Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Hasidic Proverbs

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"There is no room for God in him who is full of himself."

"For the unlearned, old age is winter; for the learned, it is the season of the harvest."

"To love God truly, one must first love man. And if anyone tells you that he loves God and does not love his fellow man, you will know that he’s lying."

"Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength."

"Who is the skilled physician? He who can prevent sickness."

"Everyone must have two pockets, so that he or she can reach into the one or the other, according to need. In the right pocket are to be the words: For my sake was the world created, and in the left: I am dust and ashes."

"Fear only two: God, and the man who has no fear of God."

"Be the master of your will and the slave of your conscience."

"As the hand held before the eye hides the tallest mountain, so this small earthly life hides from our gaze the vast radiance and secrets of which the world is full, and whoever can take life from before his eyes as one takes away ones hand, will see the great radiance within the world."

"He who feels no compassion will become insane"

"From the child you can learn three things: He is merry for no particular reason; never for a moment is he idle; When he needs something, he demands it vigorously."

"God dwells wherever man lets Him in"

"Fear the man who fears you."

"He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day."

"He, who does not believe that God wants this bit of sand to lie in this particular place, does not believe at all."

"Lies are usually caused by undue fear of men"

"Man himself is the source of all his troubles, for the light of God pours over him eternally. But through his all-too-bodily existence man comes to cast a shadow, so that light cannot reach him."

"In order to really live, man must first give himself to death. But when he has done so, he discovers that he is not to die, that he is to live."

"Man must always bear in mind that God is omnipresent and is always with him; that God is, so to speak, the most subtle matter everywhere diffused… Let man realize that when he is looking at material things he is in reality gazing at the image of the Deity which is present in all things. With this in mind man will always serve God even in small matters."

"No limits are set to the ascent of man, and to each and every one the highest stands open. Here it is only your personal choice that decides."

"One who looks for a friend without faults will have none."

"Only one worry is permissible: a man should worry because he is worrying."

"One can best serve God with whatever one is doing at the moment."

"The “I” stands between God and us. When a man says I and presumes to use his Maker’s word, he is shutting himself off from him. But there is no dividing wall before him who sacrifices his “I”."

"One who thinks that money can do everything is likely to do anything for money."

"The community of living is the carriage of the Lord."

"The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others."

"The man who thinks he can live without others is mistaken; the one who thinks others can't live without him is even more deluded."

"The prosperity of a country is in accordance with its treatment of the aged."

"The virtue of angels is that they cannot deteriorate; their flaw is that they cannot improve. Man's flaw is that he can deteriorate; and his virtue is that he can improve."

"To love God truly, one must first love man. And if anyone tells you that he loves God and does not love his fellowman, you will know that he is lying."

"You should utter words as though heaven were opened within them and as though you did not put the word into your mouth, but as though you entered into the word"

"The whole world is a cloak for the lowest rung of holiness, for its feet, as it were. As it is written: And the earth is my footstool. God limits the godliness he has in infinity, and narrows it down to the focus of the material world in which man exists. And there he assigns every man his thought and word and deed according to the day, the place and the person, and hides the signs to lead men to his service. And so a man should immerse himself in the task of understanding the signs which are cloaked in thought and word and deed and so given to him in particular, in his work and his affairs, and in everything God appoints for him day by day."

"When a child walks down the road, a company of angels goes before him proclaiming, 'Make way for the image of the Holy One.'"

"While we pursue happiness, we flee from contentment."