Great Throughts Treasury

"The remark which I read somewhere, that science is all right as long as it doesn't attack religion, was the clue I needed to understand the problem. As long as it doesn't attack religion it need not be paid attention to and nobody has to learn anything. So it can be cut off from society except for its applications, and thus be isolated. And then we have this terrible struggle to try to explain things to people who have no reason to want to know. But if they want to defend their own point of view, they will have to learn what yours is a little bit. So I suggest, maybe correctly and perhaps wrongly, that we are too polite." - Richard Feynman, fully Richard Phillips Feynman

"Too much attention cannot be bestowed on that important, yet much neglected branch of learning, the knowledge of man's ignorance." - Richard Whately

"I open with a clock striking, to beget an awful attention in the audience - it also marks the time, which is four o clock in the morning, and saves a description of the rising sun, and a great deal about gilding the eastern hemisphere." - Richard Brinsley Sheridan

"All things need watching, working at, caring for and marriage is no exception. Marriage is not something to be treated indifferently, or abused or something that simply takes care of itself. Nothing neglected will remain as it was or is, or will fail to deteriorate. All things need attention care and concern and especially so in this most sensitive of all relationships of life." - Richard L. Evans, fully Richard Louis Evans

"Not enough attention is paid to the negative side of fashion. Great effort is exerted to make people look smart, but somebody should face the fact that a lot of people never will be smart, and that they should be given some assistance in maintaining their fascinating dowdiness." - Robertson Davies

"If there be anything that can be called genius, it consists chiefly in ability to give that attention to a subject which keeps it steadily in the mind, till we have surveyed it accurately on all sides." - Robert Quillen, fully Verni Robert Quillen

"I billeted a strong force overnight in a citadel laid waste in former days by other generals. There we slept upon its back and flanks, while under us its landlords slept. And I said to my heart: Where are the many people who once lived here? Where are the builders and vandals, the rulers and paupers, the slaves and masters? Where are the begetters and the bereaved, the fathers and the sons, the mourners and the bridegrooms? And where are the many people born after the others had died, in days gone by, after other days and years? Once they lodged upon the earth; now they are lodged within it. They passed from their palaces to the grave, from pleasant courts to dust." - Samuel ha-Nagid, born Samuel ibn Naghrela or Naghrillah

"War begins like a pretty girl with whom every man wants to flirt and ends like an ugly old woman whose visitors suffer and weep." - Samuel ha-Nagid, born Samuel ibn Naghrela or Naghrillah

"The treasury of the King is found in the heart. Look carefully to see what you have in this treasury! If it is filled with gold and gems, then it is indeed a treasury! If it is full of straw and refuse, then it is a mere rubbish dump. One treasure is said to be in heaven, and consists of the blessings of paradise. .. The keeper of treasure of paradise is an angel called "Rizwan", but the keeper of the treasury of love is the Lord Himself." - Sharafuddin Ahmad ibn Yahya Maneri, fully Hazrat Makhdum Shaikh Sharafuddin Yahya Maneri

"In the Talmud (some 1800 years ago) it is said that the holy men of old would sit for an hour before prayer. We don’t have an exact idea of what they were doing, but it was probably a kind of contemplative practice. In the Prophets, Elijah says God doesn’t appear in a thundering storm cloud but in a still, small voice. The primary unpronounced name of God in Hebrew is made up of vowel letters that are sounds of the breath itself. The name denotes Being itself. The very rejection of idol worship is akin to liberation from attachment. Hasidism was a popularization of Jewish mysticism or kabbalah. It originated in eastern Europe in the 18th century and drew on a long and complex history of Jewish meditative literature and practice. Hasidism emphasized practicing with intentionality. It taught a notion of dissolution of ego, expanding consciousness, through ecstatic practices but also through contemplative practices. We are not Hasidim, but we are inspired by their teachings. I work with a colleague, Rabbi Jonathan Slater, who teaches a weekly course unpacking Hasidism as a mindfulness practice. Was what we think of as mindfulness meditation exactly what they were doing? Probably not. We integrate other contemporary influences into our worldview such as pluralism, egalitarianism, feminism. But we are in their lineage. The Zohar, the classic mystical text, says that there is no place devoid of God’s presence. The Hasidim say: the whole world is filled with glory. If one is able to come to awareness, one is able to realize one is in God’s presence." - Sheila Peltz Weinberg

"The kinds of spiritual practices we can undertake are limitless. However, ultimately the form is less important than these factors: the commitment to practice, the ability to keep returning to the intention, the attitude one brings to the uncontrollable and the ability to transfer the benefits of the practice into how we live our lives, how we relate to ourselves and others, how free we become to embody the values and ideals we embrace in our minds, how we deal with temptations of all sorts. In other words we practice to live with the wisdom and compassion, which we already possess. We practice to actualize the pure soul, which God has planted with us." - Sheila Peltz Weinberg

"Indeed, [patience] is the first of the thirteen attributes of [God’s] mercy, through which Hashem “carries/bears” His world. Without it we would be unable to exist for even one day. Regarding this trait we are enjoined to emulate Hashem’s ways; through it man, too, “carries/bears” his world. Like Hashem, man bestows goodness, kindness, light of face, 2 and peace upon his surroundings. If, Heaven forbid, one is unable to act as a “suffering king,” such that when another individual insults him or commits a sin, he immediately hides his face and ceases to bestow goodness, kindness and peace, he too destroys the world! Now, my wise student of Torah, meditate deeply upon thishow you carry/bear your world, bestowing life and kindness, goodness and peace on everything that surrounds you. This reflection will bring you to realize that only through cultivating your attribute of patience can you truly bear the burden of your world, always, and without interruption, not causing destruction, Heaven forbid. Destruction literally, without exaggeration!" - Shlomo Wolbe, aka Wilhelm Wolbe

"Peace is more than just the absence of war. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom. And true peace dictates the recognition of human rights." - Ronald Reagan, fully Ronald Wilson Reagan

"A leader who pushes the authority figure in an attempt to solve important problems should expect the authority figure to strike back, not necessarily from personal motivations but form the community’s pressure on him to maintain equilibrium." - Ronald A. Heifetz

"An authority should protect those whom he wants to silence." - Ronald A. Heifetz

"Authorities commonly have the power to choose the decision-making process. In essence, they must decide on the presence and relevance of conflict, and whether and how to unleash it. Deciding which process to use – autocratic, consultative, participative, or consensual – requires judgment based on several factors. We have begun to introduce three of these factors already: the type of problem, the resilience of the social system, and the severity of the problem. To these we should add a fourth: the time frame for taking action." - Ronald A. Heifetz

"Because making progress on adaptive problems requires learning, the task of leadership consists of choreographing and directing learning processes in an organization or community." - Ronald A. Heifetz

"Even if the weight of carrying people’s hopes and pains may fall mainly, for a time, on one person’s shoulders, leadership cannot be exercised alone. The lone-warrior model of leadership is heroic suicide. Each of us had blind spots that require the vision of others. Each of us has passions that need to be contained by others." - Ronald A. Heifetz

"For Gandhi to challenge these ways of life demanded knowing them deeply, by experience, by operating close to the frontline, where the stakeholders of India lived. Gandhi could speak to people, to their hopes, fears, weaknesses, and needs because he spent time knowing them. He could touch and inspire people because they touched and inspired him." - Ronald A. Heifetz

"In fact, many people daily go beyond both their job description and the informal expectations they carry within their organization and do what they are not authorized to do. At a minimum, these people exercise leadership momentarily by impressing upon a group, sometimes by powerfully articulating an idea that strikes a resonant chord, the need to pay attention to a missing point of view. A staff assistant will speak up at a meeting even though she has no authority to do so." - Ronald A. Heifetz

"In human societies, adaptive work consists of efforts to close the gap between reality and a host of values not restricted to survival." - Ronald A. Heifetz

"Marrying an old bachelor is like buying second-hand furniture." - Helen Rowland

"When a man makes a woman his wife, it's the highest compliment he can pay her, and it's usually the last." - Helen Rowland

"Why are you so enchanted by this world, when a mine of gold lies within you?" - Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL

"The difference in the perceiving of a star and a tree is a variation in some intrinsic character which belongs to conation as such." - Samuel Alexander

"I wasn’t all that bright. I had difficulty keeping up in class and I had always carried with me a bit of an inferiority complex regarding socializing at school and I never felt confident about dating girls. But I enjoyed my work and I enjoyed the rewards of working. As I read Mr. Hill’s book, I realized I could do anything if I wanted it badly enough. His words motivated me and showed me that I live in a do-it-yourself world." - S. Truett Cathy

"So give to the poor; I’m begging you, I’m warning you, I’m commanding you, I’m ordering you." - Saint Augustine, aka Augustine of Hippo, St. Austin, Bishop of Hippo NULL

"Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." - Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL

"Take God for your spouse and friend and walk with him continually, and you will not sin and will learn to love, and the things you must do will work out prosperously for you." - Saint John of the Cross, born Juan de Yepes Álvarez NULL

"You should strive in your prayer for a pure conscience, a will that is wholly with God, and a mind truly set upon Him." - Saint John of the Cross, born Juan de Yepes Álvarez NULL

"If then we have angels, let us be sober, as though we were in the presence of tutors; for there is a demon present also." - John Chrysostom, fully Saint John Chrysostom

"A world to be born under your footsteps…" - Saint-John Perse, first Saint-Leger Leger, pseudonyms of Alexis Leger

"A News-monger is a Retailer of Rumour, that takes up upon Trust, and sells as cheap as he buys. He deals in a perishable Commodity, that will not keep: for if it be not fresh it lies upon his Hands, and will yield nothing. True or false is all one to him; for Novelty being the Grace of bothe, a Truth grows stale as soon as a Lye." - Samuel Butler

"An empty house is like a stray dog or a body from which life has departed." - Samuel Butler

"I am free to say to you, and I will stand by it, I hold, and I have said, that when an injunction undertakes to violate the constitutional rights guaranteed to me as a citizen I am going to assert my rights as a citizen to test the question and to take the consequences." - Samuel Gompers

"If the men and the girls were to receive the same wages, do you think that the employers would bend all their energies to oust men and replace them with girls? Isn't it more likely that the men would have a better chance of employment and be safer from absolute idleness, if both the men and the girls were organized, and equal pay for all was demanded?" - Samuel Gompers

"The beasts of burden have their day of rest and recuperation and certainly what nature and nature's laws intended for them, can not be less so to civilized men." - Samuel Gompers

"Actions are visible, though motives are secret." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

"Among the calamities of wars may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

"He that resigns his peace to little casualties, and suffers the course of his life to be interrupted for fortuitous inadvertencies or offences, delivers up himself to the direction of the wind, and loses all the constancy and equanimity which constitutes the chief praise of a wise man." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

"In all pleasure hope is a considerable part." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

"Truth, Sir, is a cow, which will yield such people no more milk, and so they are gone to milk the bull." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

"Staying where you now are, you must perish; coming to Christ, you can but perish; coming to Christ, no one ever did perish; while you sit still and starve, there is bread enough and to spare in your Father's house. Will you return?" - Samuel I. Prime, fully Samuel Irenaeus Prime

"The conceptions I have summarized here I first put forward only tentatively, but in the course of time they have won such a hold over me that I can no longer think in any other way." - Sigmund Freud, born Sigismund Schlomo Freud

"An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God." - Simone Weil

"Art is the symbol of the two noblest human efforts: to construct... and to refrain from destruction." - Simone Weil

"Even if our efforts of attention seem for years to be producing no result, one day a light that is in exact proportion to them will flood the soul." - Simone Weil

"Every new development for the last three centuries has brought men closer to a state of affairs in which absolutely nothing would be recognized in the whole world as possessing a claim to obedience except the authority of the State. The majority of people in Europe obey nothing else." - Simone Weil

"If Germany, thanks to Hitler and his successors, were to enslave the European nations and destroy most of the treasures of their past, future historians would certainly pronounce that she had civilized Europe." - Simone Weil

"Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating." - Simone Weil