Great Throughts Treasury

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

Related Quotes

Abraham Lincoln

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.

Administration | Conduct | Desire | Earth | Friend | Power |

Niccolò Machiavelli, formally Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

Conduct | Nothing | Order | Success |

Naladiyar, or The Naladiyar NULL

The essence of right conduct is not to injure anyone; one should know only this, that non-injury is religion.

Conduct | Religion | Right |

Sydney Smith

Among the smaller duties of life, I hardly know any one more important than that of not praising where praise is not due. Reputation is one of the prizes for which men contend: it produces more labor and more talent than twice the wealth of a country could ever rear up. It is the coin of genius, and it is the imperious duty of every man to bestow it with the most scrupulous justice and the wisest economy.

Duty | Important | Justice | Labor | Life | Life | Man | Men | Praise | Reputation | Wealth | Talent |

Francis Maitland Balfour

The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.

Charity | Conduct | Deference | Enemy | Example | Father | Forgiveness | Friend | Good | Heart | Men | Mother | Respect | Will |

Benjamin Franklin

The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.

Charity | Conduct | Deference | Enemy | Example | Father | Forgiveness | Friend | Good | Heart | Men | Mother | Respect | Will |

Abraham Lincoln

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

Character | Reputation | Think |

Archer G. Jones

There is but one rule of conduct for a man - to do the right thing. The cost may be dear in money, in friends, in influence, in labor, in a prolonged and painful sacrifice, but the cost not to do right is far more dear: You pay in the integrity of your manhood, in your honor, in strength of character; and, for a timely gain, you barter the infinite.

Character | Conduct | Cost | Honor | Influence | Integrity | Labor | Man | Money | Right | Rule | Sacrifice | Strength |

Joseph Sugarman

Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward failure.

Conduct | Failure | Force | Honesty | Little | Success | Time | Will |

Ambrose Gwinett Bierce

Politics is the conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

Conduct | Politics | Public |

Alexis de Tocqueville, Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville

A brilliant achievement may win for you the favor of a people at one stroke; but to earn the love and respect of the population that surrounds you, a long succession of little services rendered and of obscure good deeds, a constant habit of kindness and an established reputation for disinterestedness will be required.

Achievement | Deeds | Good | Habit | Kindness | Little | Love | People | Reputation | Respect | Will | Respect |

Arnold J. Toynbee, fully Arnold Joseph Toynbee

In an age in which mankind’s collective power has suddenly been increased, for good or evil, a thousand-fold through the tapping of atomic energy, the standard of conduct demanded from ordinary human beings can be no lower than the standard attained in times past by rare saints.

Age | Conduct | Energy | Evil | Good | Mankind | Past | Power |

Arnold J. Toynbee, fully Arnold Joseph Toynbee

In an age in which mankind’s collective power has suddenly been increased, for good or evil, a thousandfold through the tapping of atomic energy, the standard of conduct demanded from ordinary human beings can be no lower than the standard in times past by rare saints.

Age | Conduct | Energy | Evil | Good | Mankind | Past | Power |

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

Circumstances are beyond the control of man; but his conduct is in his own power.

Circumstances | Conduct | Control | Man | Power |

Baltasar Gracián

A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity.

Integrity | Reputation |

Ben Jonson

The two chief things that give a man reputation in counsel, are the opinion of his honesty, and the opinion of his wisdom; the authority of those two will persuade.

Authority | Counsel | Honesty | Man | Opinion | Reputation | Will | Wisdom |

Baltasar Gracián

Never stake your reputation on a single cast.

Reputation |