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

Thomas Hobbes

Such is the nature of men that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned, yet they will hardly believe they may be many so wise as themselves.

Men | Nature | Will | Wisdom | Wise |

Paul G. Hoffman, fully Paul Gray Hoffman

It is a deep-seated belief on the part of almost all Americans that their success will be better assured as they help to build the success of others.

Belief | Better | Success | Will | Wisdom |

Walter Hoving

A rather important contemporary problem: too many unintelligent intellectuals.

Important | Wisdom |

Ernest Hemingway, fully Ernest Miller Hemingway

The world breaks everyone and afterwards many are strong at the broken places.

Wisdom | World |

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil.

Belief | Devil | God | Wisdom |

Thomas Hughes

Blessed are they who have the gift of making friends, for it is one of God's best gifts. It involves many things, but above all, the power of going out of one's self and appreciating whatever is noble and loving in another.

God | Power | Self | Wisdom |

Washington Irving

In civilized life, where the happiness, and indeed almost the existence, of man depends so much upon the opinion of his fellow-men, he is constantly acting a studied part. The bold and peculiar traits of native character are refined away or softened down by the leveling influence of what is termed good-breeding, and he practices so many petty deceptions and affects so many generous sentiments for the purposes of popularity that it is difficult to distinguish his real from his artificial character.

Character | Distinguish | Existence | Influence | Life | Life | Man | Opinion | Popularity | Wisdom |

Washington Irving

Redundancy of language is never found with deep reflection. Verbiage may indicate observation, but not thinking. He who thinks much, says but little in proportion to his thoughts. He selects that language which will convey his ideas in the most explicit and direct manner. He tries to compress as much thought as possible into a few words. On the contrary, the man who talks everlastingly and promiscuously, who seems to have an exhaustless magazine of sound, crowds so many words into his thoughts that he always obscures, and very frequently conceals them.

Ideas | Language | Little | Man | Observation | Reflection | Sound | Thinking | Thought | Will | Wisdom | Words | Thought |

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

There are a good many real miseries in life that we cannot help smiling at, but they are the smiles that make wrinkles and not dimples.

Good | Life | Life | Wisdom |

Richard and Mary-Alice Jafolla

“Do you want to be healed?” translates into “Do you want to exorcise your belief in and expectation of illness?

Belief | Expectation | Wisdom | Expectation |

Elizabeth R. Hogan

One of the most valuable habits a parent can have is that of explaining. Many parents think their children are too young to understand explanations, yet it is surprising how much a child will absorb if he is given a chance. And even if he does not understand completely, he will at least sense that someone cares enough to explain

Chance | Children | Enough | Parents | Sense | Will | Wisdom | Child | Parent | Think | Understand |

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Faith always implies the disbelief of a lesser fact in favor of a greater. A little mind often sees the unbelief, without seeing the belief of a large one.

Belief | Disbelief | Faith | Little | Mind | Unbelief | Wisdom |

James Henry Leigh Hunt

Some tears belong to us because we are unfortunate; others, because we are humane; many because we are mortal. But most are caused by our being unwise. It is these last only that of necessity produce more.

Mortal | Necessity | Tears | Wisdom |

Herbert Hoover, fully Herbert Clark Hoover

You cannot extend the mastery of the government over the daily working life of a people without at the same time making it the master of the people’s souls and thoughts. Every expansion of government in business means that government in order to protect itself from the political consequences of its errors and wrongs is driven irresistibly without peace to greater and greater control of the nation’s press and platform. Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.

Business | Commerce | Consequences | Control | Free speech | Government | Industry | Life | Life | Means | Order | Peace | People | Speech | Time | Wisdom | Government | Business | Commerce |

Richard and Mary-Alice Jafolla

A change in belief patterns takes place on the most basic level of existence.

Belief | Change | Existence | Wisdom |

Ted Kennedy, fully Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy

It strains belief to know that Neil Armstrong can walk on the moon, 250,000 miles away, but that he cannot swim in Lake Erie, a few miles from his Ohio home.

Belief | Wisdom |

Karl Jaspers, fully Karl Theodor Jaspers

The man who attains true awareness of his freedom gains certainty of God. Freedom and God are inseparable. Why? This I know: in my freedom I am not through myself but am given to myself; for I can miss being myself and I cannot force my being free.

Awareness | Force | Freedom | God | Man | Wisdom | God | Awareness |

John Angell James

Too many have no idea of the subjection of their temper to the influence of religion, and yet what is changed, if the temper is not? If a man is as passionate, malicious, resentful, sullen, moody, or morose after his conversion as before it, what is he converted from or to?

Influence | Man | Religion | Temper | Wisdom |