Great Throughts Treasury

"Prayer is likely to be undervalued by all but wise people because it is silent and so secret. We are often deceived into thinking that noise is more important than silence. War sounds far more important than the noisesless growing of a crop of what, yet the silent wheat feeds millions, while war destroys them. Nobody but God knows how often prayers have changed the course of history... The highest communion is not asking God for things for ourselves, but letting Him flow down through us, out over the world - in endless benediction." - Frank Charles Laubach

"The human community is evolving… We can survive anything you care to mention. We are supremely equipped to survive, to adapt and even in the long run to start thinking." -

"When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say."" - Abraham Lincoln

"Religion, patriotism, race and sex are the favorite red herrings of foul political method – they are the most successful because they explode so easily and flood the mind with those unconscious prejudices which make critical thinking difficult." -

"Nine-tenths of our suffering is caused by others not thinking so much of us as we think they ought." - Mary Lyon, fully Mary Mason Lyon

"Your are what you are thinking. Happiness is a by-product of this endeavor." - Bibhuti Mazumder

"All thinking is not prayer. But thinking can be prayer, just as walking and talking and washing the floor can be prayer." - Vincent McNabb

"May God prevent us from becoming “right-thinking” men – that is to say, men who agree perfectly with their own police." - Thomas Merton

"Read every day something no one else is reading. Think every day something no one else is thinking. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity." - J. P. Morgan, fully John Pierpont Morgan

"Thoughts held in mind reproduce after their kind. It’s the nature of thinking. What we hold in our mind reproduces itself in the reality of our life and our experience." - Mary Manin Morrissey

"The Law of Attraction attracts to you everything you need, according to the nature of your thought life. Your environment and financial condition are the perfect reflection of your habitual thinking. Thought rules the world." - Joseph Murphy

"Protestant philosophers of religion have been concerned above all with the “meaning of God in human experience,” “religious values,” and “the source of human good.” Their thinking has been value-centered rather than God-centered." - Arnold Samuel Nash

"A great-souled hero must transcend the slavish thinking of those around him." - Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

"Errors and exaggerations do not matter. What matters is boldness in thinking with a; strong-pitched voice, in speaking out about things as one feels them in the moment of speaking; in having the temerity to proclaim what one believes to be true without fear of the consequences. If one were to await the possession of the absolute truth, one must be either a fool or a mute. If the creative impulse were muted, the world would then be stayed on its march." - José Clemente Orozco

"Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." -

"There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts; those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking, and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord.”" - Thomas Paine

"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking." - George S. Patton, fully George Smith Patton, Jr.

"A king can stand people’s fighting, but he can’t last long if people start thinking." - Will Rogers, fully William Penn Adair “Will” Rogers

"The roots of ultimate insights are found not on the level of discursive thinking, but on the level of wonder and radical amazement, in the depth of awe, in our sensitivity to the mystery, in our awareness of the ineffable. It is the level on which the great things happen to the soul, where the unique insights of art, religion, and philosophy come into being." - Fritz A. Rothschild

"The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem." - Robert Edward Rubin, aka Eddy Rubin

"The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem." - Theodore Rubin, fully Theodore Isaac Rubin

"We learn by thinking and the quality of the learning outcome is determined by the quality of our thoughts." - Ronald R. Schmeck, fully Ronald Ray Schmeck

"The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking." - Robert H. Schuller, fully Robert Harold Schuller

"Ethics is not definable, is not implementable, because it is not conscious; it involves not only our thinking, but also our feeling." - Valdemar W. Setzer

"What chiefly characterizes creative thinking from more mundane forms are (i) willingness to accept vaguely defined problem statements and gradually structure them, (ii) continuing preoccupation with problems over a considerable period of time, and (iii) extensive background knowledge in relevant and potentially relevant areas." - Herbert Alexander Simon

"Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought." - Albert Szent-Gyorgi

"Discovery is seeing what everybody else has seen, and thinking what nobody else has thought." - Albert Szent-Gyorgi

"Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different." - Albert Szent-Gyorgi

"In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fait and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present." -

"The future is a concept - it doesn't exist! There is no such thing as tomorrow! There never will be because time is always now. That's one of the things we discover when we stop talking to ourselves and stop thinking. We find there is only present, only an eternal now." -

"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things." - Ray Bradbury, fully Ray Douglas Bradbury

"Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than of death." -

"One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It's not and it won't. When we make this mistake we tend to spend a lot of time wallowing and/or complaining about what's wrong with life. 'It's not fair,' we complain, not realizing that, perhaps, it was never intended to be." - Richard Carlson

"You have a choice in how you respond to life. You can learn to relate to your thinking as well as your circumstances in new ways. With practice, making these choices will translate into a more relaxed self." - Richard Carlson

"Philosophical thinking is logical thinking, and psychological problems are often rooted in the inability of people to think logically about problems of living." - Elliot D. Cohen

"Determination and perseverance move the world; thinking that others will do it for you is a sure way to fail." - Marva Collins, born Marva Delores Nettles

"Questions focus our thinking. Ask empowering questions like: What's good about this? What's not perfect about it yet? What am I going to do next time? How can I do this and have fun doing it?" - Charles Connolly

"The first requisite for success is to develop the ability to focus and apply your mental and physical energies to the problem at hand - without growing weary. Because such thinking is often difficult, there seems to be no limit to which some people will go to avoid the effort and labor that is associated with it." - Thomas Edison, fully Thomas Alva Edison

"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." - Albert Einstein

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. We will not solve the problems of the world from the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. More than anything else, this new century demands new thinking: We must change our materially based analyses of the world around us to include broader, more multidimensional perspectives. " - Albert Einstein

"The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking... the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker." - Albert Einstein

"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking." - Albert Einstein

"While irrational faith is the acceptance of something as true only because an authority or the majority says so, rational faith is rooted in an independent conviction based upon one's own productive observing and thinking in spite of the majority's opinion." -

"We must dare to think about “unthinkable things” because when things become “unthinkable,” thinking stops and actions becomes mindless." -

"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose." - Bill Gates, fully William Henry "Bill"Gates III

"This is a time for a loud voice, open speech, and fearless thinking. I rejoice that I live in such a splendidly disturbing time." - Helen Keller. aka Helen Adams Keller

"There are two ways to slide easily through life; to believe everything or doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking." -

"As a professional educator, I have long been troubled by the many students who enter university without ever having been educationally challenged to engage in critical thinking - in fact, they seem afraid to do so." - Gerald Alexander Larue

"Freethinkers are those who reach judgment based on critical thinking and independent reasoning without regard to prevailing authority and tradition." - Gerald Alexander Larue

"It is certain that the two World Wars in which I have participated would not have occurred had we been prepared. It is my belief that adequate preparation on our part would have prevented or materially shortened all our other wars beginning with that of 1812. Yet, after each of our wars, there has always been a great hue and cry to the effect that there will be no more wars, that disarmament is the sure road to health, happiness, and peace; and that by removing the fire department, we will remove fires. These ideas spring from wishful thinking and from the erroneous belief that wars result from logical processes. There is no logic in wars. They are produced by madmen. No man can say when future madmen will reappear. I do not say that there will be no more wars; I devoutly hope that there will not, but I do say that the chances of avoiding future wars will be greatly enhanced if we are ready." -