Great Throughts Treasury

"A man whose blood is very snow-broth; one who never feels the wanton stings and motions of the sense, but doth rebate and blunt his natural edge with profits of the mind, study, and fast. Measure for Measure, Act i, Scene 4" - William Shakespeare

"A scar nobly got, or a noble scar, is a good livery of honor; so belike is that. All’s Well That Ends Well, Act iv, Scene 5" - William Shakespeare

"And, oftentimes, excusing of a fault, Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse. The Life and Death of King John (Pembroke at IV, ii)" - William Shakespeare

"Certain it is that he will steal himself into a man's favor, and for a week escape a great deal of discoveries; but when you find him out, you have him even after. All’s Well That Ends Well, Act iii, Scene 6" - William Shakespeare

"Charity, which renders good for bad, blessings for curses. Richard III, Act i, Scene 2" - William Shakespeare

"In modern eyes, precious though wars may be they must not be waged solely for the sake of the ideal harvest. Only when forced upon one, is a war now thought permissible. It was not thus in ancient times. The earlier men were hunting men, and to hunt a neighboring tribe, kill the males, loot the village and possess the females, was the most profitable, as well as the most exciting, way of living. Thus were the more martial tribes selected, and in chiefs and peoples a pure pugnacity and love of glory came to mingle with the more fundamental appetite for plunder. Modern war is so expensive that we feel trade to be a better avenue to plunder; but modern man inherits all the innate pugnacity and all the love of glory of his ancestors. Showing war's irrationality and horror is of no effect on him. The horrors make the fascination. War is the strong life; it is life in extremis; war taxes are the only ones men never hesitate to pay, as the budgets of all nations show us." - William James

"Forsooth, ye have heard it said that ye shall do well in this world that in the world to come ye may live happily for ever; do ye well then, and have your reward both on earth and in heaven; for I say to you that earth and heaven are not two but one; and this one is that which ye know, and are each one of you a part of, to wit, the Holy Church, and in each one of you dwelleth the life of the Church, unless ye slay it." - William Morris

"Nature designed us to be of good cheer." - Douglas William Jerrold

"Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite by bare imagination of a feast?" - William Shakespeare

"A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode." - Kautilya, aka Chanakya or Vishnu Gupta NULL

"The arrow shot by the archer may or may not kill a single person. But stratagems devised by wise men can kill even babes in the womb." - Kautilya, aka Chanakya or Vishnu Gupta NULL

"If husband and wife have the habit of staying together, never leaving one another, and following each other around within the limited space of their own rooms, then they will lust after and take liberties with one another. From such action improper language will arise between the two This kind of discussion may lead co licentiousness. But of licentiousness will be born a heart of disrespect to the husband. Such a result comes from not knowing that one should stay in one's proper place." - Ban Zhao, courtesy name Huiban

"If wives suppress not contempt for husbands, then it follows that such wives rebuke and scold their husbands. If husbands stop not short of anger, then they are certain to beat their wives. The correct relationship between husband and wife is based upon harmony and intimacy, and conjugal love is grounded in proper union. Should actual blows be dealt, how could matrimonial relationship be preserved? Should sharp words be spoken, how could conjugal love exist? If love and proper relationship both be destroyed, then husband and wife are divided." - Ban Zhao, courtesy name Huiban

"Let a woman be correct in manner and upright in character in order to serve her husband. Let her live in purity and quietness of spirit, and attend to her own affairs. Let her love not gossip and silly laughter. Let her cleanse and purify and arrange in order the wine and the food for the offerings to the ancestors. When a woman observes such principles as these, then she may be said to continue ancestral worship." - Ban Zhao, courtesy name Huiban

"These four qualifications characterize the greatest virtue of a woman. No woman can afford to be without them. In fact they are very easy to possess if a woman only treasure them in her heart. The ancients had a saying: "Is love afar off? If I desire love, then love is at hand!" So can it be said of these qualifications." - Ban Zhao, courtesy name Huiban

"The hanging gate, of something like trelliswork, was propped on a pole, and he could see that the house was tiny and flimsy. He felt a little sorry for the occupants of such a place--and then asked himself who in this world had a temporary shelter." - Murasaki Shikibu, aka Lady Murasaki

"Someone who butts in when you're talking and smugly provides the ending herself. Indeed anyone who butts in, be they child or adult, is most infuriating." - Sei Shōnagon

"If you can't afford something, think twice about whether you really need it or not." - Egyptian Proverbs

"Whoever lets himself be led by the heart will never lose his way." - Egyptian Proverbs

"Lois entered the mill. Fear heightened her gratification; she welcomed its inrush, letting her look climb the scabby and livid walls to the frightful stare of the sky. Cracks ran down; she expected, now with detachment, to see them widen, to see the walls peel back from a cleft – like the House of Usher’s." - Elizabeth Bowen, Full name Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen

"She should have died hereafter; there would have been time for such a word. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." - William Shakespeare

"Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter, dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty, beyond what can be valued, rich or rare, no less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor; as much as child e'er loved, or father found, a love that makes breath poor and speech unable." - William Shakespeare

"Some true love turned and not a false turned true." - William Shakespeare

"Here’s another example of the difference in our worldviews. A family in my sister’s neighborhood was recently stricken with a double tragedy, when both the young mother and her three-year-old son were diagnosed with cancer. When Catherine told me about this, I could only say, shocked, Dear God, that family needs grace. She replied firmly, That family needs casseroles, and then proceeded to organize the entire neighborhood into bringing that family dinner, in shifts, every single night, for an entire year. I do not know if my sister fully recognizes that this is grace." - Elizabeth Gilbert

"A mind always in contact with children and servants, whose aspirations and ambitions rise no higher than the roof that shelters it, is necessarily dwarfed in its proportions." - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

"There is a solitude, which each and every one of us has always carried with him, more inaccessible than the ice-cold mountains, more profound than the midnight sea; the solitude of self. Our inner being, which we call ourself, no eye nor touch of man or angel has ever pierced." - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

"Out of my discomforts, which were small enough, grew one thing for which I have all my life been grateful, the formation of fixed habits of work." - Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, fully Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward

"Needs must when the devil drives." - English Proverbs

"The course of true love never did run smooth." - English Proverbs

"A friend will tell you she saw your old boyfriend - and he's a priest." - Erma Bombeck, fully Erma Louise Bombeck, born Erma Fiste

"One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, 'What are you kids doing in there?' when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say. 'I understand and I love you' without so much as uttering a word."" - Erma Bombeck, fully Erma Louise Bombeck, born Erma Fiste

"Here is the piece. If you can't say fornicate can you say copulate or if not that can you say co-habit? If not that would have to say consummate I suppose. Use your own good taste and judgment." - Ernest Hemingway, fully Ernest Miller Hemingway

"Scott took literature so solemnly. He never understood that it was just writing as well as you can and finishing what you start." - Ernest Hemingway, fully Ernest Miller Hemingway

"There is no night life in Spain. They stay up late but they get up late. That is not night life. That is delaying the day. Night life is when you get up with a hangover in the morning. Night life is when everybody says what the hell and you do not remember who paid the bill. Night life goes round and round and you look at the wall to make it stop. Night life comes out of a bottle and goes into a jar. If you think how much are the drinks it is not night life." - Ernest Hemingway, fully Ernest Miller Hemingway

"When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." - Ernest Hemingway, fully Ernest Miller Hemingway

"I also know - and this won't alter the course of history or your personal view of me - that you will die with a clenched fist and a tense jaw, the epitome of hatred and struggle, because you are not a symbol (some inanimate example) but a genuine member of the society to be destroyed; the spirit of the beehive speaks through your mouth and motivates your actions. You are as useful as I am, but you are not aware of how useful your contribution is to the society that sacrifices you." - Che Guevara, fully Ernesto “Che” Guevara

"Don't put off today's work till tomorrow." - Estonian Proverbs

"The mistakes of other people are good teachers." - Estonian Proverbs

"Who has lied once will not be believed the second time." - Estonian Proverbs

"We live in a society that is in slavery. Maybe not institutionalized, but slavery, nonetheless. Freedom is on everyone’s lips. Freedom is announced and celebrated. But not many feel or act free. Evidence we live in a nation of complainers and a society of addicts. –" - Eugene Peterson

"A sweet thing, for whatever time, to revisit in dreams the dear dad we have lost." - Euripedes NULL

"A woman like me! What am I like that's different from you or any man" - Euripedes NULL

"Of all the evils that infest a state, a tyrant is the greatest; his sole will commands the laws, and lords it over them." - Euripedes NULL

"The beard, conformable to the notion of my friend Sir Roger, was for many ages looked upon as the type of wisdom. Lucian more than once rallies the philosophers of his time, who endeavored to rival one another in beards; and represents a learned man who stood for a professorship in philosophy, as unqualified for it by the shortness of his beard." - Eustace Budgell

"A signature always reveals a man's character - and sometimes even his name." - Evan Esar

"It’s a great blessing to live in America. It’s a great blessing to have the opportunity to enjoy the freedoms which are ours today. I have seen people, thousands of them, who have lost the freedom which is ours, where they can no longer meet, as we meet here this morning, and express themselves as they see fit, where they no longer have freedom of movement, freedom to select their own jobs, their own educational opportunities, freedom to speak their minds, to write what they wish – freedom of enterprise. In many parts of the world today these rich blessings of freedom no longer exist." - Ezra Taft Benson

"People are getting nervous about pharmaceuticals. If it's food, people trust it more. And people are also so happy to hear that something they love to eat is also good for them." - Faith Popcorn, born Faith Plotkin

"One day, I shall explode like an artillery shell and all my bits will be found on the writing table." - Gustave Flaubert

"Love is an emotion that is based on an opinion of women that is impossible for those who have had any experience with them." - H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken

"Poetry has done enough when it charms, but prose must also convince." - H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken