Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Devil

"If the memory is annihilated, the devil is powerless, and it liberates us from a lot of sorrow, affliction and sadness." - John Yepes “Saint John of the Cross”

"To light one candle to God and another to the Devil is the principle of wisdom." - José Bergamin, fully José Bergamín Gutiérrez

"It is the sin of the soul to force young people into opinions - indoctrination is of the devil - but it is culpable neglect not to impel young people into experiences." - Kurt Hahn, fully Kurt Martin "the rod" Hahn

"In describing what the Devil is, it says, "Evil; a lie; error; neither corporeality nor mind; the opposite of Truth; a belief in sin, sickness, and death; animal magnetism or hypnotism; the lust of the flesh, which saith: ‘I am life and intelligence in matter. There is more than one mind, for I am mind, - a wicked mind, self-made or created by a tribal god and put into the opposite of mind, termed matter, thence to reproduce a mortal universe, including man, not after the image and likeness of Spirit, but after its own image." - Mary Baker Eddy

"The instinct to command others, in its primitive essence, is a carnivorous, altogether bestial and savage instinct. Under the influence of the mental development of man, it takes on a somewhat more ideal form and becomes somewhat ennobled, presenting itself as the instrument of reason and the devoted servant of that abstraction, or political fiction, which is called the public good. But in its essence it remains just as baneful, and it becomes even more so when, with the application of science, it extends its scope and intensifies the power of its action. If there is a devil in history, it is this power principle. " - Mikhail Bakunin, fully Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin

"It is a natural human tendency to take for granted the good things that happen and to regard as the workings of the devil the bad things. And that if a bad thing comes along, you say, my God, we ought to pass a law and do something. That’s a very natural human tendency. I think the remarkable thing, the thing that needs to be explained, is not why we’ve had a movement towards collectivism and towards more government control, because that’s been the natural state of mankind for thousands of years. The remarkable thing in my opinion, from an intellectual point of view, is how you ever managed to get a century or a century and a half in which the dominant philosophy was the opposite. That’s the exception." - Milton Friedman, fully John Milton Friedman

"A devil takes one and makes two, a saint takes two and makes one." - Moroccan Proverbs

"How like a mounting devil in the heart rules the unreined ambition." - Nathaniel Parker Willis

"Why do they blame me for all their little failings? They use my name as if I spent my entire days sitting on their shoulders, forcing them to commits acts they would otherwise find repulsive. 'The devil made me do it.' I have never made one of them do anything. Never. They live their own tiny lives. I do not live their lives for them." - Neil Gaiman, fully Neil Richard Gaiman

"Mothers see the angel in us because the angel is there. If it's shown to the mother, the son has got an angel to show, hasn't he? When a son cuts somebody's throat the mother only sees it's possible for a misguided angel to act like a devil - and she's entirely right about that!" - Booth Tarkington, born Newton Booth Tarkington

"When there is a question of saving souls, or preventing greater harm to souls, We feel the courage to treat with the devil in person." - Pope Pius XI, born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti NULL

"When there is a question of saving souls, or preventing greater harm to souls, We feel the courage to treat with the devil in person." -

"It is so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the devil when he is the only explanation of it." - Ronald Knox, fully Ronald Arbuthnott Knox

"The devil has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life. Either we suffer in health or we suffer in soul or we get fat." - Albert Einstein

"I don't suppose God laughs at the people who think He doesn't exist. He's above jokes. But the devil isn't. That's one of his most endearing qualities." - Robertson Davies

"And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned around on you--where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast--man's laws, not God's--and if you cut them down... d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake." - Robert Oxton Bolt

"Every man for himself, his own ends, the devil for all." - Robert Burton

"Idleness is the badge of the gentry, the bane of body and mind, the nurse of naughtiness, the stepmother of discipline, the chief author of all mischief, one of the seven deadly sins, the cushion upon which the devil chiefly reposes, and a great cause not only of melancholy, but of many other diseases; for the mind is naturally active, and, if it is not occupied about some honest business, it rushes into mischief or sinks into melancholy." - Robert Burton

"The Devil himself, which is the author of confusion and lies." - Robert Burton

"The devil is the author of confusion." - Robert Burton

"Where God hath a temple, the devil will have a chapel." - Robert Burton

"I have no doubts that the Devil grins, As seas of ink I spatter. Ye gods, forgive my “literary” sins – The other kind don’t matter." - Robert Service, fully Robert William Service

"To a woman the first kiss is just the end of the beginning but to a man it is the beginning of the end." - Helen Rowland

"Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability." - Roy L. Smith, aka Mr. Methodist

"And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessed--they know the angels are on their side: They know in them is the Grace confessed, and for them are the Mercies multiplied; They sit at the Feet, they hear the Word, they see how truly the Promise runs; They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and--the Lord He lays it on Martha's sons!" - Rudyard Kipling

"But till we are built like angels, with hammer and chisel and pen, We will work for ourself and a woman, for ever and ever, Amen." - Rudyard Kipling

"Buy a pup and your money will buy Love unflinching that cannot lie." - Rudyard Kipling

"'Tisn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just It. Some women'll stay in a man's memory if they once walked down a street." - Rudyard Kipling

"We know that the tail must wag the dog, for the horse is drawn by the cart; But the Devil whoops, as he whooped of old: It's clever, but is it Art?" - Rudyard Kipling

"We pulled for you when the wind was against us and the sails were low. Will you never let us go?" - Rudyard Kipling

"When the Hymalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride, He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside. But the she-bear thus accosted, rends the peasant tooth and nail,For the female of the species is more deadly than the male. " - Rudyard Kipling

"You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!" - Rudyard Kipling

"Conservatives sense that modern people are dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, able to see farther than their ancestors only because of the great stature of those who have preceded us in time." - Russell Kirk

"The devil is not so frightful as he is painted. (Any person of bad character is not so bad as people say he is." - Russian Proverbs

"The devil is poor, he has no God." - Russian Proverbs

"The Glorious Virgin did not have a stain in her birth because she was santified in her mother's womb and safeguarded there by angels." - Saint Anthony of Padua or Anthony of Lisbon, born Fernando Martins de Bulhões NULL

"The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer." - Saint Augustine, aka Augustine of Hippo, St. Austin, Bishop of Hippo NULL

"All the darkness of the world cannot extinguish the light of a small candle." - Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL

"And let us be very careful of the malice and the subtlety of the Satan, who wishes that a man not raise his mind and heart to God." - Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL

"By occasions the strong become weak. To converse too frequently with women, and not suffer by it, is as hard as to take fire into one's bosom, and not to be burnt. What has a religious man to do with women, unless it be when he hears their confession, or gives them necessary spiritual instructions? He that thinks himself secure, is undone; the devil finding [something] to take hold on, though it be but a hair, raises a dreadful war." - Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL

"Each one should confidently make known his need to the other, so that he might find what he needs and minister to him. And each one should love and care for his brother in all those things in which God will give him grace, as a mother loves and cares for her son." - Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL

"Let us all love the Lord God with all [our] heart, all [our] soul, with all [our] mind and all [our] strength and with fortitude and with total understanding, with all of our powers, with every effort, every affection, every emotion, every desire, and every wish. He has given and gives to each one of us [our] whole body, [our] whole soul, and [our] whole life. He created us and redeemed us, and will save us by His mercy alone. He did and does every good thing for us [who are] miserable and wretched, rotten and foul-smelling, ungrateful and evil." - Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL

"Should there be a brother anywhere in the world who has sinned, no matter how great soever his fault may be, let him not go away after he has once seen thy face without showing pity towards him; and if he seek not mercy, ask him if he does not desire it. And by this I will know if you love God and me." - Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL

"The rule and life of these brothers is this: to live in obedience, in chastity, and without anything of their own, and to follow the teaching and the footprints of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who says: 'If you wish to be perfect go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' And, 'If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me'. Again, 'If anyone wishes to come to me and does not hate father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple' (Lk. 14:26). And: 'Everyone who has left father or mother, brothers or sisters, wife or children, houses or lands because of me, shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess eternal life' (cf. Mt. 19:29, Mk. 10:29, Lk. 18:30)" - Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL

"Let your daughter have first of all the book of Psalms for holiness of heart, and be instructed in the Proverbs of Solomon for her godly life." - Saint Jerome, aka Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymous, Hierom or Jerom NULL

"If the soul is hardly conscious of this contemplation, such a person is only able to say that he is satisfied, tranquil and contented and that he is conscious of the presence of God… Pure contemplation is indescribable and therefore secret. This mystical knowledge has the property of hiding the soul within itself." - Saint John of the Cross, born Juan de Yepes Álvarez NULL

"The life of the body is the soul; the life of the soul is God." - Saint Anthony of Padua or Anthony of Lisbon, born Fernando Martins de Bulhões NULL

"Musicke doth withdraw our mindes from earthly cogitations, lifteth up our spirits into heaven, maketh them light and celestial" - John Chrysostom, fully Saint John Chrysostom