Chambers, born Jay Vivian Chambers, aka Jay David Whittaker Chambers

"The reality cuts across our minds like a wound whose edges crave to heal, but cannot. Thus, one of the great sins, perhaps the great sin, is to say: It will heal; it has healed; there is no wound. There is nothing more important than this wound." - Whittaker Chambers, born Jay Vivian Chambers, aka Jay David Whittaker Chambers

"What am I, after all, but a child, pleas’d with the sound of my own name? repeating it over and over; I stand apart to hear—it never tires me." - Walt Whitman, fully Walter "Walt" Whitman

"There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies." - Walter Lippmann

"All those snug junketings and public gormandizings, for which the ancient magistrates were equally famous with their modern successors." - Washington Irving

"Her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver; her mountains, with bright aerial tints; her valleys, teeming with wild fertility; her tremendous cataracts, thundering in their solitudes; her boundless plains, waving with spontaneous verdure; her broad, deep rivers, rolling in solemn silence to the ocean; her trackless forests, where vegetation puts forth all its magnificence; her skies, kindling with the magic of summer clouds and glorious sunshine - no, never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery." - Washington Irving

"An angel on the highway, a devil at home." - Welsh Proverbs

"An Angel on the road, a Devil at the fireplace." - Welsh Proverbs

"An art above many other arts is to be artful in goodness." - Welsh Proverbs

"The drop will perforate the stone." - Welsh Proverbs

"The seed of all evil is laziness." - Welsh Proverbs

"Whilst kicking and biting, love develops." - Welsh Proverbs