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

François de La Rochefoucauld, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, Francois A. F. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

There are ways which lead to everything, and if we have sufficient will we should always have sufficient means.

Society | Virtue | Virtue | Society |

William Shakespeare

O my love, my wife! Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.

Man | Virtue | Virtue |

Dugald Stewart

It is necessary to form a distinct notion of what is meant by the word volition in order to understand the import of the word will; for this last word expresses the power of mind of which volition is the act.

Appearance | Conversation | Genius | Impression | Man | Memory | Observation | Opinion |

François de La Rochefoucauld, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, Francois A. F. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

Why can we remember the tiniest detail that has happened to us, and not remember how many times we have told it to the same person.

Folly | Wise |

William Shakespeare

O how wretched is that poor man that hangs on princes favors! There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to, that sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin, more pangs and fears than wars or women have, and when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, never to hope again. Henry VIII (Wolsey at III, ii)

Beauty | Looks | Play | Truth | Virtue | Virtue | Youth | Youth | Beauty |

William Shakespeare

O sir, you are old; nature in you stands on the very verge of her confine; you should be ruled and led by some discretion, that discerns your fate better than you yourself.

Books | Good | Thought | Virtue | Virtue | Will | Thought |

William Shakespeare

OLIVIA: How does he love me? VIOLA: With adoration, with fertile tears, with groans that thunder love, with sighs of fire.

Amends | Counsel | Good | Man | Sin | Virtue | Virtue | Will | Counsel |

William Shakespeare

Pity, like a naked, new-born babe striding the blast, or heaven's cherubins, horsed upon the sightless couriers of the air, shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, that tears shall drown the wind.

Virtue | Virtue |

William Shakespeare

Oh, thou hast a damnable iteration, and art indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon me Hal, God forgive thee for it. Before I knew thee Hal, I knew nothing, and now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked.

Folly | Love | Passion |

Kautilya, aka Chanakya or Vishnu Gupta NULL

There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it.

Disease | Virtue | Virtue | Happiness |

Ishvarakrishna, aka Iśvarakṛṣṇa NULL

The Self (purusha) exists, since an aggregate must be for another's use, since this must be the converse of that which has the three gunas, since there must be a superintendent and also someone to experience, and since activity is for the sake of freedom.

Rest | Virtue | Virtue |

Kautilya, aka Chanakya or Vishnu Gupta NULL

It is better to die than to preserve this life by incurring disgrace. The loss of life causes but a moment's grief, but disgrace brings grief every day of one's life.

Good | Man | Virtue | Virtue | Value |

Ishvarakrishna, aka Iśvarakṛṣṇa NULL

Thus, through conjunction with the Self (purusha), the insentient seems to be sentient, and though the agency really belongs to the gunas, the neutral stranger appears as if it were active.

Knowledge | Virtue | Virtue | Vice |

Edwin Percy Whipple

What a man does with his wealth depends upon his idea of happiness. Those who draw prizes in life are apt to spend tastelessly, if not viciously; not knowing that it requires as much talent to spend as to make.

Avarice | Folly | History | Life | Life | Time |

Kautilya, aka Chanakya or Vishnu Gupta NULL

A good wife is one who serves her husband in the morning like a mother does, loves him in the day like a sister does and pleases him like a prostitute in the night.

Virtue | Virtue |

Ishvarakrishna, aka Iśvarakṛṣṇa NULL

Through virtue there is ascent; through vice there is descent; through knowledge there is deliverance; there is bondage through the reverse.

Attainment | Rest | Self | Virtue | Virtue |