black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

Books are the ever burning lamps of accumulated wisdom.

George William Curtis

Every great crisis of human history is a pass of Thermopylae, and there is always a Leonidas and his three hundred to die in it, if they can not conquer.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Conquer Death Greatness History Human
It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing that assures the prosperous voyage.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Assurance Prosperity Skill
Prussia is great because her people are intelligent. They know the alphabet. The alphabet is conquering the world.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Conquer Greatness Intelligence People World
Criticism is not construction, it is observation.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Construction Criticism Observation
I walked beside the evening sea And dreamed a dream that could not be; The waves that plunged along the shore Said only: “Dreamer, dream no more!”
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Dreams Myself Sea Walk Wave
Heroes in history seem to us poetic because they are there. But if we should tell the simple truth of some of our neighbors, it would sound like poetry.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Hero History Ourselves Poet Truth
A tree which has lost its head will never recover it again, and will survive only as a monument of the ignorance and folly of its Tormentor.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Head Ignorance Lost Monument Survive Tree
The Pride of ancestry increases in the ratio of distance.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Distance Pride Ratio
Our common liberty is consecrated by a common sorrow.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Common Liberty Sorrow
Stratagem is the right hand of cunning.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Hands Right Strategy
Anger is an expensive luxury in which only men of certain income can indulge.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Angry Luxury Man Money
Our great social and political advantage is opportunity.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Greatness Opportunity Politics Social
The big mistake that men make is that when they turn thirteen or fourteen and all of a sudden they’ve reached puberty, they believe that they like women. Actually, you’re just horny. It doesn’t mean you like women any more at twenty-one than you did at ten.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Feeling Growth Mistake Puberty Woman Yourself
Reputation is favorable notoriety as distinguished from fame, which is permanent approval of great deeds and noble thoughts by the best intelligence of mankind.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Fame Intelligence Kind Man Reputation
It is not observed in history that families improve with time.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Family History Observation Time
A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

Country Loyalty Man Mountain Principle