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

Benjamin Franklin

One’s true happiness depends more upon one’s own judgment of one’s self, or a consciousness of rectitude in action and intention, and the approbation of those few, who judge impartially, than upon the applause of the unthinking, undiscerning multitude, who are apt to cry Hosanna today, and tomorrow, Crucify him.

Action | Applause | Consciousness | Intention | Judgment | Self | Tomorrow | Happiness |

Fihi Ma Fihi NULL

The soul is unconditioned and infinite… Absorption in the Divine Unity is the soul of prayer.

Prayer | Soul | Unity |

Tom Gregory

“Community” means with unity or oneness – the essence of which is harmony, sharing and a concern for others… Life is far more satisfying when you approach it not as a solitary journey, but with the perspective of “we are all in this together.”

Harmony | Journey | Life | Life | Means | Oneness | Unity |

Romano Guardini

My being known by God is my reality, and I become real in the measure that my life and action are in harmony with the knowledge of God.

Action | God | Harmony | Knowledge | Life | Life | Reality | God |

John H. Hershey

The Cosmos (Nature, Universe) is the highest unity that we know… The Cosmos… is creative. This does not mean making something from nothing, but rather making the new out of the old… Since the Cosmos is the highest unity and is creative, we call it God. God and the Cosmos are one.

God | Nature | Nothing | Unity | Universe | God |

B. H. Liddell Hart, fully Captain B. H. Liddell

For collective action it suffices if the mass can be managed; collective growth is only possible through the freedom and enlargement of individual minds.

Action | Freedom | Growth | Individual |

Abraham Joshua Heschel

A Jew is asked to take a leap of action rather than a leap of thought: to surpass his needs, to do more than he understands in order to understand more than he does… Through the ecstasy of deeds he learns to be certain of the presence of God.

Action | Deeds | Ecstasy | God | Order | Thought | Deeds | Understand |

David R. Hawkins, fully David Ramon Hawkins

Nothing in nature needs to do anything; all merely appears to be becoming that which it is. There is no doer of actions; the actions are the doer. One sees potentiality actualizing. In duality, there is a `this’ (me) that is imagined to be the `cause’ of `that’ (action). In Reality, the action and self are one and the same. There is no thinker separate from the thoughts. It is the thoughts themselves that are the only thinker of the moment; they are not different or separate.

Action | Cause | Duality | Nature | Nothing | Reality | Self |

Abraham Joshua Heschel

It is the dimension of time wherein man meets God, wherein man becomes aware that every instant is an act of creation, a Beginning, opening up new roads for ultimate realizations. Time is the presence of God in the world of space, and it is within time that we are able to sense the unity of all beings.

Beginning | God | Man | Sense | Space | Time | Unity | World | God |

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative [or creation] there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too... Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.

Action | Chance | Grace | Ideas | Ignorance | Initiative | Magic | Power | Providence | Truth | Think |

Abraham Joshua Heschel

The island of existence is washed by the two oceans of eternity and nothingness, eroding it into what is less and elevating it into what is more than existence, into nothingness and into a higher reality, namely, the identity of event and value, the unity of being and meaning.

Eternity | Existence | Meaning | Reality | Unity |

Peter W. Jedlicka

Imbalance is the root of all misery. Every action has a reaction. But seen from the eternal view in time everything will balance itself again.

Action | Balance | Eternal | Time | Will |

Bruce Jenner, fully William Bruce Jenner

People are either driven to action or complacency, mission or rust. You’re either participating in the Game of Life or you’re watching it from the grandstands. Herein lies a crucial difference. A champion plays the game: a spectator observes, criticizes and never really gets to live. A champion knows what he or she wants and goes after it with carefully calculated goals and no-holds-barred action. A spectator feels that his or her life is not their own. They let others dictate their destiny. They become victims of life instead of masters of it.”

Action | Complacency | Destiny | Goals | Life | Life | Mission | People | Wants |

Emmet John Hughes

He must summon his people to be with him – yet stand above, not squat beside them. He must question his own wisdom and judgment – but not too severely. He must hear the opinions and heed the powers of others – but not too abjectly. He must appease the doubts of his critic and assuage the hurts of the adversary – sometimes. He must ignore their views and achieve their defeat – sometimes… He must respect action – without becoming intoxicated with his own. He must have a sense of purpose inspiring him to magnify the trivial event to serve his distant aim – and to grasp the thorniest crisis as if it were the merest nettle. He must be pragmatic, calculating, and earthbound – and still know when to spurn the arithmetic of expediency for the act of brave imagination, the sublime gamble with no hope other than the boldness of his vision

Action | Boldness | Critic | Defeat | Hope | Imagination | Judgment | People | Purpose | Purpose | Question | Respect | Sense | Vision | Wisdom | Respect | Crisis |

William Ralph Inge

Action is the normal completion of the act of will which begins as prayer. That action is not always external, but it is always some kind of effective energy.

Action | Energy | Prayer | Will |

Johann Kaspar Lavater

Act well at the moment, and you have performed a good action for all eternity.

Action | Eternity | Good |