This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Josh Billings, pen name for Henry Wheeler Shaw, aka Uncle Esek
It ain't often that a man's reputation outlasts his money.
A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.
Reputation | Will | World |
Leo Tolstoy, aka Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy or Tolstoi
One man does not assert the truth which he knows, because he feels himself bound to the people with whom he is engaged; another, because the truth might deprive him of the profitable position by which he maintains his family; a third, because he desires to attain reputation and authority, and then use them in the service of mankind; a fourth, because he does not wish to destroy old sacred traditions; a fifth, because he has no desire to offend people; a sixth, because the expression of the truth would arouse persecution, and disturb the excellent social activity to which he has devoted himself. One serves as emperor, king, minister, government functionary, or soldier, and assures himself and others that the deviation from truth indispensable to his condition is redeemed by the good he does. Another, who fulfills the duties of a spiritual pastor, does not in the depths of his soul believe all he teaches, but permits the deviation from truth in view of the good he does. A third instructs men by means of literature, and notwithstanding the silence he must observe with regard to the whole truth, in order not to stir up the government and society against himself, has no doubt as to the good he does. A fourth struggles resolutely with the existing order as revolutionist or anarchist, and is quite assured that the aims he pursues are so beneficial that the neglect of the truth, or even of the falsehood, by silence, indispensable to the success of his activity, does not destroy the utility of his work. In order that the conditions of a life contrary to the consciousness of humanity should change and be replaced by one which is in accord with it, the outworn public opinion must be superseded by a new and living one. And in order that the old outworn opinion should yield its place to the new living one, all who are conscious of the new requirements of existence should openly express them. And yet all those who are conscious of these new requirements, one in the name of one thing, and one in the name of another, not only pass them over in silence, but both by word and deed attest their exact opposites.
Aims | Change | Consciousness | Desire | Destroy | Deviation | Doubt | Existence | Good | Government | Humanity | Indispensable | Life | Life | Man | Means | Men | Neglect | Opinion | Order | People | Position | Public | Regard | Reputation | Sacred | Service | Silence | Society | Soul | Success | Truth | Society | Government | Old |
Liz Smith, formally Mary Elizabeth "Liz" Smith, aka The Grand Dame of Dish
You can't build a reputation on what you intend to do.
Mencius, born Meng Ke or Ko NULL
Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness
Men | Reputation | Words |
Mencius, born Meng Ke or Ko NULL
Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness.
Men | Reputation | Words |
Mencius, born Meng Ke or Ko NULL
Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness.
Men | Reputation | Words |
We’d all like a reputation for generosity, and we’d all like to buy it cheap.
Miguel de Cervantes, fully Miguel de Cervantes Saaversa
The reputation of a woman may be compared to a mirror, shining and bright, but liable to be sullied by every breath that comes near it.
Reputation | Woman |
Silence and reserve will give anyone a reputation for wisdom.
Reputation | Reserve | Will |
Self esteem is the reputation we acquire with ourselves.
Esteem | Reputation |
The two most precious things this side of the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other. A wise man, therefore, will be more anxious to deserve a fair name than to possess it, and this will teach him so to live as not to be afraid to die.
Niccolò Machiavelli, formally Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli
A prince must be prudent enough to know how to escape the bad reputation of those vices that would lose the state for him, and must protect himself from those that will not lose it for him, if this is possible; but if he cannot, he need not concern himself unduly if he ignores these less serious vices.
Enough | Need | Reputation | Will |
Paul Feyerabend, fully Paul Karl Feyerabend
Experts often arrive at different results, both in fundamental matters, and in application who does not know of at least one case in his family where one doctor recommends a certain operation, another argues against it, while a third suggests an entirely different procedure? Who has not read of the debates about nuclear safety, the end of the economy, the effects of pesticides, aerosol sprays, the efficiency of methods of education, the influence of race on intelligence? Two, three, five and even more views arise in such debates, and scientific supporters can be found for all of them. Occasionally one almost feels inclined to say: as many scientists, as many opinions. There are of course areas in which scientists agree- but this cannot raise our confidence. Unanimity is often the result of a political decision: dissenters are suppressed, or remain silent to preserve the reputation of science as a source of trustworthy and almost infallible knowledge. On other occasions, unanimity is the result of shared prejudices: positions are taken without detail examination of the matter under review and are infused with the same authority that proceeds from detailed research.
Authority | Efficiency | Family | Influence | Race | Reputation | Science |
The honor of parents is a fair and noble treasure to their posterity, but to have the use of a treasure of wealth and honor, and to leave none to your successors, because you have neither money nor reputation of your own, is alike base and dishonorable.
Honor | Money | Parents | Reputation | Wealth |
Pliny the Elder, full name Casus Plinius Secundus NULL
It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired it.
Good | Reputation |
Ray Kroc, fully Raymond Albert Kroc
Our aim was to insure repeat business based on the system's reputation rather than on the quality of a single store or operator.
Business | Reputation | Business |
At the time, my grandparents told my mom, "Lordy, what is Shannen doing?" Now I've calmed down. [on her reputation for bad behavior]
Richard Feynman, fully Richard Phillips Feynman
We've learned from experience that the truth will come out. Other experimenters will repeat your experiment and find out whether you were wrong or right. Nature's phenomena will agree or they'll disagree with your theory. And, although you may gain some temporary fame and excitement, you will not gain a good reputation as a scientist if you haven't tried to be very careful in this kind of work. And it's this type of integrity, this kind of care not to fool yourself, that is missing to a large extent in much of the research in cargo cult science.
Care | Cult | Experience | Experiment | Fame | Good | Phenomena | Reputation | Research | Truth | Will | Wrong |
Richard Neustadt, fully Richard Elliott Neustadt
The Washingtonians who watch a President have more to think about than his professional reputation. They also have to think about his standing with the public outside Washington. They have to gauge his popular prestige. Because they think about it, public standing is a source of influence for him, another factor bearing on their willingness to give him what he wants.Prestige, like reputation, is a subjective factor, a matter of judgment. It works on power just as reputation does through the mechanism of anticipated reactions. The same men, Washingtonians, to the judging. In the case of reputation they anticipate reactions from the President. In the instance of prestige they anticipate reactions from the public. Most members of the Washington community depend upon outsiders to support them or their interests. The dependence may be as direct as votes, or it may be as indirect as passive toleration. Dependent men must take account of popular reaction to their actions. What their publics may think of them becomes a factor, therefore, in deciding how to deal with the desires of a President. His prestige enters into that decision; their publics are part of his. Their view from inside Washington of how outsiders view him thus affects his influence with them.
Dependence | Influence | Men | Power | Public | Reputation | Think |