Great Throughts Treasury

"You waste precious time each day. Every little moment you spent with God will be spent to your best advantage; and whatever you achieve with the desire to please God in your heart will stand unto eternity." - Paramahansa Yogananda, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh

"Germany, formerly the most wasteful nation in Europe, now (is) the leader in recycling. (But they still have a ways to go, still averaging yearly 824 pounds of waste per household. At 1900 pounds per household, we Americans have even farther to go; we're the world's worst wasters. With just 5 percent of the world's population, we produce 50 percent of its solid waste.)" - Paul Hawken

"Ignorance is a treasure of infinite price that most men squander, when they should cherish its least fragments; some ruin it by educating themselves, others, unable to so much as conceive of making use of it, let it waste away. Quite on the contrary, we should search for it assiduously in what we think we know best. Leaf through a dictionary or try to make one, and you will find that every word covers and masks a well so bottomless that the questions you toss into it arouse no more than an echo." - Paul Valéry, fully Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry

"Don't be like those people who believe in positive thinking and tell themselves that they're loved and strong and capable. You don't need to do that because you know it already. And when you doubt it — which happens, I think, quite often at this stage of evolution — do as I suggested. Instead of trying to prove that you're better than you think, just laugh. Laugh at your worries and insecurities. View your anxieties with humor. It will be difficult at first, but you'll gradually get used to it. Now go back and meet all those people who think you know everything. Convince yourself that they're right, because we all know everything; it's merely a question of believing… Don't explain. Your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe you… Don't think about what you'll tell people afterward. The time is here and now. Make the most of it… Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear." - Paulo Coelho

"Everything said to myself that I was about to have a wrong decision, but to suffer from mistakes is just part of life. The world wants something from you? Do not want to risk it again and returned to where they have gone by I do not have the courage to say yes to it? I made a mistake when his first eleven years old, when her son I can ask to see him not borrow a pencil, from then on, I realized that sometimes you do not have a second chance and it is better to accept the gift that this world gift . Of course it's risky, but risk is greater risk that their bus was sitting on the forty-eight hours to get here might have an accident? If I must be honest with someone or something, you have to do, and first, to be honest with yourself already. If you are looking for a true love, then you must first remove the trivial love from people you have. What little experience I have taught her is that no one owns anything at all, that everything is an illusion-and illusion that the physical affects as well as the soul of all things so. Anyone who has lost something that they think it is theirs forever (as it has frequently happened to me last time), finally realizes that nothing really belongs to them all. And if nothing belongs to me at all, then it is useless to waste time to take care of things is not his; best to live as if today is the first (or also may be the last day) of life. " - Paulo Coelho

"I am afraid of committing myself she thought to herself she wanted to follow all possible paths and ended up following none… I am afraid of death, but what I fear more than death, is to waste my life in vain, and called love because it contains things beyond our understanding, it sheds a light of a particular kind, but what scares me is what this places the light from the shadows… Fear lasts only until the point at which it is the occurrence of the outlawed, then the fear is losing its meaning, and left us only hope that we have taken the right decision." - Paulo Coelho

"Life attracts life… Life can seem either very long or very short, according to how you live it… Life does not play with marked cards. Winning or losing is part of it… Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once… Life is a constant risk, and anyone who forgets this will be unprepared for the challenges that fate may have in store… Life is a game that is spinning faster to dizziness; life is a skydiving game; it gives us the opportunity, we flying and soaring up again; life is a hiking trip; it wants to climb to the pinnacle of your best and feeling angry, upset when you do not control it… Life is an act of faith… Life is falling down 7 times and getting up 8… Life is like a garden, you reap what you sow… Life is like cooking: before choosing what you love, try everything… Life is made of our attitudes. And there are certain things that the gods oblige us to live through. Their reason for this does not matter, and there is no action we can take to make them pass us by… Life is one long training session, in preparation for what will come. Life and death lose their meaning, there are only challenges to be met with joy and overcome with tranquility… Life is short. Kiss slowly, laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly… Life is too short to waste time complaining… Life is the moment we're living right now… Life sometimes separates people so that they can realize how much they mean to each other… Life without cause is a life without effect. " - Paulo Coelho

"We always have a tendency to see those things that do not exist and to be blind to the great lessons that are right there before our eyes… We always have the necessary resources to face the storms that life throws at us, but most of the time, those resources are locked up in the depths of our heart and we waste an enormous amount of time trying to find them. By the time we've found them, we already been defeated by adversity… We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand… We are all pilgrims in search of the unknown. " - Paulo Coelho

"I love all waste And solitary places; where we taste The pleasure of believing what we see Is boundless, as we wish our souls to be." - Percy Bysshe Shelley

"As soon as we study animals — not in laboratories and museums only, but in the forest and prairie, in the steppe and in the mountains — we at once perceive that though there is an immense amount of warfare and extermination going on amidst various species, and especially amidst various classes of animals, there is, at the same time, as much, or perhaps even more, of mutual support, mutual aid, and mutual defense amidst animals belonging to the same species or, at least, to the same society. Sociability is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle. Of course it would be extremely difficult to estimate, however roughly, the relative numerical importance of both these series of facts. But if we resort to an indirect test, and ask Nature: "Who are the fittest: those who are continually at war with each other, or those who support one another?" we at once see that those animals which acquire habits of mutual aid are undoubtedly the fittest. They have more chances to survive, and they attain, in their respective classes, the highest development and bodily organization. If the numberless facts which can be brought forward to support this view are taken into account, we may safely say that mutual aid is as much a law of animal life as mutual struggle; but that as a factor of evolution, it most probably has a far greater importance, inasmuch as it favors the development of such habits and characters as insure the maintenance and further development of the species, together with the greatest amount of welfare and enjoyment of life for the individual, with the least waste of energy." - Peter Kropotkin, fully Prince Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin

"It is a common failing–and one that I have myself suffered from–to fall in love with a hypothesis and to be unwilling to take no for an answer. A love affair with a pet hypothesis can waste years of precious time. There is very often no finally decisive yes, though quite often there can be a decisive no. " - Peter Medawar, fully Sir Peter Brian Medawar

"Eat not thy heart; which forbids to afflict our souls, and waste them with vexatious cares." - Plutarch, named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus after becoming Roman citizen NULL

"In our own time the whole of Greece has been subject to a low birth rate and a general decrease of the population, owing to which cities have become deserted and the land has ceased to yield fruit, although there have neither been continuous wars nor epidemics...For as men had fallen into such a state of pretentiousness, avarice, and indolence that they did not wish to marry, or if they married to rear the children born to them, or at most as a rule but one or two of them, so as to leave these in affluence and bring them up to waste their substance, the evil rapidly and insensibly grew." - Polybius NULL

"Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it. " - Pope John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła, aka Saint John Paul the Great NULL

"Faultfinding without suggestions for improvement is a waste of time." - Ralph C. Smedley

"EFA [Ecological Footprint Analysis] starts from a series of simple premises: Human beings are integral components of the ecosystems that sustain us. We can therefore best assess ecological sustainability using biophysical data. Most human impacts on ecosystems are associated with energy and material extraction and consumption. These energy and material flows can be converted to corresponding productive or assimilative ecosystems areas. There is a measurable, finite area of productive land and water ecosystems on Earth. Every human population imposes an ‘ecological footprint’ on Earth equivalent to the amount of the planet’s productive capacity required to supply that population with resources and waste assimilation services. We therefore formally define the ecological footprint of a specified population as the area of land and water ecosystems required on a continuous basis to produce the resources that the population consumes, and to assimilate (some of) the wastes that the population produces, wherever on Earth the relevant land/water may be located." - William Rees and Mathis Wackernagel

"At best Americans give but a limited attention to history. Too much happens too rapidly, and before we can evaluate it, or exhaust its meaning or pleasure, there is something new to concern us. Ours is the tempo of the motion picture, not that of the still camera, and we waste experience as we wasted the forest." - Ralph Ellison, fully Ralph Waldo Ellison

"Video games are a waste of time for men with nothing else to do. Real brains don't do that. On occasion? Sure. As relaxation? Great. But not full time" - Ray Bradbury, fully Ray Douglas Bradbury

"You will have to write and put away or burn a lot of material before you are comfortable in this medium. You might as well start now and get the necessary work done. For I believe that eventually quantity will make for quality. How so? Quantity gives experience. From experience alone can quality come. All arts, big and small, are the elimination of waste motion in favor of the concise declaration. The artist learns what to leave out. His greatest art will often be what he does not say, what he leaves out, his ability to state simply with clear emotion, the way he wants to go. The artist must work so hard, so long, that a brain develops and lives, all of itself, in his fingers." - Ray Bradbury, fully Ray Douglas Bradbury

"Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency." - Raymond Chandler, fully Raymond Thornton Chandler

"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me." - Raymond Chandler, fully Raymond Thornton Chandler

"You either plan for what's ahead or you fight with what you've got: worry is a waste of time." - Richard Bach, fully Richard David Bach

"Even ministers of good things are like torches, a light to others, waste and destruction to themselves." - Richard Hooker

"Evil ministers of good things are as torches,--a light to others, a waste to none but themselves only." - Richard Hooker

"He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own dispositions will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove." - Robertson Davies

"During the fifties, for example, the American character appeared with some consistency that became a model of manhood adopted by many men: the Fifties male. He got to work early, labored responsibly, supported his wife and children and admired discipline. Reagan is a sort of mummified version of this dogged type. This sort of man didn't see women's souls well, but he appreciated their bodies; and his view of culture and America's part in it was boyish and optimistic. Many of his qualities were strong and positive, but underneath the charm and bluff there was, and there remains, much isolation, deprivation, and passivity. Unless he has an enemy, he isn't sure that he is alive. The Fifties man was supposed to like football, be aggressive, stick up for the United States, never cry, and always provide.... During the sixties, another sort of man appeared. The waste and violence of the Vietnam war made men question whether they knew what an adult male really was. If manhood meant Vietnam, did they want any part of it? Meanwhile, the feminist movement encouraged men to actually look at women, forcing them to become conscious of concerns and sufferings that the Fifties male labored to avoid." - Robert Bly

"There is a privacy I love in this snowy night. Driving around, I will waste more time." - Robert Bly

"Doing a thing well is often a waste of time." - Robert Byrne, fully Robert Leo Byrne

"THE DWELLERS IN CLAY - O habitants of homes of clay, Why lift ye such a swelling eye, Ye are but as the beasts that die, What do ye boast of more than they? It is for us the wiser part To know ourselves for worms whose doom Is in the clay to find a tomb, Nor, falsely proud, exalt our heart. What shall aught profit mortal man Whose latter end adjoins the grave? Here were no change, though Nature gave A thousand years to be his span. Should he as rebel walk, behold Earth opens hot to swallow up His ashes in her flaming cup And vain is all his might of gold. Unhappy man, with chastened soul, And opened eyes, true vision win, To see thy lowly origin And thy inevitable goal. To what may be compared thy lot? Thou art, O weak and wretched wight, The gourd that shot up in the night And in the morning it was not. To be unborn were better worth Than thus to reap distress and pain, For how essay great things to gain When struggling in this snare of earth? A fallen creature from the womb, Thou sinnest for a slice of bread, And in a moment’s wildered dread, Can live through every plague and gloom While spirit with thy body links, With living light shall glow thy flesh, But should the soul desert its mesh, To mire and sliminess it sinks. Behold no jot with thee will stay Of all the glory now so great, Strangers shall seize thy loved estate, And empty thou shalt go away. Thy soul thou gavest o’er to lust, Nor pondered on this bitter truth. But if thou sinnest in thy youth, What wilt thou do when thou art dust? O let the wicked turn aside, And take, O King, the path to Thee. Perchance the Rock will heed the plea, And from His wrath the sinner hide. O haughty-souled, come gather all, Remember and stand fast and raise Your heart and hands in common praise And thus to God in heaven call: "Woe to our souls, and wellaway For all the sins that we have sinned, Alas, we have pursued the wind And like to sheep have gone astray. "What favour can we ask or grace? The wave of sin has overflowed Our heads, and heavy is our load Of guilt, how dare we lift our face? "Draw up Thy people from the pit, Thou Ruler of the depth and height, Stiff-necked were we in Thy despite, Yet of Thy mercies bate no whit "But shed Thy sweet compassion o’er The people knocking at Thy gate, Thou art the Master of our fate, And unto Thee our eyes upsoar."" - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron

"Do you remember the mountain pass of sand which I crossed alone while fleeing from you and afraid? Even today I am in transit over you,—but behind me are tens of thousands who obey me like their father And wait for my utterances as for the rain and attend to my wisdom as to prophecy. Because of this bless them for me my God,—may they follow after me willingly today." - Samuel ha-Nagid, born Samuel ibn Naghrela or Naghrillah

"Ever since Eve started it all by offering Adam the apple, woman's punishment has been to supply a man with food then suffer the consequences when it disagrees with him." - Helen Rowland

"Be a helpful friend, and you will become a green tree with always new fruit, always deeper journeys into love." - Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL

"One does not regret giving one's own ear-ring to one's dear friend. (One does not regret giving the best to one's friend)" - Russian Proverbs

"Through the toil of prayer and the anguish of your heart commune with those who are grieved at heart; and the Source of mercy will be opened up to your petitions." - Saint Isaac of Nineveh, also Isaac the Syrian, Isaac of Qatar and Isaac Syrus NULL

"Why do you trouble yourself in a house that is not your own? Let the sight of a dead man be a teacher for you concerning your departure from hence." - Saint Isaac of Nineveh, also Isaac the Syrian, Isaac of Qatar and Isaac Syrus NULL

"Now if we are willing to examine the Scriptures in this way, carefully and systematically, we shall be able to obtain our salvation. If we unceasingly are preoccupied with them, we shall learn both correctness of doctrine and an upright way of life." - John Chrysostom, fully Saint John Chrysostom

"Arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him." - Samuel Butler

"Pleasures are not, if they last; in their passing is their best: glory is more bright and gay in a flash, and so away." - Samuel Daniel

"A strike on any scale is merely a trial of industrial strength, an application of the law of supply and demand, so often quoted by labor's opponents. How can a society based on free contract and free competition object to such a method of determining the comparative strength and endurance of capital and labor?" - Samuel Gompers

"An old friend never can be found, and nature has provided that he cannot easily be lost." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

"It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

"We all live in the hope of pleasing somebody; and the pleasure of pleasing ought to be greatest, and always will be greatest, when our endeavors are exerted in consequence of our duty." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

"Without a love of humankind there is no love of God." - Sholem Asch, born Szalom Asz, also written Shalom Asch

"Logic is neither an art nor a science but a dodge." - Stendhal, pen name of Marie Henn Beyle or Marie-Henri Beyle NULL

"It is all right to make mistakes; nothing is perfect because with perfection, we would not exist." - Stephen Hawking

"In order to have wisdom we must have ignorance." - Theodore Dreiser, fully Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser

"I have known the inexorable sadness of pencils, neat in their boxes, dolor of pad and paper-weight, all the misery of manilla folders and mucilage, desolation in immaculate public places." - Theodore Roethke

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'" - Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt

"The object of government is the welfare of the people. The material progress and prosperity of a nation are desirable chiefly so long as they lead to the moral and material welfare of all good citizens." - Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt

"It is my conviction that there is no way to peace - peace is the way." - Thich Nhất Hanh