Great Throughts Treasury

"The love of life is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking."

"The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless, the last corruption of degenerate man."

"The love of retirement has in all ages adhered closely to those minds which have been most enlarged by knowledge, or elevated by genius. Those who enjoyed everything generally supposed to confer happiness have been forced to seek it in the shades of privacy."

"The lust of gold succeeds the rage of conquest; The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless! The last corruption of degenerate man."

"The man who is asked by an author what he thinks of his work is put to the torture and is not obliged to speak the truth."

"The main of life is composed of small incidents and petty occurrences; of wishes for objects not remote, and grief or disappointments of no fatal consequence."

"The martial character cannot prevail in a whole people but by the diminution of all other virtues."

"The lustre of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades; the highest pleasure which nature has indulged to sensitive perception is that of rest after fatigue."

"The man who threatens the world is always ridiculous; for the world can easily go on without him, and, in a short time, will cease to miss him."

"The mind is never satisfied with the objects immediately before it, but is always breaking away from the present moment, and losing itself in schemes of future felicity... The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope."

"The maxim, in vino Veritas - that a man who is well warmed with wine will speak truth, may be an argument for drinking, if you suppose men in general to be liars; but, sir, I would not keep company with a fellow, who lies as long as he is sober, and whom you must make drunk before you can get a word of truth out of him."

"The men who can be charged with fewest failing are generally most ready to allow them."

"The morality of an action depends upon the motive from which we act."

"The morality of an action depends upon the motive from which we act. If I fling half a crown to a beggar with intention to break his head, and he picks it up and buys victuals with it, the physical effect is good; but with respect to me, the action is very wrong."

"The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it."

"The most illiterate man who is touched by devotion, and uses frequent exercises of it, contracts a certain greatness of mind, mingled with a noble simplicity, that raises him above others of the same condition."

"The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high-road that leads him to England."

"The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope."

"The natural progress of the works of men is from rudeness to convenience, from convenience to elegance, and from elegance to nicety."

"The plaintiff and defendant in an action at law, are like two men ducking their heads in a bucket, and daring each other to remain longest under water."

"The only end of writing is to enable the readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it."

"The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute."

"The present is never a happy state to any human being."

"The poor and the busy have no leisure for sentimental sorrow."

"The present state of things is the consequence of the past; and it is natural to inquire as to the sources of the good we enjoy or the evils we suffer. If we act oniy for ourselves, to neglect the study of history is not prudent; if intrusted with the care of others, it is not just."

"The present time is seldom able to fill desire or imagination with immediate enjoyment, and we are forced to supply its deficiencies by recollection or anticipation."

"The public pleasures of far the greater part of mankind are counterfeit. Very few carry their philosophy to places of diversion, or are very careful to analyze their enjoyments. The general condition of life is so full of misery, that we are glad to catch delight without inquiring whence it comes, or by what power it is bestowed."

"The prosperity of a people is proportionate to the number of hands and minds usefully employed. To the community, sedition is a fever, corruption is a gangrene, and idleness is an atrophy. Whatever body or society wastes more than it acquires, must gradually decay; and every jeing that continues to be fed, and ceases to labor, takes away something from the public stock."

"The purpose of an injury is to vex and trouble me. - Now, nothing can do that to him that is truly valiant."

"The real satisfaction which praise can afford, is when what is repeated aloud agrees with the whispers of conscience, by showing us that we have not endeavored to deserve well in vain."

"The reflection that strikes the heart is not that the evils before us are real evils but that they are evils to which we ourselves may be exposed... The delight of tragedy proceeds from our consciousness of fiction; if we thought murders and treasons real, they would please no more."

"The safe and general antidote against sorrow, is employment. It is commonly observed, that among soldiers and seamen, though there is much kindness, there is little grief; they see their friend fall without that lamentation which is indulged in security and idleness, because they have no leisure to spare from the care of themselves; and whoever shall keep his thoughts equally busy, will find himself equally unaffected by irretrievable losses."

"The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape."

"The reciprocal civility of authors is one of the most risible scenes in the farce of life."

"The slave of pleasure soon sinks in a kind of voluptuous dotage; intoxicated with present delights, and careless of everything else, his days and nights glide away in luxury or vice, and he has no care, but to keep thought away: for thought is troublesome to him, who lives without his own approbation."

"The stream of Time, which is continually washing the dissoluble fabrics of other poets, passes without injury by the adamant of Shakespeare."

"The superiority of some men is merely local. - They are great because their associates are little."

"The seeds of knowledge may be planted in solitude, but must be cultivated in public."

"The true, strong, and sound mind is the mind that can embrace equally great things and small."

"The two great movers of the human mind are the desire of good, and the fear of evil."

"The true art of memory is the art of attention."

"The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth."

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."

"The true effect of genuine politeness seems to be rather ease than pleasure."

"The true source of cheerfulness is benevolence."

"The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction."

"The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight."

"The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are."

"The two most engaging powers of an author are, to make new things familiar, and familiar things new."

"The two offices of memory are collection and distribution."