Great Throughts Treasury

"The word 'freedom' means for me not a point of departure but a genuine point of arrival. The point of departure is defined by the word 'order.' Freedom cannot exist without the concept of order." - Prince Metternich, fully Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich

"The fact that man is unable or unwilling to acknowledge God, means only that he cannot accept ideas and beliefs about God framed by men, the false gods which obscure the living and ineffable God." - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, fully Sir or Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

"You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to His mind; and, if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right and we are lost. How do we know this to be true? We understand that your religion is written in a book. If it was intended for us, as well as you, whey has not the Great Spirit given to tus, and not only to us, but what did He not give to our forefathers the knowledge of that book, with the means of understanding it rightly? We only know what you tell us about it. How shall we know when to believe, being so often deceived by the white people? Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the book?" - Red Jacket, aka Sagoyewatha NULL

"What is the dogma of original sin but a means of making the things of the flesh enter a spiritual system?" - Jacques Rivière

"Most people think the future is the ends and the present is the means. In fact, the present is the ends and the future the means." - Fritz Jules Roethlisberger

"Financial markets are driven by human nature and have a propensity to go to excess. This means that periodic financial crises of one sort or another are virtually inevitable." - Robert Edward Rubin, aka Eddy Rubin

"Greatness consists in doing great deeds with little means – in the accomplishment of vast purposes. It consists in the private ranks of life – in helping one’s fellows, benefiting one’s neighborhood, in blessing one’s own city and state." -

"In a human context, love means sharing an experience, showing compassion, and helping one another. But our love of God is akin to reverent love. God is infinite life. Thus the most elementary ethical principle, when understood by the heart, means that out of reverence for the unfathomable, infinite, and living Reality we call God, we must never consider ourselves strangers toward any human being." - Albert Schweitzer

"The most elementary ethical principle, when understood by the heart, means that out of reverence for the unfathomable, infinite, and living Reality we call God, we must never consider ourselves strangers toward any human being. Rather, we must bind ourselves to the task of sharing his experiences and try being of help to him." - Albert Schweitzer

"Self-discipline never means giving up anything - for giving up is a loss. Our Lord did not ask us to give up the things of earth, but to exchange them for better things." - Fulton Sheen, fully Archbishop Fulton John Sheen

"Every fact means something beyond itself." - Odell Shepard

"The most important results in daily life are to be obtained, not through the exercise of extraordinary powers, such as genius and intellect, but through the energetic use of simple means and ordinary qualities, with which nearly all human individuals have been more or less endowed." - Samuel Smiles

"Religion is the hunger of the soul for the impossible, the unattainable, the inconceivable… This is its essence and this is its glory. This is what religion means. Anything which is less than is not religion." -

"The adult works to perfect his environment, whereas the child works to perfect himself, using the environment as the means… The child is a being in a constant state of transformation." - E. M. Standing

"In every man there are latent faculties by means of which he can acquire for himself knowledge of the higher worlds." - Rudolf Steiner, fully Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner

"“Holy” has the same root as “wholly”; it means complete. A man is not complete in spiritual nature if all his mind, heart, soul, strength are not given to God." - R. J. Stewart, fully Robert John Stewart

"Peace is essentially a moral fact, and only subordinately a political fact as a means to the end; peace is above all an act of reconciliation." - Luigi Sturzo, fully Don Luigi Sturzo

"If consciousness means what it claims to mean, not everything of worth in the World is traceable to an origin with Man, reference to Man, or application to Man’s use." - M. C. Swabey, fully Marie Taylor Collins Swabey

"Humanity is in a precarious balance between the forces of violence and the forces of peace. It is by no means clear at this time which of these forces will prevail. We do not ask, however, whether religion will not become an aid to the forces of peace or cooperation." - Obert C. Tanner, fully Obert Clark Tanner

"Creation is not an end in itself; it is a means. This life is a vehicle for us to transport ourselves from a framework of time into the experience of eternity, from the realm of the physical to the realm of the Godly." - Ezriel Tauber

"The Torah preceded creation in that it was the idea behind creation. It is the primordial knowledge of existence. It is the idea to which life is nothing more than a means. God is eternal, and the temporary nature of the physical creation is contradictory to eternity. Creation, therefore, it not an end in itself; it is a means. It is a means for giving the part of creation made in the Divine image – mankind – the opportunity to earn a share with Hashem in eternity." - Ezriel Tauber

"Capitalism means the direction of industry by the owners of capital for their own pecuniary gain." -

"Covetousness makes a man miserable, because riches are not means to make a man happy." - Jeremy Taylor

"What is it but blasphemy when God is merely my means to an end? That takes its toll. If we turn God into a puppet of our desires (even when that happens by the pious route of prayer) then he shuts up his heaven and we find ourselves thrown back into the silence of our unredeemed life." - Helmut Thielicke

"We should not feel that something else gives life meaning, even some transcendental purpose… The religious aspect of life needs to be re-conceptualized to avoid the error of turning life into only a means to Heaven, Nirvana, or union with God." - Garrett Thomson

"Commitment means that it is impossible for a man to yield the nerve center of his consent to a purpose or cause, a movement or an ideal, which may be more important to him than whether he lives or dies." -

"The Path is one for all; the means to reach the Goal must vary with the Pilgrims." - Tibetan Precept NULL

"Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt." -

"The name of this infinite and inexhaustible depth and ground of all being is God. That depth is what the word God means… For if you know that God means depth, you now much about him. You cannot then all yourself an atheist or unbeliever. For you cannot think or say: Life has not depth! Life is shallow. Being itself is surface only. If you could say this in complete seriousness, you would be an atheist; but otherwise you re not. He who knows about depth knows about God." -

"To do whatever is required of you in any situation without it becoming a role that you identify with is an essential lesson in the art of living that each one of us is here to learn. You become most powerful in whatever you do if the action is performed for its own sake rather than as a means to protect, enhance, or conform to your role identity." - Eckhart Tolle, born Ulrich Leonard Tolle

"I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to lighten his load by all possible means – except by getting off his back." - Leo Tolstoy, aka Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy or Tolstoi

"By means of higher knowledge, the wise behold every where the changeless Reality – which transcends the senses, which is uncaused, which is indefinable, which is all pervading and subtler than the subtlest, which is everlasting and is the source of all things and beings." - Mundaka Upanishad, or or the Mundakopanishad

"Only the fairy tale equates changelessness with happiness… Permanence means paralysis and death. Only in movement, with all its pain, is life." - Carl Jacob Burckhardt

"Love doesn’t mean doing extraordinary or heroic things. It means knowing how to do ordinary things with tenderness." - Jean Vanier

"It is easy to be honest enough not to be hanged. To be really honest means to subdue one’s prepossessions, ideals - stating things fairly, not humoring your argument - doing justice to your enemies... making confession whether you can afford it or not; refusing unmerited praise; looking painful truths in the face." - Aubrey de Vere, fully Aubrey Albericus de Vere NULL

"“Rule of Conduct.” Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." - John Wesley

"Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can." - John Wesley

"What does mysticism really mean? It means the way to attain knowledge. It’s too close to philosophy, except in philosophy you go horizontally while in mysticism you go vertically." - Elie Wiesel, fully Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel

"Epigenesis, originally a biological concept, means the development of an organism under the joint influence of heredity and environment. Epigenetic rules… are innate operations in the sensory system and brain. They are rules of thumb that allow organisms to find rapid solutions to problems encountered in the environment. They predispose individuals to view the world in a particular innate way and automatically to make certain choices as opposed to others" -

"To believe in God means to see that life has a meaning." -

"Computational irreducibility tends to make infinite questions undecidable. The presence of universality implies that there must at some level be computational irreducibility… This means that today’s mathematics will be viewed as small and surprisingly uncharacteristic sample of what is possible. If a system is computationally irreducible this means that there is in effect a tangible separation between the underlying rules for the system and its overall behavior associated with the irreducible amount of computational work needed to go from one to the other. And it is this separation that the basic origin of the apparent freedom we see in all sorts of system lie – whether those systems are abstract cellular automata or actual living brains." - Stephen Wolfram

"Art is not a means by which we escape from life, but a stratagem by which we conquer life's disorder." - Alfred Hamilton Barr, Jr.

"The use of creativity as an instrument for personal and social gain is by no means the whole story. In its deeper philosophical implications, creativity is a quest for meaning. It is an attempt to penetrate the mystery of the self, and perhaps the even greater mystery of Being." - Frank Barron

"I think that taking life seriously means something such as this: that whatever man does on this planet has to be done in the lived truth of the terror of creation, of the grotesque, of the rumble of panic underneath everything. Otherwise it is false. Whatever is achieved must be achieved with the full exercise of passion, of vision, of pain, of fear, and of sorrow. How do we know ... that our part of the meaning of the universe might not be a rhythm in sorrow?" -

"The social revolution means much more than the reorganization of conditions only: it means the establishment of new human values and social relationships, a changed attitude of man to man, as of one free and independent to his equal; it means a different spirit in individual and collective life, and that spirit cannot be born overnight." - Alexander Berkman

"Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be." -

"Compassion is something you can develop with practice. It involves two things: intention and action. Intention simply means you remember to open your heart to others; you expand what and who matters, from yourself to other people. Action is simply the "what you do about it."" - Richard Carlson

"To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. This is to be my symphony." - William Henry Channing

"Success means living the life of the heart." - Francis Ford Coppola

"You'll seldom experience regret for anything that you've done. It is what you haven't done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear. Do it! Develop an appreciation for the present moment. Seize every second of your life and savor it. Value your present moments. Using them up in any self-defeating ways means you've lost them forever." - Wayne Dyer, fully Wayne Walter Dyer