Great Throughts Treasury

"Moral worth, not prayer, determines the bestowal of blessings by the gods. The factors governing the things men pray for are: Providence, Fate, Chance, Skill. Providence is unaffected by prayer. Fate is unaffected by prayer. Chance is unaffected by prayer. Prayer is superfluous to the workings of human skill. Petitionary prayer is superfluous in all circumstances. True (philosophical) prayer is of a different kind: witness Socrates and Pythagoras." - Maximus of Tyre, fully Cassius Maximus Tyrius NULL

"Inspirations - Sometimes, I know not why, nor how, nor whence, A change comes over me, and then the task Of common life slips from me. Would you ask What power is this which bids the world go hence? Who knows? I only feel a faint perfume Steal through the rooms of life; a saddened sense Of something lost; a music as of brooks That babble to the sea; pathetic looks Of closing eyes that in a darkened room Once dwelt on mine: I feel the general doom Creep nearer, and with God I stand alone. O mystic sense of sudden quickening! Hope’s lark-song rings, or life’s deep undertone Wails through my heart--and then I needs must sing." - W. J. Dawson. fully William James Dawson

"Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will... with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies." - Westminster Shorter Catechism, aka Shorter Catechism or Westminster Shorter Catechism of the Presbyterian NULL

"The Divine Image - To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love All pray in their distress; And to these virtues of delight Return their thankfulness. For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is God, our Father dear, And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is man, His child and care. For Mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face, And Love, the human form divine, And Peace, the human dress. Then every man, of every clime, That prays in his distress, Prays to the human form divine, Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace. And all must love the human form, In heathen, Turk, or Jew; Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell There God is dwelling too." - William Blake

"The Human Abstract - Pity would be no more If we did not make somebody poor; And Mercy no more could be If all were as happy as we. And mutual fear brings peace, Till the selfish loves increase; Then Cruelty knits a snare, And spreads his baits with care. He sits down with holy fears, And waters the ground with tears; Then Humility takes its root Underneath his foot. Soon spreads the dismal shade Of Mystery over his head; And the caterpillar and fly Feed on the Mystery. And it bears the fruit of Deceit, Ruddy and sweet to eat; And the raven his nest has made In its thickest shade. The Gods of the earth and sea Sought thro’ Nature to find this tree; But their search was all in vain: There grows one in the Human brain. [END OF THE SONGS OF EXPERIENCE] " - William Blake

"To be or not to be Of great capacity, Like Sir Isaac Newton, Or Locke, or Doctor South, Or Sherlock upon Death— I’d rather be Sutton! 2 For he did build a house For agèd men and youth, With walls of brick and stone; He furnish’d it within With whatever he could win, And all his own. He drew out of the Stocks His money in a box, And sent his servant To Green the Bricklayer, And to the Carpenter; He was so fervent. The chimneys were threescore, The windows many more; And, for convenience, He sinks and gutters made, And all the way he pav’d To hinder pestilence. Was not this a good man— Whose life was but a span, Whose name was Sutton— As Locke, or Doctor South, Or Sherlock upon Death, Or Sir Isaac Newton?" - William Blake

"Hail Matrimony, made of Love! To thy wide gates how great a drove On purpose to be yok’d do come; Widows and Maids and Youths also, That lightly trip on beauty’s toe, Or sit on beauty’s bum. Hail fingerfooted lovely Creatures! The females of our human natures, Formèd to suckle all Mankind. ’Tis you that come in time of need, Without you we should never breed, Or any comfort find. For if a Damsel’s blind or lame, Or Nature’s hand has crook’d her frame, Or if she’s deaf, or is wall-eyed; Yet, if her heart is well inclin’d, Some tender lover she shall find That panteth for a Bride. The universal Poultice this, To cure whatever is amiss In Damsel or in Widow gay! It makes them smile, it makes them skip; Like birds, just curèd of the pip, They chirp and hop away. Then come, ye maidens! come, ye swains! Come and be cur’d of all your pains In Matrimony’s Golden Cage— 2" - William Blake

"The Land of Dreams - Awake, awake, my little boy! Thou wast thy mother’s only joy; Why dost thou weep in thy gentle sleep? Awake! thy father does thee keep. ‘O, what land is the Land of Dreams? What are its mountains, and what are its streams? O father! I saw my mother there, Among the lilies by waters fair. ‘Among the lambs, clothèd in white, She walk’d with her Thomas in sweet delight. I wept for joy, like a dove I mourn; O! when shall I again return?’ Dear child, I also by pleasant streams Have wander’d all night in the Land of Dreams; But tho’ calm and warm the waters wide, I could not get to the other side. ‘Father, O father! what do we here In this land of unbelief and fear? The Land of Dreams is better far, Above the light of the morning star.’" - William Blake

"A Divine Image - Cruelty has a human heart, And Jealousy a human face; Terror the human form divine, And Secrecy the human dress. The human dress is forgèd iron, The human form a fiery forge, The human face a furnace seal’d, The human heart its hungry gorge. " - William Blake

"The Schoolboy - I love to rise in a summer morn When the birds sing on every tree; The distant huntsman winds his horn, And the skylark sings with me. O! what sweet company. But to go to school in a summer morn, O! it drives all joy away; Under a cruel eye outworn, The little ones spend the day In sighing and dismay. Ah! then at times I drooping sit, And spend many an anxious hour, Nor in my book can I take delight, Nor sit in learning’s bower, Worn thro’ with the dreary shower. How can the bird that is born for joy Sit in a cage and sing? How can a child, when fears annoy, But droop his tender wing, And forget his youthful spring? O! father and mother, if buds are nipp’d And blossoms blown away, And if the tender plants are stripp’d Of their joy in the springing day, By sorrow and care’s dismay, How shall the summer arise in joy, Or the summer fruits appear? Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy, Or bless the mellowing year, When the blasts of winter appear?" - William Blake

"A Poison Tree - I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow. And I water’d it in fears, Night and morning with my tears; And I sunnèd it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles. And it grew both day and night, Till it bore an apple bright; And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine, And into my garden stole When the night had veil’d the pole: In the morning glad I see My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree. " - William Blake

"To God - If you have form’d a circle to go into, Go into it yourself, and see how you would do. " - William Blake

"Florentine Ingratitude: Sir Joshua sent his own portrait to The birthplace of Michael Angelo, And in the hand of the simpering fool He put a dirty paper scroll, And on the paper, to be polite, Did ‘Sketches by Michael Angelo’ write. The Florentines said ‘’Tis a Dutch-English bore, Michael Angelo’s name writ on Rembrandt’s door.’ The Florentines call it an English fetch, For Michael Angelo never did sketch; 10 Every line of his has meaning, And needs neither suckling nor weaning. ’Tis the trading English-Venetian cant To speak Michael Angelo, and act Rembrandt: It will set his Dutch friends all in a roar To write ‘Mich. Ang.’ on Rembrandt’s door; But you must not bring in your hand a lie If you mean that the Florentines should buy. Giotto’s circle or Apelles’ line Were not the work of sketchers drunk with wine; Nor of the city clock’s running … fashion; Nor of Sir Isaac Newton’s calculation." - William Blake

"Truly, my Satan, thou art but a dunce, And dost not know the garment from the man; Every harlot was a virgin once, Nor canst thou ever change Kate into Nan. Tho’ thou art worship’d by the names divine Of Jesus and Jehovah, thou art still The Son of Morn in weary Night’s decline, The lost traveller’s dream under the hill." - William Blake

"A religion without the Holy Ghost, though it had all the ordinances and all the doctrines of the New Testament, would certainly not be Christianity." - William Arthur

"A man can't soar too high, when he flies with his own wings." - William Blake

"Children of the future age reading this indignant page know that in a former time love, sweet love, was thought a crime." - William Blake

"My silks and fine array, my smiles and languish'd air, by love are driv'n away; and mournful lean despair brings me yew to deck my grave: such end true lovers have." - William Blake

"To my eye Rubens' coloring is most contemptible. His shadows are a filthy brown somewhat the color of excrement." - William Blake

"When nations grow old the arts grow cold and commerce settles on every tree." - William Blake

"Why cannot the ear be closed to its own destruction? Or the glistening eye to the poison of a smile?" - William Blake

"In conclusion, I have endeavored, with what success has been already determined by the voice of my own country, to give a panorama of Irish life among the people … and in doing this, I can say with solemn truth that I painted them honestly and without reference to the existence of any particular creed or party." - William Carleton

"My native place was [alive] with old legends, tales, traditions, customs and superstitions; so that in my early youth, even beyond the walls of my own humble roof, they met me in every direction." - William Carleton

"The machine can free man or enslave him; it can make of this world something resembling a paradise or a purgatory. Men have it within their power to achieve a security hitherto dreamed of only by the philosophers, or they may go the way of the dinosaurs, actually disappearing from the earth because they fail to develop the social and political intelligence to adjust to the world which their mechanical intelligence has created." - William Carleton

"I would have these good people to recollect, that the laws of this country hold out to foreigners an offer of all that liberty of the press which Americans enjoy, and that, if this liberty be abridged, by whatever means it may be done, the laws and the constitution, and all together, is a mere cheat; a snare to catch the credulous and enthusiastic of every other nation; a downright imposition on the world." - William Cobbett

"With melting airs, or martial, brisk, or grave; some chord in unison with what we hear is touch'd within us, and the heart replies." - William Cowper

"Women are in this respect more fortunate than men, that most of their employments are of such a nature that they can at the same time be thinking of quite different things." - Wilhelm von Humboldt, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt

"As bad as we sometimes think our government is run, it is the best run I ever saw." - Will Rogers, fully William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers

"My idea of an honest man is a fellow who declares income tax on money he sold his vote for." - Will Rogers, fully William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers

"There was a new kind of strength in the gravity of her face, and her colors still gave her that look of deep-seated health and ardor." - Willa Cather, fully Willa Sibert Cather

"My eye came to rest on the delicate convolutions of her ear-those intricate, perfect ears. The thought passed through my mind: No, those ears were not created by any chance coming together of atoms in nature (the Communist view). They could have been created only by immense design." - Whittaker Chambers, born Jay Vivian Chambers, aka Jay David Whittaker Chambers

"Yet, so strong is the hold which the insidious evil of Communism secures upon its disciples, that I could still say to someone at that time: I know that I am leaving the winning side for the losing side, but it is better to die on the losing side than to live under Communism." - Whittaker Chambers, born Jay Vivian Chambers, aka Jay David Whittaker Chambers

"For we cannot tarry here, we must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger, we, the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend, Pioneers! O pioneers!" - Walt Whitman, fully Walter "Walt" Whitman

"The only serious energising needed or offered is the discernment of God in all his freedom, the dismantling of structures of weariness and the dethronement of the powers of fatigue." - Walter Brueggemann

"How does man become mind? Clear intelligence and clear intelligence alone. We know, then, in all that fills heaven and earth there is but this clear intelligence. It is only because of their physical forms and bodies that men are separated. My clear intelligence is the master of heaven and earth and spiritual beings. If heaven is deprived of my clear intelligence, who is going to look into its height? If earth is deprived of my clear intelligence, who is going to look into its height? If earth is deprived of my clear intelligence, who is going to look into its depth? If spiritual beings are deprived of my clear intelligence, who is going to distinguish their good and evil fortune or the calamities and blessings that they will bring? Separated from my clear intelligence, there will be no heaven, earth, spiritual beings, or myriad things, and separated from these, there will not be my clear intelligence. Thus they are all permeated with one material force. How can they be separated?" - Wang Yang-Ming or Yangming, aka Wang Shouren or Wang Shou-jen, courtesy name Bo'an

"The basic ideas of investing are to look at stocks as business, use the market's fluctuations to your advantage, and seek a margin of safety. That's what Ben Graham taught us. A hundred years from now they will still be the cornerstones of investing." - Warren Buffett, fully Warren Edward Buffett, aka Oracle of Omaha

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts." - Washington Irving

"The man who talks everlastingly and promiscuously, and who seems to have an exhaustless magazine of sound, crowds so many words into his thoughts, that he always obscures, and very frequently conceals them." - Washington Irving

"The basic stimulus to the intelligence is doubt, a feeling that the meaning of an experience is not self-evident." - W. H. Auden, fully Wystan Hugh Auden

"I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally." - W. C. Fields, stage name for William Claude Dukenfield

"Marriage is better than leprosy because it's easier to get rid of." - W. C. Fields, stage name for William Claude Dukenfield

"He believed that there is no end to the mischief and hatred which men harbor deep in themselves and unknown to themselves and no end to their capacity to deceive themselves and that though they loved life, they probably loved death more and in the end thanatos would likely win over eros." - Walker Percy

"Unlike him I had been unable to escape into the simple complexities of science. All he had to do was solve the mystery of the universe, which may be difficult but is not as difficult as living an ordinary life...(How happy scientists are! Why didn't we become scientists, Percival? They confront problems which can be solved. We don't know what we confront. Does it have a name?)" - Walker Percy

"how to play the cards in order to win the game." - Voltaire, pen name of François-Marie Arouet NULL

"Work is the only way to make life bearable" - Voltaire, pen name of François-Marie Arouet NULL

"But I pine in Solitude. Solitude is my undoing." - Virginia Woolf, nee Stephen, fully Adeline Virginia Woolf

"Henry James seems most entirely in his element, doing that is to say what everything favors his doing, when it is a question of recollection. The mellow light which swims over the past, the beauty which suffuses even the commonest little figures of that" - Virginia Woolf, nee Stephen, fully Adeline Virginia Woolf

"Kay Arr, said the nursemaid, and Septimus heard her say Kay Arr close to his ear, deeply, softly, like a mellow organ, but with a roughness in her voice like a grasshopper's, which rasped his spine deliciously and sent running up into his brain waves of sound which, concussing, broke. A marvelous discovery indeed - that the human voice in certain atmospheric conditions (for one must be scientific, above all scientific) can quicken trees into life!" - Virginia Woolf, nee Stephen, fully Adeline Virginia Woolf

"The lake of my mind, unbroken by oars, heaves placidly and soon sinks into an oily somnolence.’ That will be useful." - Virginia Woolf, nee Stephen, fully Adeline Virginia Woolf

"There was a serenity about him always that had the look of innocence, when, technically, the word was no longer applicable." - Virginia Woolf, nee Stephen, fully Adeline Virginia Woolf