This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
In the commission of evil, fear no man so much as thyself; another is but one witness against thee, thou art a thousand; another thou mayest avoid, thyself thou canst not. Wickedness is its own punishment.
Art | Character | Evil | Fear | Man | Punishment | Wickedness | Witness | Art |
In the commission of evil, fear no man so much as thyself. Another is but one witness against thee; thou art a thousand. Another thou mayst avoid, thyself thou canst not. Wickedness is its own punishment.
Art | Character | Evil | Fear | Man | Punishment | Wickedness | Witness | Art |
Cardinal de Retz, Jean Francois-Paul de Gondil
Of all passions, fear weakens judgment most.
H. F. Rall, fully Harris Franklin
Freedom means mastery of your world. Fear and greed are common sources of bondage. We are afraid, beset by anxiety. We do not know what tomorrow will bring. We seem so helpless over against the forces that move now without apparent thought for men. And our inner freedom is destroyed by greed. We think that if we only had enough goods we should be free, happy, without care. And so there comes the lust for money, and slavery to the world of things. The world can enslave; it can never make us free.
Anxiety | Anxiety | Care | Character | Enough | Fear | Freedom | Greed | Happy | Lust | Means | Men | Money | Slavery | Thought | Tomorrow | Will | World | Think | Thought |
Recreation is not being idle; it is easing the wearied part by change of occupation. To re-create strength, rest. To re-create mind, repose. To re-create cheerfulness, hope in God, or change the object of attention to one more elevated and worthy of thought.
Attention | Change | Character | Cheerfulness | God | Hope | Mind | Object | Occupation | Recreation | Repose | Rest | Strength | Thought |
That charity alone endures which flows from a sense of duty and a hope in God. this is the charity that treads in secret those paths of misery from which all but the lowest of human wretches have fled; this is that charity which no labor can weary, no ingratitude detach, no horror disgust; that toils, that pardons, that suffers; that is seen by no man, and honored by no man, but, like the great laws of Nature, does the work of God in silence, and looks to a future and better world for its reward.
Better | Character | Charity | Duty | Future | God | Hope | Ingratitude | Labor | Looks | Man | Nature | Reward | Sense | Silence | Work | World | God |
Shantananda Saraswathi, fully Swami Shantananda Saraswathi, born Chandrashekar
Self-pity deprives us of the beauty of the past; fear deprives us of the beauty of the future; and jealousy deprives us of the beauty of the moment.
Beauty | Character | Fear | Future | Jealousy | Past | Pity | Self | Beauty |
Shantananda Saraswathi, fully Swami Shantananda Saraswathi, born Chandrashekar
Fear arises in two forms. Either you fear losing what you have, or you fear not getting what you want.
Pinchas Shapiro of Koretz, aka Pinchas or Pinchos of Koretz
Imagine a man was standing before a king. Someone comes along and slaps that person in the face. Out of fear of the king the man will be almost oblivious to the blow. Moreover, he will think to himself, “I can’t retaliate now. The king witnessed what he did tome. If the king approves, nothing I do will help. If the king disapproves of what he did, the king himself will punish that person for what he has done to me.” Similarly we are in the presence of the Almighty and should not reply to insults.
Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, aka Beis Halevi
Fear destroys desires... Even a small amount of fear of the Almighty will remove your coveting.
Jealousy is the fear or apprehension of superiority; envy our uneasiness under it.
Character | Envy | Fear | Jealousy | Superiority |