This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Lord Dunsany, fully Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany
Man knows his littleness; his own mountains remind him; but the dreams of man make up for our faults and failings; for the brevity of our lives, for the narrowness of our scope; they leap over boundaries and are away and away.
Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
In the mountains of truth you never climb in vain.
Mind set free in the Dharma-realm, I sit at the moon-filled window Watching the mountains with my ears, Hearing the stream with open eyes. Each molecule preaches perfect law, Each moment chants true sutra: The most fleeting thought is timeless, A single hair's enough to stir the sea.
Immense hidden powers seem to lurk in the unconscious depths of even the most common man - indeed, of all people without exception. It is these powers, when put under pressure, that are responsible for all great creative efforts. The men who make history are those who - consciously or unconsciously - turn the switch on the inner switchboards of human character. Pour out all your fears and anxieties, malicious joy and greed and hatred, and you will be astonished at the terrific amount of power which is pent up in your unconscious mind. We can release this power and transform it from negative into positive power, only by bringing into the open, into the light of consciousness, and by accepting ourselves as we are, even though the mountains of debts seem to crush us. This is the principle of honesty. And it is clear that it can be applied only if connected with the principle of faith.
Character | Consciousness | Faith | Greed | History | Honesty | Joy | Light | Man | Men | Mind | People | Power | Will |
A friend is, above all, one who judges not... For beyond and above our differences we meet on common ground, and I am his friend. And, when we are together, I can keep silence, having nothing to fear from him for my inner gardens, my mountains and my ravines - for he will not trample them.
There are too many people praying for mountains of difficulty to be removed, when what they really need is courage to climb them.
Courage | Difficulty | Need | People |
The heart of man is more dangerous than mountains and rivers, more difficult to understand than Heaven itself.
Heart | Heaven | Man | Understand |
Both poetry and philosophy are prodigal of eulogy over the mind which ransoms itself by its own energy from a captivity to custom, which breaks the common bounds of empire, and cuts a Simplon over mountains of difficulty for its own purpose, whether of good or of evil.
Custom | Difficulty | Energy | Evil | Good | Mind | Philosophy | Poetry | Purpose | Purpose |
On no subject are our ideas more warped and pitiable than on death. Let children walk with nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life, and that the grave has no victory, for it never fights. All is divine harmony.
Children | Death | Grave | Harmony | Ideas | Life | Life | Nature | Unity | Will | Blessed | Learn |
Nature is sanitive, refining, elevating. How cunning she hides every wrinkle of her inconceivable antiquity under roses and violets and morning dew! Every inch; of the mountains is scarred by unimaginable convulsions, yet the new day is purpose with the bloom of youth and joy.
Antiquity | Cunning | Day | Joy | Nature | Purpose | Purpose | Youth | Youth |
Robert Ingersoll, fully Robert Green "Bob" Ingersoll
In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds.
Eternity |
William A. Ward, fully William Arthur Ward
The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain - he is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem--he is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills.