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

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake, and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change! But now the silent succession suggests nothing but necessity. To most men only the cessation of the miracle would be miraculous, and the perpetual existence of God's power seems less wonderful than its withdrawal would be.

Change | Existence | Expectation | God | Men | Necessity | Nothing | Power | Silence | Sound | Wonder | Expectation |

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

How wonderful is the human voice! It is indeed the organ of the soul! The intellect of man sits enthroned visibly upon his forehead and in his eye; and the heart of man is written upon his countenance. But the soul reveals itself in the voice only, as God in “the still, small voice,” and in a voice from the burning bush. The soul of man is audible, not visible. A sound alone betrays the flowing of the eternal fountain, invisible to man!

Eternal | God | Heart | Man | Soul | Sound | God | Intellect |

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If spring came but once in a century instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change.

Change | Expectation | Silence | Sound | Wonder | Expectation |

Hilaire Belloc, fully Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc

There is nothing worth the wear of winning, But laughter and the love of friends.

Laughter | Love | Nothing | Worth |

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake, and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change! But now the silent succession suggests nothing but necessity. To most men only the cessation of the miracle would be miraculous, and the perpetual exercise of God’s power seems less wonderful than its withdrawal would be.

Change | Expectation | God | Men | Necessity | Nothing | Power | Silence | Sound | Wonder | Expectation |

Herbert Newton Casson

Goodness is always an asset. A man who is straight, friendly and useful may never be famous, but he is respected and liked by all who know him. He has laid a sound foundation for success and he will have a worthwhile life.

Famous | Life | Life | Man | Sound | Success | Will |

Ibn Rahel

In a sound sleep the soul goes home to recruit her strength, which could not else endure the wear and tear of life.

Life | Life | Soul | Sound | Strength |

Joachim-Ernst Berendt

We see that music does not merely take place within time. It also exalts and surmounts time. It is not just that the past and present merge. The future is also involved to the extent that within the harmonious progression of music the note sounding 'now' anticipates the future note in which it will be resolved The not to come is, as it were, contained in the present note, which could not otherwise 'summon' it. Anyone musical knows that it is hardly possible to break off certain cadences before the final note. The final note is 'there' whether it is played or not. It may sound out later - or not at all - but, viewed in a higher sense, it was to be heard much earlier. Time only completes what became necessary outside of time. It merely makes manifest what would otherwise have remained hidden.

Future | Music | Past | Present | Sense | Sound | Time | Will |

John Davison Rockefeller, Jr.

I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs.

Business | Government | Sound | Thrift | Business |

John Woolman

Some glances of real beauty may be seen in their faces who dwell in true meekness. There is a harmony in the sound of that voice to which divine love gives utterance, and some appearance of right order in their temper and conduct whose passions are regulated.

Appearance | Beauty | Conduct | Harmony | Love | Meekness | Order | Right | Sound | Temper | Beauty |

Lewis Mumford

A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty, the contemplation of mystery, or the search for truth and perfection is a poverty-stricken day; and a succession of such days is fatal to human life... Variation, experiment and insurgence are all of them attributes of freedom.

Beauty | Contemplation | Day | Experiment | Freedom | Life | Life | Mystery | Perfection | Poverty | Search | Sound | Truth | Contemplation |

Joseph Joubert

The voice is a human sound which nothing inanimate can perfectly imitate. It has an authority and an insinuating property which writing lacks. It is not merely so much air, but air modulated and impregnated with life.

Authority | Life | Life | Nothing | Property | Sound | Writing |

Lord Fisher, aka Lord John Arbutnoth Fisher, fully Admiral of the Fleet John Arbuthnot "Jacky" Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher of Kilverstone

Acquire good physique and mental robustness which comes from fresh air, sound and plain food, constant and compelling attention to waste matter, proper and peaceful sleep, and concentration on true religion, ethics, art and literature.

Art | Attention | Ethics | Good | Literature | Religion | Sound | Waste | Art |

Joseph Joubert

The sound of the drum drives out thought; for that very reason it is the most military of instruments.

Reason | Sound | Thought |

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything.

Laughter |

Mortimer J. Adler, fully Mortimer Jerome Adler

What is needed to make democracy work as it is not now working- to bring into existence in reality a sound conception of democracy? The mass liberal education of the mass electorate. Not just schooling, but an education that involves moral training as well as training of the mind.

Democracy | Education | Existence | Mind | Reality | Sound | Training | Work |

Oscar Wilde, pen name for Fingal O'Flahertie Wills

The great things in life are what they seem to be. And for that reason, strange as it may sound to you, often are very difficult to interpret. Great passions are for great souls. Great events can only be seen by people who are on a level with them. We think we can have our visions for nothing. We cannot. Even the finest and most self-sacrificing visions have to be paid for. Strangely enough, that is what makes them fine.

Enough | Events | Life | Life | Nothing | People | Reason | Self | Sound | Think |

René Descartes

The end of study should be to direct the mind towards the enunciation of sound and correct judgments on all matters that come before it.

Mind | Sound | Study |

Reinhold Niebuhr, fully Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr

Humor is a prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer.

Beginning | Faith | Humor | Laughter | Prayer |