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

Samuel Smiles

We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success; we often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

Discovery | Failure | Mistake | Success | Will | Wisdom | Failure | Learn |

William Makepeace Thackeray

A good laugh is sunshine in a house.

Good | Wisdom |

Lyall Watson

Life survives in the chaos of the cosmos by picking order out of the winds... Nothing happens in isolation. We breathe and bleed, we laugh and cry, we crash and die in time with cosmic cues.

Isolation | Life | Life | Nothing | Order | Time | Wisdom |

Lyall Watson

There seems to be direct link between truly creative intelligence and the ability to dilute consciousness, to cut mental corners and practice unusual, lateral thinking in what amounts almost to a state of trance. All the most profound insights seem to flow from breaches in the barrier between waking thought, which tends to be conservative, and dream logic, which is essential liberal.

Ability | Consciousness | Intelligence | Logic | Practice | Thinking | Thought | Wisdom |

Tibetan Saying NULL

Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.

Mistake | Understanding | Wisdom |

Carl Zuckmayer

Tact is the great ability to see other people as they think you see them.

Ability | People | Tact | Wisdom | Think |

Harry Wolfson, fully Harry Austryn Wolfson

We often mistake a desire of the body for a yearning of the soul.

Body | Desire | Mistake | Soul | Wisdom |

Carol Adrienne

A highly evolved use of intuition is being able to find meaning in symbols and synchronicities. The more we focus on finding meaning for ourselves in “chance occurrences,” the more we increase our intuitive power. Deepening our connection to our current surrounding increases our ability to follow the guidance of our inner purpose.

Ability | Chance | Focus | Guidance | Intuition | Meaning | Power | Purpose | Purpose | Guidance |

Carol Adrienne

Purpose is about developing relationships. Purpose is about bringing attention and intention into the present moment, moving ahead with new ideas, giving and receiving support, volunteering, mentoring, listening to the imagination and intuition, communicating, taking action based on inner direction and hints from the external, being adaptable, taking responsibility and ending the victim stance forever surrendering to the divine will and working with the lessons developing fluidity, tolerance, compassion, and the ability to love.

Ability | Action | Attention | Compassion | Giving | Ideas | Imagination | Intention | Intuition | Listening | Love | Present | Purpose | Purpose | Responsibility | Will | Victim |

Joseph A. Bauer

Parents belong to the world of the past; children belong to the world of the future. Both share the world of the present, but neither can enter or fully understand the other’s world and time. It is easier to communicate across miles than across years. We meet and laugh awhile; we separate and grieve awhile. And then we remember.

Children | Future | Parents | Past | Present | Time | World | Understand |

Joe Boot

To be human is to long for something more, something beyond us. Fulfillment, peace, and lasting happiness, for no apparent reason, seem to have evaded us. We believe that we are meant for happiness and made for joy. Pain and suffering are somehow a mistake that should not be part of life.

Fulfillment | Joy | Life | Life | Mistake | Pain | Peace | Reason | Suffering | Happiness |

Peter R. Breggin

Charisma is the ability to inspire followers with devotion and enthusiasm to a cause. It encourages disciples rather than independent persons. It is a way of investing oneself with authority over other rather than vesting others with authority over themselves.

Ability | Authority | Cause | Charisma | Devotion | Enthusiasm |

Tom Butler-Bowdon

Refining your ability to think should be your investment priority; it always provides the best returns.

Ability | Think |