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

Richard H. Rice, fully Richard Henry Rice

The mature man knows that he is likely to make mistakes. He wants to take responsibility for them. Only by facing his mistakes does he learn to act more responsibly.

Character | Man | Responsibility | Wants | Learn |

Mary Lou Retton

We are each put on this earth to make a particular contribution to humanity... Although God, the Almighty, has a plan for every one of us, He gives us choices. It is our responsibility to make the best of those choices in order to achieve our ultimate purpose.

Character | Earth | God | Humanity | Order | Plan | Purpose | Purpose | Responsibility |

Publius Syrus

One ungrateful man does an injury to all who stand in need of aid.

Aid | Character | Man | Need |

Satchidananda, fully Swami Satchidananda, born C. K. Ramaswamy Gounder NULL

I would sit quietly for hours and hours in meditation, but nothing came to my heart. I didn’t feel or realize anything... Then I learned to pray for the sake of prayer and not for anything else. I would not be satisfied with anything but God. If our prayers are that sincere and our interest is only in God and nothing else, then God cannot sit quietly somewhere. He has to run to us. If we need help, it is always waiting. All we need to do is ask sincerely.

Character | God | Heart | Meditation | Need | Nothing | Prayer | Waiting | God |

Lillian Smith, fully Lillian Eugenia Smith

Freedom and responsibility are like Siamese twins: they die if they are parted.

Character | Freedom | Responsibility |

William Gilmore Simms

Strong passions are the life of manly virtues. But they need not necessarily be evil because they are passions, and because they are strong. They may be likened to blood horses, that need training and the curb only, to enable those whom they carry to achieve the most glorious triumphs.

Character | Evil | Life | Life | Need | Training |

Pooja Natarajan

To achieve something great in the world you need Passion To fulfill vision, a great leader’s courage comes from Passion Whatever it may be, you must find your Passion If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins Follow your passion and success will follow you! Never underestimate the power of passion Without passion religion is spiritless Without Passion history is meaningless Without Passion art is useless Follow your passion and success will follow you! When you take up a mission with passion There are no dreams too large No innovation unimaginable No frontiers beyond reach Follow your passion and success will follow you! Our passions are the winds that propel our vessel Our reason is the pilot that steers her Without winds the vessel would not move Without a pilot she would be lost Follow your passion and success will follow you! There is no end and there is no beginning There is only the passion of life Passion is universal humanity Passion is the genesis of genius Follow your passion and success will follow you!

Art | Character | Courage | Dreams | History | Innovation | Mission | Need | Passion | Power | Reason | Religion | Success | Will | World | Art |

Albert Schweitzer

Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will - his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.

Character | Faith | Man | Problems | Responsibility | Will | Learn |

Jeremiah Seed

Be not ashamed to confess that you have been in the wrong. It is but owning what you need not be ashamed of - that you now have more sense than you had before, to see your error; more humility to acknowledge it, more grace to correct it.

Character | Error | Grace | Humility | Need | Sense | Wrong |

Avraham-Haim Shag, born Avraham-Haim Tzvebner

There is no greater fool than one who makes his happiness based on receiving honor and approval. Such a person’s happiness is always in the hands of others... Such a person is dependent on other people his enter life and will frequently suffer humiliation. Only an idiot would knowingly and willingly put himself in a situation where he will constantly be in need of others and will humiliate himself for a dubious and questionable benefit.

Character | Honor | Life | Life | Need | People | Will | Happiness |

John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury

The best people need afflictions for trial of their virtue. How can we exercise the grace of contentment, if all things succeed well; or that of forgiveness, if we have no enemies?

Character | Contentment | Forgiveness | Grace | Need | People | Virtue | Virtue | Trial |

Alexander Ziskind Maimon

The only way to do good deeds without being motivated by the need for approval from others is to reach the level of considering praise and insults equal.

Character | Deeds | Good | Need | Praise | Deeds | Approval |

John Welwood

Look at our present life circumstances, whatever they may be, as the raw material of our learning... We must stop regarding ourselves as victims of circumstances, and start to acknowledge that we are not here purely by accident. The master within is trying to help us wake up by confronting us with our current life situation, which contains all the lessons we need to learn in order to grow into more fully developed human beings.

Accident | Character | Circumstances | Learning | Life | Life | Need | Order | Present | Learn |