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

Cicero, fully Marcus Tullius Cicero, anglicized as Tully NULL

We should be as careful of our words as of our actions, and as far from speaking ill as from doing ill.

Words |

Mencius, born Meng Ke or Ko NULL

The great man does not think beforehand of his words that they may be sincere, nor of his actions that they may be resolute. He simply speaks and does what is right.

Man | Right | Words | Think |

Mencius, born Meng Ke or Ko NULL

Listen to a man's words and look at the pupil of his eye. How can a man conceal his character?

Character | Man | Words |

Mother Teresa, born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu NULL

Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.

Words |

Nahmanides, aka Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi, Bonastruc ça Porta and by his acronym RaMBaN NULL

At the time of prayer, clear all worldly matters out of your heart; prepare your heart before God, blessed be He, purify your senses, and consider your words before you allow them to leave your mouth.

God | Heart | Prayer | Time | Words | Blessed |

Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon I

Why and how are words so important they cannot be too often used.

Important | Words |

Norman Vincent Peale

You should never entertain or express an idea unless you wish it to take form in your life... Thoughts and words can speak life or death to your future. Remember, lack thoughts and lack words tend to produce lack as fact.

Death | Future | Life | Life | Words |

Ovid, formally Publius Ovidius Naso NULL

Let your talk be such as is worthy of belief, and your words such as are commonly used.

Belief | Words |

Ovid, formally Publius Ovidius Naso NULL

Pleasant words are the food of love.

Love | Words |

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater, and causing a panic… The question in every case is whether the words used are in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.

Circumstances | Danger | Free speech | Man | Nature | Panic | Present | Question | Right | Speech | Will | Words | Danger |

Paramahansa Yogananda, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh

Even while striving to improve yourself, learn to stand alone, secure in your own virtues and self-worth. If you want others to believe in you, remember, it isn’t only your words that have an effect, but what you are and what you feel within - what is in your soul.

Self | Self-worth | Soul | Words | Worth | Learn |

Plutarch, named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus after becoming Roman citizen NULL

When one is transported by rage it is best to observe attentively the effects on those who deliver themselves over to the same passion.

Passion | Rage |

Phyllis McGinley

Sticks and stones are hard on bones, aimed with angry art, words can sting like anything. But silence breaks the heart.

Art | Heart | Silence | Words |

Philip James Bailey

The world is a great poem, and the world’s . The words it is writ in, and we souls the thoughts.

Words | World |

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do not fear to put novels into the hands of young people as an occasional holiday experiment, but above all, good poetry in all kinds - epic, tragedy, lyric. If we can touch the imagination, we serve them; they will never forget it.

Experiment | Fear | Good | Imagination | Novels | People | Poetry | Tragedy | Will |

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today.

Consistency | Little | Nothing | Soul | Tomorrow | Words | Think |

Pythagoras, aka Pythagoras of Samos or Pythagoras the Samian NULL

It is better either to be silent or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word; and do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few.

Better | Hazard | Little | Silence | Words | Value |

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow things in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today - "Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood."-Is is to bad then to be misunderstood... to be great is to be misunderstood.

Consistency | Little | Nothing | Soul | Tomorrow | Words | Think |