Great Throughts Treasury

"Not all ideas and beliefs and ideals have equal merit."

"Learning to live deliberately and with confidence as well as knowing how to love one’s self and to be consistently happy – although not always easy – are fundamental to happiness and fulfillment."

"This is the essence of humanism: we have the privilege and responsibility to consider deep questions and to courageously bear the answers and the difficulty in finding solid answers. In doing so, one can aspire to one’s chosen values, and hopefully find fulfillment in the process."

"Think freely and independently or you are a slave bound by imaginary shackles. These shackles may be wrought by tradition, emotion, neediness, or fear"

"The past can be remembered with a smile or downcast eyes, with the difference being one's attitude."

"Cogitation & contemplation -- not indoctrination -- begets emancipation & elucidation."

"A 1994 study by the Center for Policy Alternatives concluded that three out of every five Latinos and African Americans live in a community with one or more toxic waste sites."

"A better understanding of what we believe as true can assist us in determining what is just."

"A hesitancy to believe was the first point I took from my philosophy class as a freshman in college."

"A philosophical orientation is one thing; it is rewarding if one also has the requisite courage. However, wondering to the point of complacency or inaction is quite another."

"Alas, I live an unexamined life. Socrates would most certainly look upon me with contempt- though I may desire more excitement, I oft' bow to inertia and fail to make any attempt. We let sand pass through the hourglass as though it is limitless."

"A person must live in a self-directed way. You must make your own decisions. Don't let anybody tell you how to play the hand you get dealt; poker players don't listen to other people about how to play their hand. And make no mistake - everyone you come in significant contact with is playing the same game at the same table. Poker players don't have advisors, and they don't count on the beneficence of their fellow players. I'm not advocating a harshness or thick-headedness - just noting that you're a loser to the degree that you let another tell you how to play this game of life."

"Almost everyone has the capacity, the longing, for virtue - to be respectful, to seek justice, to dwell in peace, etc. There are many factors that get in the way. One must find those factors and remove them, or circumvent them."

"An idea that can be helpful to a person who wishes to make strides in his or her development, beliefs, and objectivity is to externalize and explicitize their decision making process into a dispassionate dialogue with self and often another source (such as a person, a journal, or a published book)."

"Anxiety changes thinking - for better or for worse. Anxiety is the horse that gallops you toward truth or bucks you off."

"Apart from her, an image lingers in my mind; a fusion of her, us, and my desires. Music that mirrors feelings soothes me in her absence; in the coolness of solitude it is a warm fire."

"Aloofness does not protect one, it isolates them."

"As of 2003, there are over ninety United Nations resolutions that are being violated by countries around the world."

"As we grow older, we gain increasing responsibility for our emotional health. You identify the problems, determine the path to take, and then do what you decided to, even if it is difficult."

"Avoid the temptation to panic when the chips are down; when the chips are down is when one really needs to rely on oneself."

"At one point Hitler wanted to be an artist, but, having failed, went on to become the most infamous violator of human rights in history."

"At various times, we all feel on top of the world, or like fucking assholes. The question is, ?What is the average way we feel about ourselves??"

"At times I am so shocked by the behavior of humanity that I am insulted to have been brought into this world. Other times, I get down on one knee, just thankful I'm alive."

"Balance is a worthy path to take. Pursuing the highs and accepting the lows. But time is too valuable to waste, Because watching t.v. no one ever grows."

"Awe for nature seems well-placed on our creator's shoulders, but the next time I best someone in tennis, teach something that matters to another person, gaze into the eyes of one of the group home children who depend on me, achieve an A in a course, land a job, get that first kiss, or have an interpersonal connection, I should rightfully exalt myself as an individual, as a human."

"Believe in the possibility that we can rise to unimagined heights."

"Behold the human mind! Incomprehensibly deep, the distant layers of it connected in powerful ways to everything. In this vast storehouse of knowledge, memories are never forgotten, just inaccessible."

"Being conservative with our social interventions even though they cost money is not just an ideology or attitudinal preference, it is a moral choice."

"Be careful looking to either person or god for your own principles, for peace is bigger than Gandhi; passion is greater than King; perseverance is more than Keller; love encompasses Jesus' message."

"Change is inevitable. It is wisdom that fosters development and progress."

"Come to know yourself. You may not like all of what you find, but that's not the point."

"Billions of possibilities regarding my evolution- thousands of seemingly random choices made. Incalculable problems and moments with more than one solution- fleeting acts become permanently engraved."

"Bringing about a more just and humane society - indeed, world - is not just a matter of comfort; research shows a connection between social position and health. Literally, the society we humans have set up and perpetuate brings about not only the suffering of some people, it can exact an incalculable cost - untimely death."

"Comedy is as profound as philosophy."

"Choose to make a leap of faith about yourself."

"Compiling a book of quotations on values does not make me a great spirit. Rather, I am somewhat like an assistant to a captain of industry; every time I quote someone my humility feels incontrovertible."

"Communality is as honorable as individuality."

"Could it be that I may spend the rest of my life attempting to reconcile the ambiguities, the polar opposites that appear to be inherent in the universe, in society, in myself?"

"Consider yourself "grown up" when you can relate to your parents as person to person, not child to parent. To be able to be objective, confident, and steady in such a relationship means that you have become yourself, and transcended being just an actor in an endless play in which you have a supporting role."

"Conservative ideology heralds personal responsibility as the cause of (the lack of personal responsibility) and the best solution to social problems, but the idea of justice and the virtue magnanimity are challenges to that position."

"Danger and dishonor come in all shapes and sizes. Desperation drives one to literally fight or flee. Challenges have many faces and varied guises- emulate the undaunted falcon or steadfast oak tree..."

"Did you ever hear about the following way to encourage yourself to do good deeds: to imagine that God is taking the form of the lowest of the low here on earth, unbeknownst to us, and seeing how man treats this incarnation- and only when he is consistently met with kindness will he decide that man has progressed enough to end our suffering."

"Educated "liberals" have prudence about terming someone else wrong because of their behavior or opinions. I believe this is not because their "moral compass" is misaligned, but because it is in the nature of liberalism to refrain from judgment."

"Distrust anyone who is peddling virtue for the purpose of social complacency. A people with a true grasp of values such as justice, integrity & liberty will not support the stagnant status quo."

"Emotion is as admirable as erudition."

"Education leads to knowledge, yet wisdom is only found within."

"Exercising deep, true responsibility for oneself takes no less than a Herculean effort."

"Finding meaning in one's avocation, one's pursuit - consists of determining what one's special area of intelligence or intrigue is, and marrying that to the engine of passion to fuel its motion as though one was finding a pleasing racetrack and flooring the gas pedal."

"Falling in love is good! Just be careful not to fall so hard that you're knocked unconscious."

"Einstein's Theories of Relativity were condemned by 100 Nazi professors. His response: 'If I were wrong, one professor would have been enough.'"