Great Throughts Treasury

"Religion is devoted and loyal commitment to the best that reason and insight can discover. The liberal understands what loyalty means as the authoritarian never can." - Julius Seelye Bixler

"When you find wealth within your reach, do not try to get it by improper means; when you meet with calamity, do not (try to) escape from it by improper means. Do not seek for victory in small contentions; do not seek for more than your proper share. Do not positively affirm what you have doubts about; and (when you have no doubts) do not let what you say appear (simply) as your own view." - Book of Li, aka Book of Rites or Record of Rites or Classic Rites NULL

"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can't be done. They hope it can't be done because it means seeing the garden in a whole new way. Then they see it can be done. Then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries before." - Frances Hodgson Burnett, fully Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett

"There is only the moment. The now. Only what you are experiencing at this second is real. This does not mean you live for the moment. It means you live in the moment." - Leo Busacaglia

"Doubt attracts “reasons” for not succeeding, whereas belief finds the means to do the job. Do not see yourself merely in terms of how you appear now. Absorbing the blows is a quality of greatness. Every big success is created one step at a time." - Tom Butler-Bowdon

"Integrity means having a changeless core inside." - Tom Butler-Bowdon

"To “justify” means nothing else than to acquit of guilt him who was accused as if his own innocence were confirmed." -

"The submergence of self in the pursuit of an ideal, the readiness to spend oneself without measure, prodigally, almost ecstatically, for something intuitively apprehended as great and noble, spend oneself one know not why - some of us like to believe that this is what religion means." - Benjamin Cardozo, fully Benjamin Nathan Cardozo

"If we persist in encouraging and educating only the intellect in our schools, we will inevitably create an instrumental conception of life, in which all human activity will be valued as a means to an end, never for itself." - Robert E. Carter, fully Robert Edgar Carter

"When we come to now that our whole environment and everything that happens is God’s hand upon us… Every detail of life is a means arranged by Him to lead us to Himself; then we find that our great trouble is self." -

"Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy… means government by the badly educated." - Gilbert Keith "G.K." Chesteron

"Love means to love that which is unlovable, or it is no virtue at all; forgiving means to pardon that which is unpardonable, or it is no virtue at all – and to hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all." - Gilbert Keith "G.K." Chesteron

"War is a continuation of policy by the use of different means." - Carl von Clausewitz, fully Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz, also Karl von Clausewitz

"Love is a desire of the whole being to be united to some thing, or some being, felt necessary to its completeness, by the most perfect means that nature permits, and reason dictates." - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"The history of all the world tells us that immoral means will ever intercept good ends." - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"An ideal command system… should be able to gather information accurately, continuously, comprehensively, selectively, and fast. Reliable means must be developed to distinguish the true from the false, the relevant from the irrelevant, the material from the immaterial." - Martin van Creveld

"Modern secularity has offered another way of dealing with religious pluralism. As religious traditions lose their importance as means of self-understanding and community identification, their differences and mutual exclusiveness diminish in importance. Alienation from any particular religious faith tends to move the question of religious particularity into the realm of indifference, as life is determined by nonreligious values and institutions. Yet secularity has been no more successful in establishing human community than has the religious vision. The competing claims of nationalism, economic imperialism, and ideological triumphalism are also demonic forms of particularity that have not been able to establish a new universality in human community." - Donald G. Dawe

"The task of the leader is always to weigh up the circumstances, to make decisions and to give orders and then, once the action has been launched, to reassess from time to time the system of the means at his disposal, which [is] continually being modified by circumstances." -

"The apportioning of blame [is] the means by which society obtains a modicum of revenge for the wrong it has suffered, expiates its own guilt for such responsibility as it may have had for the event in question, and finally seeks to prevent a repetition of the disaster." - Norman F. Dixon

"Whether on the floor of Congress or in the boardrooms of corporate America or in the corridors of a big city hospital, there is no body of professional expertise and no anthology of case studies which can supplant the force of character which provides both a sense of direction and a means of fulfillment. It asks, now what you want to be, but who you want to be." - Elizabeth Dole, fully Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford "Liddy" Dole

"Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem – in my opinion – to characterize our age." - Albert Einstein

"All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means." - Chou En-Lai, also Zhou Enlai

"All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means." - Zhou En-lai, also Chou En Lai

"Could it be that liberation, not knowledge, is the true end purpose of human life and even its meaning? And might this liberation be achieved through non-rational means: power, sexuality, revolution, resignation, creativity, compassion, or solidarity? If this predicament is not so much ignorance (of something) as bondage (to something), what must we be liberated from, and what are we therefore liberated for?" - Stephen A. Erickson

"In the grossly distorted individualism of today, we are incapable of imagining the selflessly disinterested hero. This may not matter; we may think we can do without him. But what is also means is that we are incapable of imagining the selflessly disinterested hero in ourselves who would give himself to a cause." - Henry Fairlie

"The search for wholeness… The word integrity comes from the Latin integritas, which means to be whole or complete. In Hebrew the word for wholeness and completeness is shalom, which also means peace between people and peace within oneself. In Arabic, the word is salaam." - Leonard Felder

"Every soul develops itself only by means of other souls, and there are no longer individual men, but only one humanity." - Johann Gottlieb Fichte

"Freedom is not worth fighting for if it means no more than license for everyone to get as much as he can for himself." - Dorothy Canfield Fisher

"A covenant is a contract. When two people enter into a covenant, it means that one party undertakes to do certain things provided the other party does certain other things. Thus it is a mutual agreement… If you think only kindly, , optimistic, and constructive thoughts, if you will speak only positive and helpful words at all times, if you will do only good and constructive deeds, you will be fulfilling your side of the great covenant – and in no circumstances could God fail to fulfill His." - Emmet Fox

"In the Bible the word “wicked” really means “bewitched” or “under a spell.” The Judgment is not a great trial to take place at the end of time; it is a process that goes on every day." - Emmet Fox

"The word “salvation,” in the Bible, means perfect health, harmony, and freedom. Man wears away his life in the pursuit of outer things, when his salvation lies in discovering the within." - Emmet Fox

"Ethics is… to be regarded as a therapeutic attempt – as an endeavor to achieve, by means of a command of the superego, something which has so far not been achieved by means of any other cultural activities. As we already know, the problem before us is how to get rid of the greatest hindrance to civilization – namely, the constitutional inclination of human beings to be aggressive towards one another." - Sigmund Freud, born Sigismund Schlomo Freud

"Responsibility could easily deteriorate into domination and possessiveness were it not for respect… respect means the concern that the other person should grow and unfold as he is." - Erich Fromm, fully Erich Seligmann Fromm

"I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means." - Mahatma Gandhi, fully Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, aka Bapu

"If one takes care of the means, the end will take care of itself." - Mahatma Gandhi, fully Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, aka Bapu

"Means are not to be distinguished from ends. If violent means are used, there will be bad results." - Mahatma Gandhi, fully Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, aka Bapu

"Prayer is an unfailing means of cleansing the heart of passions. But it must be combined with utmost humility." - Mahatma Gandhi, fully Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, aka Bapu

"Every man of action has a strong dose of egotism, pride, hardness, and cunning. But all those things will be forgiven him, indeed, they will be regarded as high qualities, if he can make of them the means to achieve great ends." - Charles de Gaulle, fully Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle

"Being united in one flesh means being united in one life… This community of life is human; while it is primarily of the spirit and must not play the part of the beast, neither must it try impossibly to be angelic." -

"Piety is not an end, but a means: a means of attaining the highest culture through the purest tranquility of soul." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Living life at its best means keeping on speaking terms with my conscience, to do nothing to outrage it or to inflict pain upon it. When my acts do violence to my moral or ethical standards, I sustain a loss for which no pleasure or material gain can compensate me, for I shrink in moral stature. When I keep my friendship with the best in me, I achieve a serenity which cloaks life with gentle beauty." - Sidney Greenberg

"“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.”" - Tom Gregory

"The kingdom of God means that He, the Father, the Brother, the Friend, is near, in the depths of the spirit, in the core of the heart; that loves rules perceptibly in our goings and comings, our dispensing and our receiving; the whole of existence is transfigured by it, and that, while everything is transfigured into this one thing, the essential beauty and character of each blossoms forth." - Romano Guardini

"It means that there is significance in everything that happens in the world, and a heart, a concern, and a power stronger than all the powers of the world which is able to fulfill the purpose of its care for man." - Romano Guardini

"Silence is argument carried out by other means." - Che Guevara, fully Ernesto “Che” Guevara

"Ambition is not a reprehdnsible quality, nor are ambitious men to be censured, if they seek glory through honorable and honest means. In fact, it is they who produce great and excellent works. Those who lack this passion are cold spirits, inclined towards laziness than activity. But ambition is pernicious and detestable when it has as its sole end power." - Francesco Guicciardini

"We must, I think, regard the normal death as a feature characteristic of life. Normal death is sometimes regarded as a wearing out of the machinery of life; but it is evidently a quite unsuitable metaphor, since living structure, when we consider it closely, can easily be seen to be constantly renewing itself, so that it cannot be regarded as mere machinery which necessarily wears out. Normal death must apparently be regarded from the biological standpoint as a means by which room is made for further more definite development of life." -

"In being with dying, we arrive at a natural crucible of what it means to love and be loved. And we can ask ourselves this: Knowing that death is inevitable, what is most precious today?" - Joan Halifax, fully Roshi Joan Jiko Halifax

"The Buddha began with the idea of non-self, really a reaction against His time. But many Buddhists think that non-self… is the basis of all truth. In this, they are considering a means to be an end, a raft to be the shore, the finger pointing to be the moon." -

"Sufficient time must be devoted to the process of “being” rather than “doing.” This is perhaps life’s greatest lesson of all. It is not only true that mindless materialism leaves us empty; materiality alone means that we do not know the value of time. We are actually afraid of time, as well as meaning and value; and this is why we turn to materialism." - Kenneth Hanson, aka Ken Hanson