Great Throughts Treasury

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

Winning

"In 1937, I began, like Lazarus, the impossible return. I began to break away from Communism and to climb from deep within its underground, where for six years I had been buried, back into the world of free men." - Whittaker Chambers, born Jay Vivian Chambers, aka Jay David Whittaker Chambers

"You know what the problem with this case is? We're cast wrong. I look like a slob, so I should be the villain. [Alger] Hiss, the handsome man who knows all the society people, is the born hero. It's bad casting. If it was the other way around, nobody would pay any attention to the story; but because of the way we look, all of you people think he must be telling the truth. That's what has made him so valuable to the other side." - Whittaker Chambers, born Jay Vivian Chambers, aka Jay David Whittaker Chambers

"Full sexual consciousness and a natural regulation of sexual life mean the end of mystical feelings of any kind, that, in other words, natural sexuality is the deadly enemy of mystical religion. The church, by making the fight over sexuality the center of its dogmas and of its influence over the masses, confirms this concept." - Wilhelm Reich

"The era we are living in today is a dream of coming true." - Walt Disney, fully Walter Elias "Walt" Disney

"Be fired with enthusiasm or you'll be fired with enthusiasm." - Vince Lombardi, fully Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi

"Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price." - Vince Lombardi, fully Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi

"If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be FIRED with enthusiasm." - Vince Lombardi, fully Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi

"Man’s life on earth is what it is because he spends almost every moment of his life trying to cover up his anxieties instead of understanding and dissolving them." - Vernon Howard, fully Vernon Linwood Howard

"You cannot solve your problem by thinking about yourself." - Vernon Howard, fully Vernon Linwood Howard

"Life without goodness, good thoughts, good actions and good words is like the sky in the night without the moon or stars. It is like a wheel without a hub or spokes. No one can push a boulder away while standing on it; you cannot be free from anxiety while all the entrances through which it sneaks in are open." - Atharva Veda, or Atharvaveda

"They deserve our admiration, not because they suffered in prison for 25 days, but because they assumed the responsibility and, within their limit, wanted to do something positive," - Václav Havel

"The future is the most expensive luxury in the world." - Thornton Wilder, fully Thornton Niven Wilder

"Without your wounds where would your power be? It is your melancholy that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men and women. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In Love’s service, only wounded soldiers can serve. Physician, draw back." - Thornton Wilder, fully Thornton Niven Wilder

"But those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but for mine own part, if was Greek to me. Julius Caesar (Casca at I, ii)" - William Shakespeare

"Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. Exclaim no more against it. Othello the Moor of Venice (Iago at II, iii)" - William Shakespeare

"There's a power struggle going on across Europe these days. A few cities are competing against each other to see who shall emerge as the great 21st century European metropolis. Will it be London? Paris? Berlin? Zurich? Maybe Brussels, center of the young union? They all strive to outdo one another culturally, architecturally, politically, fiscally. But Rome, it should be said, has not bothered to join the race for status. Rome doesn't compete. Rome just watches all the fussing and striving, completely unfazed. I am inspired by the regal self-assurance of this city, so grounded and rounded, so amused and monumental, knowing she is held securely in the palm of history. I would like to be like Rome when I am an old lady." - Elizabeth Gilbert

"He had ceased to express his fondness for her in words, and recoiled with angry suspicion from her girlish caresses, as if conscious there could be no gratification in lavishing such marks of affection on him." - Emily Brontë, fully Emily Jane Brontë, aka pseudonym Ellis Bell

"At this display the elder and less attractive of the maidens fled, uttering loud and continuous cries of apprehension in order to conceal the direction of her flight." - Ernest Bramah, born Ernest Brammah Smith

"The world wags on with three things: doing, undoing, and pretending." - Italian Proverbs

"There goes more than one ass to market." - Italian Proverbs