Great Throughts Treasury

"Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are... The “divinity that shapes our ends” is in ourselves, it is our very self. Man is manacled only by himself: thought and action are the jailers of Fate - they imprison, being base; they are also the angels of Freedom - they liberate, being noble. Not what a man wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns." - James Allen

"The day has been so full of fret and care, and our hearts have been so full of evil and of bitter thoughts, and the world has seemed so hard and wrong to us. Then Night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand upon our fevered head, and turns our little tear-stained faces up to hers, and smiles; and though she does not speak, we know what she would say, and lay our hot flushed cheek against her bosom, and the pain is gone. Sometimes, our pain is very deep and real, and we stand before her very silent, because there is no language for our pain, only a moan. Night's heart is full of pity for us: she cannot ease our aching; she takes our hand in hers, and the little world grows very small and very far away beneath us, and, borne on her dark wings, we pass for a moment into a mightier Presence than her own, and in the wondrous light of that great Presence, all human life lies like a book before us, and we know that Pain and Sorrow are but angels of God." - Jerome K. Jerome, fully Jerome Klapka Jerome

"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another." - Lucretius, fully Titus Lucretius Carus NULL

"A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men." - Martin Tupper, fully Martin Farquhar Tupper

"A question arises regarding the angels who dwell with us, serve us and protect us, whether their joys are equal to those of the angels in heaven, or whether they are diminished by the fact that they protect and serve us. No, they are certainly not; for the work of the angels is the will of God, and the will of God is the work of the angels; their service to us does not hinder their joy nor their working. If God told an angel to go to a tree and pluck caterpillars off it, the angel would be quite ready to do so, and it would be his happiness, if it were the will of God." - Meister Eckhart, formally Meister von Hochheim

"Every good act is charity. Your smiling in your brother's face, is charity; an exhortation of your fellow-man to virtuous deeds, is equal to alms-giving; your putting a wanderer in the right road, is charity; your removing stones, and thorns, and other obstructions from the road, is charity; your giving water to the thirsty, is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter, is the good he does in this world to his fellow-man. When he dies, people will say, "What property has he left behind him?" but the angels will ask, "What good deeds has he sent before him."" - Muhammad, also spelled Mohammad, Mohammed or Mahomet, full name Muhammad Ibn `Abd Allāh Ibn `Abd al-Muttalib NULL

"When a man sleeps, his faculties rest, his senses are quiet, and his mind is relaxed and hushed. The only thing that continues to function is his imagination (dream center), and this conceives and envisions various images. Some of these images arise from the individual's experiences while awake. Others may be the result of substances that rise to the brain, either from the body's own hormones, or from the food that one eats. These images are the dreams that all people experience. G-d has also decreed that the bond between the body and the divine soul should be somewhat loosened while man sleeps. The portions of the soul from Ruach (Spirit) and above then rise and sever themselves from the body. Only one portion, the Nefesh (Soul), remains with the lower [animal] soul. The freed portions of the soul can then move about in the spiritual realm wherever they are allowed. They can interact and associate with such spiritual beings as the angels who oversee natural phenomena, the angels associated with prophecy, and Shedim (demons). Whatever they experience will depend on a variety of factors. When these higher levels of the soul perceive something, they can sometimes transmit it step by step, until it reaches the animal soul. The imagination is then stimulated and forms images in its normal manner. [A person can then see this as a dream.]... Dreams in general can therefore arise either from the imagination itself or as a result of the stimulation of the Soul (Neshamah) according to what it perceives. In the latter case, the initiating agent is always one of the spiritual Forces which make something known to the Soul (Neshamah). The soul then transmits this to the imagination. If that spiritual Force is one of G-d's holy servants, then the information that the soul receives will be true. If it comes from the opposing Forces, on the other hand, then it will be false. Our sages thus teach us that a true dream originates through an angel, while a false one originates through a Shed (demon)." - Moshe Chayim Luzzatto, also Moses Hayyim Luzzato, known by Hebrew acronym RaMCHal

"There is no consensus yet about the details of the scientific image of persons. But there is broad agreement about how we must construct this detailed picture. First, we will need to demythologize persons by rooting out certain unfounded ideas from the perennial philosophy. Letting go of the belief in souls is a minimal requirement. In fact, desouling is the primary operation of the scientific image. "First surgery," we might call it. There are no such things as souls, or nonphysical minds. If such things did exist, as perennial philosophy conceives them, science would be unable to explain persons. But there aren't, so it can. Second, we will need to think of persons as part of nature — as natural creatures completely obedient and responsive to natural law. The traditional religious view positions humans on the Great Chain of Being between animals on one side and angels and God on the other. This set of beliefs needs to be replaced. There are no angels, nor gods, and there is nothing — at least, no higher beings — for humans to be in-between. Humans don't possess some animal parts or instincts. We are animals. A complex and unusual animal, but at the end of the day, another animal." - Owen Flanagan

"Lost in memories of urban decay, we are leaving behind our gluttonous ways and singing songs into the eternal sky even as we wander the world alone, carrying flags of fathers who never loved us billowing over our shoulders, like new angels soaring into heaven wings thrown earthward feeling the company of all of us- pioneers of solitude- even as we wander the world alone." - Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui, sometimes referred to as Pachacuti

"For it is not ordained for the Spiritual Man that, finding his high realm, he shall enter altogether there, and pass out of the vision of mankind. It is true that he dwells in heaven, but he also dwells on earth. He has angels and archangels, the hosts of the just made perfect, for his familiar friends, but he has at the same time found a new kinship with the prone children of men, who stumble and sin in the dark. Finding sinlessness, he finds also that the world’s sin and shame are his, not to share, but to atone; finding kinship with angels, he likewise finds his part in the toil of angels, the toil for the redemption of the world. " - Patañjali NULL

"We don't become angels merely by the instrument of death. If we are angels now, we will be angels in the hereafter. If we are dark, negative personalities now, we will be the same after death." - Paramahansa Yogananda, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh

"Ah, there are moments for us here, when, seeing Life’s inequalities, and woe, and care, The burdens laid upon our mortal being Seem heavier than the human heart can bear. Father, perfect my trust; Let my spirit feel in death That her feet are firmly set On the rock of a living faith! For little children everywhere A joyous season still we make; We bring our precious gifts to them, Even for the dear child Jesus’ sake. For those roses bright, oh, those roses bright! I have twined them in my sister’s locks That are hid in the dust from sight. No thought within her bosom stirs, But wakes some feeling dark and dread; God keep thee from a doom like hers, Of living when the hopes are dead. O years, gone down into the past, What pleasant memories come to me Of your untroubled days of peace, And hours almost of ecstasy. There are eyes half defiant, Half meek and compliant; Black eyes, with a wondrous, witching charm To bring us good or to work us harm. Women are only told that they resemble angels when they are young and beautiful; consequently, it is their persons, not their virtues, that procure them homage." - Phoebe Cary

"If there is anything that will endure The eye of God because it still is pure, It is the spirit of a little child, Fresh from His hand, and therefore undefiled. Nearer the gate of Paradise than we, Our children breathe its airs, its angels see; And when they pray God hears their simple prayer, Yea, even sheathes His sword, in judgment bare" - R. H. Stoddard, fully Richard Henry Stoddard

"In this theater of man's life, it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers-on." - Pythagoras, aka Pythagoras of Samos or Pythagoras the Samian NULL

"If my devils are to leave me, I fear my angels will take flight as well." - Rainer Maria Rilke, full name René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke

"Lovers, if Angels could understand them, might utter strange things in the midnight air. For it seems that everything's trying to hide us. Look, the trees exist; the houses we live in still stand where they were. We only pass everything by like a transposition of air. And all combines to suppress us, partly as shame, perhaps, and partly as inexpressible hope." - Rainer Maria Rilke, full name René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke

"O smile, going where? O upturned look: new, warm, receding surge of the heart--; alas, we are that surge. Does then the cosmic space we dissolve in taste of us? Do the angels reclaim only what is theirs, their own outstreamed existence, or sometimes, by accident, does a bit of us get mixed in? Are we blended in their features like the slight vagueness that complicates the looks of pregnant women? Unnoticed by them in their whirling back into themselves? (How could they notice?) " - Rainer Maria Rilke, full name René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke

"Now all the knowledge and wisdom that is in creatures, whether angels or men, is nothing else but a participation of that one eternal, immutable and increased wisdom of God, or several signatures of that one archetypal seal, or like so many multiplied reflections of one and the same face, made in several glasses, whereof some are clearer, some obscurer, some standing nearer, some further off." - Ralph Cudworth

"Around our pillows golden ladders rise, And up and down the skies, With winged sandals shod, The angels come, and go, the Messengers of God! Nor, though they fade from us, do they depart-- It is the childly heart We walk as heretofore, Adown their shining ranks, but see them nevermore." - Richard Henry Stoddard

"Ye holy angels bright, Who wait at God's right hand, Or through the realms of light Fly at your Lord's command, Assist our song; For else the theme Too high doth seem For mortal tongue. Ye blessed souls at rest, Who ran this earthly race, And now, from sin released, Behold the Saviour's face, God's praises sound, As in his sight, With sweet delight, Ye do abound. Ye saints, who toil below, Adore your heavenly King. And onward as ye go Some joyful anthem sing; Take what he gives And praise him still, Through good or ill, Who ever lives! My soul, bear thou thy part, Triumph in God above: And with a well-tuned heart Sing thou the songs of love! Let all thy days Till life shall end, Whate'er he send, Be filled with praise." - Richard Baxter

"The next question was - what makes planets go around the sun? At the time of Kepler some people answered this problem by saying that there were angels behind them beating their wings and pushing the planets around an orbit. As you will see, the answer is not very far from the truth. The only difference is that the angels sit in a different direction and their wings push inward." - Richard Feynman, fully Richard Phillips Feynman

"If the stars twinkled more than usual on any given night, it meant that the angels in heaven were happy and were flitting across the doors of heaven; and since stars were merely holes ventilating heaven, the twinkling came from the angels flitting past the holes that admitted air into the holy home of God." - Richard Wright, fully Richard Nathaniel Wright

"People who act like angels ought to have angels to deal with." -

"If we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we'd live like animals or angels in the happy land that needs no heroes. But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust and stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all... why then perhaps we must stand fast a little --even at the risk of being heroes." - Robert Oxton Bolt

"My delight and thy delight Walking, like two angels white, In the gardens of the night." - Robert Bridges, fully Robert Seymour Bridges

"Repentant eyes are the cellars of angels, and penitent tears their sweetest wines, which the savor of life perfumeth, the taste of grace sweeteneth, and the purest colors of returning innocency highly beautifieth. This dew of devotion never falleth, but the sun of justice draweth it up, and upon what face soever it droppeth it maketh it amiable in God's eye.... No, no, the angels must still bathe themselves in the pure streams of thy eyes, and thy face shall still be set with this liquid pearl, that as out of thy tears were stroken the first sparks of thy Lord's love, so thy tears may be the oil, to nourish and feed his flame. Till death dam up the springs, they shall never cease running: and then shall thy soul be ferried in them to the harbor of life, that as by them it was first passed from sin to grace, so in them it may be wafted from grace to glory." - Robert Southwell, also Saint Robert Southwell

"A Child My Choice - Let folly praise that fancy loves, I praise and love that Child Whose heart no thought, whose tongue no word, whose hand no deed defiled. I praise Him most, I love Him best, all praise and love is His; While Him I love, in Him I live, and cannot live amiss. Love's sweetest mark, laud's highest theme, man's most desired light, To love Him life, to leave Him death, to live in Him delight. He mine by gift, I His by debt, thus each to other due; First friend He was, best friend He is, all times will try Him true. Though young, yet wise; though small, yet strong; though man, yet God He is: As wise, He knows; as strong, He can; as God, He loves to bless. His knowledge rules, His strength defends, His love doth cherish all; His birth our joy, His life our light, His death our end of thrall. Alas! He weeps, He sighs, He pants, yet do His angels sing; Out of His tears, His sighs and throbs, doth bud a joyful spring. Almighty Babe, whose tender arms can force all foes to fly, Correct my faults, protect my life, direct me when I die!" - Robert Southwell, also Saint Robert Southwell

"People who act like angels ought to have angels to deal with." -

"FOR A MARRIAGE - Send to the prince’s daughter Her ruddy, fair-eyed king, Like a fruitful branch he blossoms, Transplanted to a spring. Thy Torah has his worship, He runs, to taste its charms, Before Thee like a warrior, Accoutred in his arms. I day by day am waiting Salvation’s promised day, Enquiring how and whence it Will come to be my stay. Restore the tortured People To the friend of her youth divine, And bring the two together To the house of joy and wine." - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron

"The breath of the remnant of Jacob shall praise Thee, For with testimony confirmed Thou hast made him Thy witness And keepest Thy covenant with him and Thy kindness; Therefore shall he thank Thee on the day Thou hast appointed judgment. The breath of the company of Israel shall ravish Thy heart, Daily proclaiming Thy Unity. To be judged of Thee and by Thy hand inscribed In the book of life, They stand this day according to Thy ordinance, For all things are Thy servants. The breath of the nation set apart from the seventy And weighing true in the scales of righteousness, Shall hail Thee as King, A monarch of justice and righteousness, Who sits on the Throne of righteousness, A righteous judge. The breath of the congregations chosen of Thee shall thank Thee, And their bannered tribes, O Thou who stretchest Thy hand to receive the transgressors of Thy judgments, That Thou mayest be justified when Thou speakest And be in the right when Thou judgest. The breath of those conserved in Israel, Thy servants who fear Thee, Shall hail Thee as mighty. Thou art near to all that call upon Thee, Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Thy throne. The breath of the holy ones hallowing Thee, Responding in all their passion of desire, Acclaims Thee as holy. Holy God, King living forever, they cry, And would that our mouths were as full as the sea With song!" - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron

"Who can approach Thy seat? For beyond the sphere of Intelligence hast Thou established the throne of Thy glory; There standeth the splendour of Thy veiled habitation, And the mystery and the foundation. Thus far reacheth Intelligence, but cometh here to a standstill, For higher still hast Thou mounted, and ascended Thy mighty throne, "And no man may go up with Thee."" - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron

"What do I care, in the dreams and the languor of spring, That my songs do not show me at all? For they are a fragrance, and I am a flint and a fire, I am an answer, they are only a call. " - Sara Teasdale, born Sara Trevor Teasdale, aka Sara Teasdale Filsinger

"We deemed the secret lost, the spirit gone, Which spake in Greek simplicity of thought, And in the forms of gods and heroes wrought Eternal beauty from the sculptured stone — A higher charm than modern culture won, With all the wealth of metaphysic lore, Gifted to analyze, dissect explore. A many-colored light flows from our sun; Art, 'neath its beams a motley thread has spun; The prison modifies the perfect day; But thou hast known such mediums to shun, And cast once more on life a pure white ray. Absorbed in the creations of thy mind, Forgetting daily self, my truest friend I find." - Margaret Fuller, fully Sara Margaret Fuller, Marchese Ossoli

"I mean by a picture a beautiful romantic dream of something that never was, never will be – in a light better than any light that ever shone – in a land no one can define or remember, only desire – and the forms divinely beautiful." - Edward Burne-Jones, fully Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet

"A happy family is but an earlier heaven. " - John Bowring, fully Sir John Bowring

"And the talk slid north, and the talk slid south With the sliding puffs from the hookah-mouth; Four things greater than all things are-- Women and Horses and Power and War." - Rudyard Kipling

"Disputational knowing wants customers. It has no soul." - Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL

"I tried to find Him on the Christian cross, but He was not there; I went to the temple of the Hindus and to the old pagodas, but I could not find a trace of Him anywhere. I searched on the mountains and in the valleys, but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I able to find Him. I went to the Kaaba in Mecca, but He was not there either. I questioned the scholars and philosophers, but He was beyond their understanding. I then looked into my heart, and it was there where He dwelled that I saw Him; He was nowhere else to be found." - Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL

"Your essence is gold hidden in dust. To reveal its splendor, you need to burn in the fire of Love." - Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL

"To the extent that you pray from your soul for the one who spread scandal about you, God will reveal the truth to those who were told the scandal." - Saint Maximus the Confessor NULL

"We are not justified by our works but by faith, since our fleshly weakness is an impediment to our works, but the clarity of faith which merits the forgiveness of sins overcomes the error of our works." - Saint Ambrose, born Aurelius Ambrosius NULL

"Be a herald of God’s goodness, for God rules over you, unworthy though you are. Although your debt to Him is so very great, He is not seen exacting payment from you; and from the small works you do, He bestows great rewards upon you. Do not call God just, for His justice is not manifest in things concerning you." - Saint Isaac of Nineveh, also Isaac the Syrian, Isaac of Qatar and Isaac Syrus NULL

"The ark of Noah was built in the time of peace, and its timbers were planted by him a hundred years beforehand. In the time of wrath the evil man perished, but the ark became the shelter for the righteous." - Saint Isaac of Nineveh, also Isaac the Syrian, Isaac of Qatar and Isaac Syrus NULL

"Our faith, trust, and love are proved and revealed in adversities, that is, in difficult and grievous outward and inward circumstances, during sickness, sorrow, and privations." - Saint John of Kronstadt, fully John Il’ich Serguiev, aka Holy Father John of the Kronstadt NULL

"I think too that His Majesty goes about trying to prove who loves Him . . . O Lord of my soul, if only one had the words to explain what You give to those who trust in You." - Saint Teresa of Ávila, aka Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada NULL

"True perfection consists in the love of God and our neighbor, and the better we keep both these commandments, the more perfect we shall be." - Saint Teresa of Ávila, aka Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada NULL

"We can’t have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves." - Saint Thomas Aquinas, aka Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis or Doctor Universalis

"If we want to find the manna hidden in our vocation, let us restrict and confine all our desires within it." - Saint Vincent de Paul

"The children of our Lord walk gladly in his ways; they have confidence in him, and so when they fall, they rise again; and if, instead of stopping to grumble about the stone they have tripped over, they humble themselves at their fall, this helps them to advance with great strides in his love." - Saint Vincent de Paul

"Doubt, it seems to me, is the central condition of a human being in the twentieth century." - Salman Rushdie, fully Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie