Great Throughts Treasury

"A Rav must have in him the two powers that there are in the Torah, that is, a drug of life and a drug of death (Yoma 72), in order that it will be possible for those who come close to him to receive according to their own will, as in the Torah the righteous will walk and the wicked will stumble (Hosea 14). If he yearns for true service of Hashem he can receive from the Rav a straight path to serve Hashem, but if his heart isn" - Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav or Breslov, aka Reb Nachman Breslover or Nachman from Uman NULL

"Anyone who wants to enter into the service of Hashem, the only way possible is to be like Avraham who considered himself to be the only one in the world. That is, he should not pay attention to anyone who is preventing him from coming close to Hashem, whether it be his father, mother, in-laws, wife, children, etc. or anyone else in the world who mocks him and tries to prevent him from serving Hashem. He should not pay attention to them at all, rather he should follow the verse Avraham was one (Yichezkel 32) As if he is the only one in the world. " - Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav or Breslov, aka Reb Nachman Breslover or Nachman from Uman NULL

"It is a great thing for a person to still have an evil inclination because then he is able to serve Hashem with the evil inclination itself. That is, to take all of the fire in his heart and channel it towards service of Hashem. For example, to pray with fiery passion of the heart, etc. For, if there is no evil inclination in a person his service cannot be complete. " - Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav or Breslov, aka Reb Nachman Breslover or Nachman from Uman NULL

"When a person enters into service of Hashem and sees it is so hard for him, and it seems as if they are distancing him from above and not allowing him at all to enter, he should know that all this feeling of being distanced is truthfully only his being drawn near. " - Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav or Breslov, aka Reb Nachman Breslover or Nachman from Uman NULL

"You need to greatly encourage yourself in His service as much as you can, even if you are the way you are, you should rely on His abundantly great mercy which is beyond limit, for certainly he will not forsake you, no matter how badly you" - Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav or Breslov, aka Reb Nachman Breslover or Nachman from Uman NULL

"You need to have great stubbornness in the service of Hashem. " - Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav or Breslov, aka Reb Nachman Breslover or Nachman from Uman NULL

"The Runes are a gift from the ancients that have given me my life’s work and enabled me to be of service to millions of people who I will never meet. I am heartened by the knowledge that this oracular system, this “compass for conduct,” has served so many in such profound and useful ways. So what are the Runes? 24 letters of a two thousand year old Western alphabet, carved on a set of clay stones, with the 25th stone left blank to represent the Unknowable, the Divine. These 25 Runes represent most of life’s major themes: Joy, Partnership, Disruption, Standstill, Movement, Defense, Journey, Fertility, Growth, Harvest, the Divine . . . “This is the only alphabet I know,” Margaret Mead once said, “that goes A-B-C-D . . . X-Y-God…"" - Ralph Blum

"Serving God - what more beautiful thing is there to do! The only real joy is to be a servant of God, and that means being awake all the time to the needs of the moment…. We cannot have any preconceived ideas of what service means. We never know from one moment to the next, what will be asked of us. " - Reshad Feild, born Richard Timothy Feild

"Helping, fixing, and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul." - Rachel Naomi Remen

"But a small thing, apparently, is a kind look, word, or service of some kind; but, oh! who can tell where it may end? It costs the giver comparatively nothing; but who can tell the priceless value of him who receives it? The cup of loving service, be it merely a cup of cold water, may grow and swell into a boundless river, refreshing and carrying life and hope in turn to numberless others, and these to others, and so have no end. This may be just the critical moment in some life. Given now, it may save or change a life or a destiny. So don't withhold the bread that's in your keeping, but Scatter it with willing fingers, shout for joy to see it go. There is no greater thing in life that you can do, and nothing that will bring you such rich and precious returns." - Ralph Waldo Trine

"It is permissible to do so to maintain a religious family. You may try to increase your income, but in an honest way. The goal of life is not the earning of money, but the service of God. Money is not harmful if it is devoted to the service of God." - Ramakrishna, aka Ramakrishna Paramhamsa or Sri Ramakrishna, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay NULL

"The goal of life is not the earning of money, but the service of God." - Ramakrishna, aka Ramakrishna Paramhamsa or Sri Ramakrishna, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay NULL

"You may try to increase your income, but in an honest way. The goal of life is not the earning of money, but the service of God. Money is not harmful if it is devoted to the service of God." - Ramakrishna, aka Ramakrishna Paramhamsa or Sri Ramakrishna, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay NULL

"No, we are not the master of the state, said King. We are not the servant of the state. We are the conscience of the state. The churches or the religious community should be, I think, the conscience of the state. We're not just service providers." - Jim Wallis

"The enlightenment is under threat. So is reason. So is truth. So is science, especially in the schools of America. I am one of those scientists who feel that it is no longer enough just to get on and do science. We have to devote a significant proportion of our time and resources to defending it from deliberate attack from organized ignorance. We even have to go out on the attack ourselves, for the sake of reason and sanity. Of course, excellent organizations already exist for raising funds and deploying them in service of reason, science and enlightenment values. But the money that these organizations can raise is dwarfed by the huge resources of religious foundations such as the Templeton Foundation, not to mention the tithe-bloated, tax-exempt churches." - Richard Dawkins

"A university is not a service station. Neither is it a political society, nor a meeting place for political societies. With all its limitations and failures, and they are invariably many, it is the best and most benign side of our society insofar as that society aims to cherish the human mind." - Richard Hofstadter

"Librarian is a service occupation. Gas station attendant of the mind." - Richard Powers

"When we try to serve or understand the world we touch what is divine. We get our dignity, our courage, our joy in work because of the greatness of the far-off and always in sight, always attainable, never at any moment attained. Service is one of the ways by which a tiny insect like one of us can get a purchase on the whole universe. If we find the job where we can be of use, we are hitched to the star of the world and move with it." - Richard Clarke Cabot

"I am thinking of the Danish sculptor of great fame, Thorvaldsen, who chose to be buried in the midst of his work-not in a cathedral or a cemetery, but in a museum among the monuments of his own making- in the midst of his statuary; and there what he made and what he did with his life surrounds him. He did not theorize upon sculpturing, only, but with his hands and with his creative gift he fashioned those things and he lies there in the midst of his works, as we all shall do someday-and it will not be the theories or the discussions or the speculations or the set of principles or the set of commandments that shall save us. We shall be no better than we are. We are no better than the tithing we pay, no better than the teaching we do, no better than the service we give, no better than the commandments we keep, no better than the lives we live, and we shall have a bright remembrance of these things and we shall, in a sense, lie down in the midst of what we have done when that time comes." - Richard L. Evans, fully Richard Louis Evans

"All service ranks the same with God With God whose puppets best and worst Are we: there is no last nor first." - Robert Browning

"Plough not the seas, sow not the sands, Leave off your idle pain; Seek other mistress for your minds, Love's service is in vain." - Robert Southwell, also Saint Robert Southwell

"LOVE'S SERVILE LOT - LOVE, mistress is of many minds, Yet few know whom they serve ; They reckon least how little Love Their service doth deserve. The will she robbeth from the wit, The sense from reason's lore ; She is delightful in the rind, Corrupted in the core. She shroudeth vice in virtue's veil, Pretending good in ill ; She offereth joy, affordeth grief, A kiss where she doth kill. A honey-shower rains from her lips, Sweet lights shine in her face ; She hath the blush of virgin mind, The mind of viper's race. She makes thee seek, yet fear to find To find, but not enjoy : In many frowns some gliding smiles She yields to more annoy. She woos thee to come near her fire, Yet doth she draw it from thee ; Far off she makes thy heart to fry, And yet to freeze within thee. She letteth fall some luring baits For fools to gather up ; Too sweet, too sour, to every taste She tempereth her cup. Soft souls she binds in tender twist, Small flies in spinner's web ; She sets afloat some luring streams, But makes them soon to ebb. Her watery eyes have burning force ; Her floods and flames conspire : Tears kindle sparks, sobs fuel are, And sighs do blow her fire. May never was the month of love, For May is full of flowers ; But rather April, wet by kind, For love is full of showers. Like tyrant, cruel wounds she gives, Like surgeon, salve she lends ; But salve and sore have equal force, For death is both their ends. With soothing words enthralled souls She chains in servile bands ; Her eye in silence hath a speech Which eye best understands. Her little sweet hath many sours, Short hap immortal harms ; Her loving looks are murd'ring darts, Her song bewitching charms. Like winter rose and summer ice, Her joys are still untimely ; Before her Hope, behind Remorse : Fair first, in fine unseemly. Moods, passions, fancy's jealous fits Attend upon her train : She yieldeth rest without repose, And heaven in hellish pain. Her house is Sloth, her door Deceit, And slippery Hope her stairs ; Unbashful Boldness bids her guests, And every vice repairs. Her diet is of such delights As please till they be past ; But then the poison kills the heart That did entice the taste. Her sleep in sin doth end in wrath, Remorse rings her awake ; Death calls her up, Shame drives her out, Despairs her upshot make. Plough not the seas, sow not the sands, Leave off your idle pain ; Seek other mistress for your minds, Love's service is in vain." - Robert Southwell, also Saint Robert Southwell

"The Perils of Worship - The life without reverence is barren and insensitive. And worship is the proper expression of reverence. The Sermon on the Mount leads to adoration, thanksgiving, and prayer as truly as it leads to acts of service. But there are perils in worship. Some of the worship that goes on in our churches is merely lip service, talk takes the place of activity. True worship is the expression of the reverence of a human personality for his Lord and Creator. Reverence makes us eager to serve and obey. But false worship and lip service can be worse then open defiance. The story is told of Mark Twain's encounter with a man who managed to combine the appearances of piety with a predatory career in business. "Before I die," said the hypocrite, "I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb to the top of Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud." "I have a better idea," answered Mark Twain. "Why don't you stay right at home in Boston and keep them?" After the warmth of the worship that says, "Lord, Lord," there is a chill in the words, "Do what I say." But if we do not meet the chill, the warmth is not the warmth of life. Bishop Gore ended his book, The Sermon on the Mount, by saying: "Many will come to him in that day with a record of their orthodoxy and of their observances, of their brilliant successes in his professed service; but he will protest unto them, 'I never knew you.' He 'knows' no man in whom he cannot recognize his own likeness." (The Sermon on the Mount by Charles Gore, p. 188. John Murray Ltd., London) His own likeness? If we understand the Sermon on the Mount, we will never claim that. But if it sinks in, it does begin to remake us." - Roger L. Shinn, fully Roger Lincoln Shinn

"My soul shall declare to Thee Thou art her former And shall Thee as her maker, O God, testify, At Thy word 'Be, O Soul' did she take on existence, And from naught didst Thou draw her as light from the eye. Of Thee she shall own and affirm, hand uplifted, ’Twas Thou that didst breathe her in me, and as due For that work she shall pour out her thanks and bear witness That to me she was given Thy bidding to do. She serves Thee as handmaid while yet in the body, And the day she returns to the land whence she came, In Thee will she dwell, for in Thee is her being, Doth she rise, doth she sit, Thou art with her the same. She was Thine when unborn ere the day of her breathing, With wisdom and knowledge by Thee she was fed, And to Thee for her ordinance looks, and subsistence, Indebted to Thee for her water and bread. Her gaze is to Thee, and in Thee is her hoping When like novice in child-birth she cries in affright. O take her torn heart as a sacrifice offered, And her ribs lacerated for fiery rite. To Thee let her pour out her tears as drink-off’ring, Let the breath of her sighing as incense-cloud be, At her gate and her doorway she watches with prayer, She is burning like flame with her passion for Thee. She must ever approach Thee as servant his master, Or as handmaiden looks to her mistress’s eye, She must spread out her palms in request and petition And turn herself humbly to Thee in her cry. For call Thee she must, nor endure to be silent, Like a bird in the net her one hope is in flight, In the depth of the night she must rise and keep vigil, For her work is Thy works to declare and recite. For Thee she must pine and of Thee make entreaty, Her hand must be clean and as stainless her thought. Her breach do Thou heal, be her hope and her helper, When she draws nigh redeem her, her sin count as naught. Behold her affliction, and hark to her weeping, In the sphere of the soul she with Thee is alone, Repay and restore her, attend to her anguish, When her sobs and her tears her backslidings bemoan. Bemock, O Almighty, the foes that bemock her, Avenge with due vengeance her insults and shame, In her stress be a rock of support ‘gainst her foeman, Nor yield up the child Thou to manhood didst frame. No enemy came, whose reproach could be borne with, No cruel one hunted her down in her track, ’Twas the friends of her household betrayed her—her passions— ’Twas her comrade who bloodily stabbed in the back. I ever am seeking my body’s best welfare, Yet it in return would my spirit undo. Ah, truly the fruit of the tree in its root is, The proverb "Like mother, like daughter" is true." - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron

"I have made Thee my refuge, my terror and trembling, And when straitly besieged I have made Thee my tower, When to left and to right I have sought for a helper, I could look for dear life to no aid but Thy power. More than all earthly treasure I have made Thee my portion, Through all cares the delight and desire of my days, In the flood of Thy love I have rapture eternal And prayer is but an occasion for praise." - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron

"THE REDEMPTION - The despoiled and dispersed Thou shalt gather to Zion, Restoring the slaves who were sold without fee, And the priests to their ritual robes, while the scion Of families ruling shall once more be free To carol, high God, his thanksgiving to Thee. To the heathen a banner to raise Thou wilt hasten, Thou shalt strengthen and gird up the loins that we trust, And the suppliants whom Thy dispersal did chasten Thou wilt raise as of yore from captivity’s dust, The breastplate of righteousness clothing the just. My impudent foe seeks my life-faith to sever, To my face he enquires how long yet wilt thou wait, But I am afflicted, not cast off for ever, For my God is the help of the low in estate, Protecting the poor as He humbles the great. His heritage shall to the exile be given, And a strong hand the sick and the punished replace, The abased and abandoned, by every fang riven, Shall their freshness renew by the patriarchs’ grace And the strangers be scorched like a tropical place." - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron

"My heart craves to praise Thee, But I am unable. Would my understanding Were as spacious as Solomon’s. Without it my wisdom As yet ill suffices For expounding Thy wonders And Thy deeds of beneficence Wrought for me and all mankind. Without Thee all’s hopeless, And where is the rock Sustaining, suspending The weight of the world? I am as one orphaned; Nay, on Thee I am cast. What then can I do But look to Thee, wait on Thee, In whose hand is the spirit Of all that is living, In whose hand is the breath Of all the creation?" - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron

"Who can know Thy pathways? For Thou hast made palaces for the seven planets In the twelve constellations, And to the Ram and the Bull Thou hast imparted Thy strength in uniting them, And the third is the Twins, like two brothers in their unity And their human likeness. And the fourth is the Crab, And on him, as on the Lion, hast Thou bestowed of Thy splendour, And on his sister the Virgin, who is near unto him, And on the Scales and the Scorpion placed by his side, And on the ninth that was created in the form of a man of might, whose strength runs not dry, For he is the Archer, mighty of the bow. And thus too by Thy great power are created the Goat and the Water-Bearer, While alone is the last constellation, "For the Lord did appoint a great Fish." And these are the constellations high and exalted in their degrees, "Twelve princes according to the nations."" - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron

"May it please Thee, O Lord my God, To subdue my fierce desire. O hide Thy face from my sins and trespasses, Do not carry me off in the midst of my days, Until I shall have prepared what is needful for my way And provender for the day of my journeying, For if I go out of my world as I came, And return to my place, naked as I came forth, Wherefore was I created And called to see sorrow? Better were it I had remained where I was Than to have come hither to increase and multiply sin. I beseech Thee, O God, judge me by Thine attribute of mercy, And not by Thine anger lest Thou wither me. For what is man that Thou shouldst judge him? And how shalt Thou weigh a drifting vapour? When Thou placest it in the balance, It shall be neither heavy nor light, And what shall it profit Thee to weigh the air? From the day of his birth man is hard-pressed and harrowed, "Stricken, smitten of God and afflicted." His youth is chaff driven in the wind, And his latter end is flying straw, And his life withereth like a herb, And God joineth in hunting him. From the day he cometh forth from his mother’s womb His night is sorrow and his day is sighing. If to-day he is exalted, To-morrow he shall crawl with worms. A grain of chaff putteth him to flight, And a thorn woundeth him. If he is sated, he waxeth wicked, And if he is hungry, he sinneth for a loaf of bread. His steps are swift to pursue riches, But he forgetteth Death, who is after him. At the time he is straitened, he multiplieth his promises, And scattereth his words, And is profuse in vows, But when he is enlarged, He keepeth back his word and forgetteth his vows, And strengtheneth the bars of his gates, While Death is in his chambers, And he increaseth guards in every quarter While the foe lieth ambushed in his very apartment. As for the wolf, the fence shall not restrain it From coming to the flock. Man entereth the world, And knoweth not why, And rejoiceth, And knoweth not wherefore, And liveth, And knoweth not how long. In his childhood he walketh in his own stubbornness, And when the spirit of lust beginneth in its season To stir him up to gather power and wealth, Then he journeyeth from his place To ride in ships And to tread the deserts, And to carry his life to dens of lions, Adventuring it among wild beasts; And when he imagineth that great is his glory And that mighty is the spoil of his hand, Quietly stealeth the spoiler upon him, And his eyes are opened and there is naught. At every moment he is destined to troubles, That pass and return, And at every hour evils, And at every moment chances, And on every day terrors. If for an instant he stand in security, Suddenly disaster will come upon him, Either war shall come and the sword will smite him, Or the bow of brass transpierce him; Or sorrows will overpower him, Or the presumptuous billows flow over him, Or sickness and steadfast evils shall find him, Till he becometh a burden on his own soul, And shall find the gall of serpents in his honey. And when his pain increaseth His glory decreaseth, And youths make mock of him, And infants rule him, And he becometh a burden to the issue of his loins, And all who know him become estranged from him. And when his hour hath come, he passeth from the courts of his house to the court of Death, And from the shadow of his chambers to the shadow of Death. And he shall strip off his broidery and his scarlet And shall put on corruption and the worm, And lie down in the dust And return to the foundation from which he came. And man, whom these things befall, When shall he find a time for repentance To scour away the rust of his perversion? For the day is short and the work manifold, And the task-masters irate, Hurrying and scurrying, And Time laughs at him And the Master of the House presses. Therefore I beseech Thee, O my God, Remember the distresses that come upon man, And if I have done evil Do Thou me good at my latter end, Nor requite measure for measure To man whose sins are measureless, And whose death is a joyless departure." - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron

"Three things remind me of You, the heavens who are a witness to Your name the earth which expands my thought and is the thing on which I stand and the musing of my heart when I look within." - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron

"“According to one’s abilities” is the essential rule in the service of Hashem. And our abilities are limited. Each pathway into self-growth which we endeavor to present throughout this work is built upon this important foundation: We must always move slowly with our work, never overburdening ourselves or being extreme with what we try to do. “One who grabs much, will not attain, and one who grabs little will attain.” (Tractate Kiddushin 17a) And even regarding the little we can do, we will fail not once or twice, nevertheless we can never despair. Rather, we must persevere and stubbornly begin anew until, with Hashem’s help, we succeed." - Shlomo Wolbe, aka Wilhelm Wolbe

"All is change in the world of the senses, But changeless is the supreme Lord of Love. Meditate on him, be absorbed by him, Wake up from this dream of separateness." - Shvetashvatara Upanishad

"Nations do not mistrust each other because they are armed; they are armed because they mistrust each other." - Ronald Reagan, fully Ronald Wilson Reagan

"Putting people first has always been America's secret weapon. It's the way we've kept the spirit of our revolutions alive -- a spirit that drives us to dream and dare, and take great risks for a greater good." - Ronald Reagan, fully Ronald Wilson Reagan

"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but Democrats believe every day is April 15." - Ronald Reagan, fully Ronald Wilson Reagan

"The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of America... our country is in need of and ready for a spiritual renewal." - Ronald Reagan, fully Ronald Wilson Reagan

"Once settled on the hierarchy, the rest of the members seem to find their places and roles, and the level of tension within the group diminishes dramatically. As the same time, cohesion increases." - Ronald A. Heifetz

"Never do for a child what he can do for himself." - Rudolf Driekurs

"To delight in art that is materialistic increases the difficulties of the Kamaloca state, whereas delight in spiritual art lightens them. Every noble, spiritual delight shortens the time in Kamaloca. Already during earthly life we must break ourselves of pleasures and desires which can be satisfied only by the physical instrument" - Rudolf Steiner, fully Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner

"The prophet shows that, for the sake of silence, we are to abstain even from good talk. If this be so, how much more needful is it that we refrain from evil words, on account of the penalty of the sin!" - Saint Benedict of Nursia NULL

"I don't need equal time, I am equal time!" - Rush Limbaugh

"These semi-traitors [Union generals who were not hostile to slavery] must be watched. — Let us be careful who become army leaders in the reorganized army at the end of this Rebellion. The man who thinks that the perpetuity of slavery is essential to the existence of the Union, is unfit to be trusted. The deadliest enemy the Union has is slavery — in fact, its only enemy." - Rutherford B. Hayes, fully Rutherford Birchard Hayes

"I was not so committed to financial success that I was willing to abandon my principles and priorities. One of the most visible examples of this is our decision to close on Sunday. Our decision to close on Sunday was our way of honoring God and of directing our attention to things that mattered more than our business." - S. Truett Cathy

"No one knows what he himself is made of, except his own spirit within him, yet there is still some part of him which remains hidden even from his own spirit; but you, Lord, know everything about a human being because you have made him...Let me, then, confess what I know about myself, and confess too what I do not know, because what I know of myself I know only because you shed light on me, and what I do not know I shall remain ignorant about until my darkness becomes like bright noon before your face." - Saint Augustine, aka Augustine of Hippo, St. Austin, Bishop of Hippo NULL

"The soul cannot live without love. She always wants to love something because love is the stuff she is made of, and through love I created her." - Saint Catherine of Siena NULL

"Brother Bernard was the first brother whom the Lord gave me, as well as the first to put into practice and fulfill most completely the perfection of the Holy Gospel by distributing all his goods to the poor; because of this and many other prerogatives, I am bound to love him more than any other brother of the entire Order. Therefore, as much as I can, I desire and command that, whoever the minister general is, he should cherish and honor him as he would me, and likewise the ministers provincial and the brothers of the entire Order should esteem him in place of me." - Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL

"O Divine Master, grant that I may not seek to be consoled, as to console. To be understood, as to understand. To be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in dying that we are born to eternal life." - Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL

"True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice." - Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL

"When he is brought to nothing, the highest degree of humility, the spiritual union between his soul and God will be effected. The journey does not consist on recreations, experiences and spiritual feelings, but in the living, sensory and spiritual, exterior and interior death of the cross." - Saint John of the Cross, born Juan de Yepes Álvarez NULL

"To go to God there are many ways perhaps more excellent than the one we follow; let us recognize its excellence, but let us put forth all our efforts to progress in the way God has given us, because it is there where He wants us to be." - Saint Francis de Sales NULL