Great Throughts Treasury

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

Edward Dahlberg

American Novelist, Essayist. Critic and Autobiographer, Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship

"It is hideous and coarse to assume that we can do something for others - and it is vile not to endeavor to do it."

"We cannot live, suffer or die for somebody else, for suffering is too precious to be shared."

"It takes a long time to understand nothing."

"A strong foe is better than a weak friend."

"So much of our lives is given over to the consideration of our imperfections that there is no time to improve our imaginary virtues. The truth is we only perfect our vices, and man is a worse creature when he dies than he was when he was born. "

"Writing is conscience, scruple, and the farming of our ancestors."