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

Ban Zhao, courtesy name Huiban

The Way of husband and wife is intimately connected with Yin and Yang [these are the two basis elements of the Universe: Yin, the soft yielding feminine element, and Yang the hard aggressive male element. Every substance contains both elements in varying proportions]. And relates the individual to gods and ancestors. Truly it is the great principle of Heaven and Earth, and the great basis of human relationships. Therefore the "Rites" [The Classic of Rites] honor union of man and woman; and in the "Book of Poetry" [The Classic of Odes] the "First Ode" manifests the principle of marriage. For these reasons the relationships cannot but be an important one.

Leisure | Life | Life | Time | Will | Think |

Elizabeth Payson Prentiss

The question is not whether you ever gave yourself to God, but whether you are His now.

Leisure |

Elizabeth Payson Prentiss

You cannot prove to yourself that you love God by examining your feelings toward Him. They are indefinite and they fluctuate. But just as far as you obey Him, just so far, depend upon it; you love Him. It is not natural to us sinful, ungrateful beings to prefer His pleasure to our own or to follow His way instead of our own way, and nothing, nothing but love of Him can or does make us obedient to Him.

Body | Leisure | Little | Music | Recreation | Sacrifice | Soul | Will | Worth |

Emily Dickinson, fully Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes.

Children | Day | Leisure |

E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

How can we disarm greed and envy? Perhaps by being much less greedy and envious ourselves; perhaps by resisting the temptation of letting our luxuries become needs; and perhaps by even scrutinizing our needs to see if they cannot be simplified and reduced.

Compensation | Leisure | Sacrifice | Work |

Eugene Peterson

Our Lord gave us the image of a child, not because of the childÂ’s helplessness, but because of the childÂ’s willingness to be led, to be taught, to be blessed.

Books | Care | Children | Counsel | God | Good | Leisure | Little | Need | Practice | Rest | Work | Counsel | God |

Ezra Pound, fully Ezra Weston Loomis Pound

The real meditation is ... the meditation on one's identity. Ah, voila une chose! You try it. You try finding out why you're you and not somebody else. And who in the blazes are you anyhow? Ah, voila une chose!

Leisure |