This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Dan Millman, born Daniel Jay Millman
Discipline is the surest means to greater freedom and independence; it provides the focus to achieve the skill level and depth of knowledge that translates into more options in life... The Law of Discipline points to a paradox. While freedom is our transcendent birthright, it must be earned in this world; discipline remains the key to freedom and independence.
Discipline | Focus | Freedom | Knowledge | Law | Life | Life | Means | Paradox | Skill | World |
It is in order to really see, to see ever deeper, ever more intensely, hence to be fully aware and alive, that I draw what the Chinese call 'The Ten Thousand Things' around me. Drawing is the discipline by which I constantly rediscover the world. I have learned that what I have not drawn, I have never really seen, and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing, I realize how extraordinary it is, sheer miracle.
Discipline | Order | World |
Georg Hegel, fully Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Passions, private aims, and the satisfaction of selfish desires, are… most effective springs of action. Their power lies in the fact that they would respect none of the limitations which justice and morality would impose on them; and [they] have a more direct influence over man than the artificial and tedious discipline that tends to order and self-restraint, law and morality.
Action | Aims | Discipline | Influence | Justice | Law | Man | Morality | Order | Power | Respect | Restraint | Self | Respect |
It is ominous for the future of a child when the discipline he receives is based on the emotional needs of the disciplinarian rather than on any consideration of the child’s own needs.
Consideration | Discipline | Future | Child |
The man who would emancipate art from discipline and reason is trying to elude rationality, not merely in art, but in all existence.
Art | Discipline | Existence | Man | Rationality | Reason | Art |
Henry Miller, aka Henry Valentine Miller
Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes. Life has not other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.
Beauty | Defeat | Despise | Discipline | Evil | Joy | Life | Life | Mind | Strength | Vision |
That kind of discipline whose pungent severity is in the manifestations of paternal love, compassion, and tenderness is the most sure of its object.
Compassion | Discipline | Love | Object | Tenderness |
He who loves discipline loves knowledge; stupid is the person who hates correction.
Discipline | Knowledge |
Leonardo da Vinci, fully Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci
Small rooms or dwellings discipline the mind, large ones weaken it.
Discipline | Mind |
Maltbie Babcock, fully Maltbie Davenport Babcock
Although there is nothing so bad for conscience as trifling, there is nothing so good for conscience as trifles. Its certain discipline and development are related to the smallest things. Conscience, like gravitation, takes hold of atoms. Nothing is morally indifferent. Conscience must reign in manners as well as morals, in amusements as well as work. He only who is “faithful in that which is least” is dependable in all the world.
Amusements | Conscience | Discipline | Good | Manners | Nothing | Trifles | Work | World |
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
But repression is not the way to virtue. When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are by necessity diminished. They become rigid and defensive, and their self stops growing. Only through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed, and still kept within the bounds of reason. If a person learns to control his instinctual desires, not because he has to, but because he wants to, he can enjoy himself without becoming addicted.
Control | Discipline | Fear | Life | Life | Necessity | People | Reason | Self | Virtue | Virtue | Wants |
Noam Chomsky, fully Avram Noam Chomsky
More democratic societies, including the United States, instituted measures to impose discipline on the domestic population and to institute unpopular measures under the guise of "combating terror," exploiting the atmosphere of fear and the demand for "patriotism" - which in practice means: "You shut up and I'll pursue my own agenda relentlessly." The Bush administration used the opportunity to advance its assault against most of the population, and future generations, in service to the narrow corporate interests that dominate the administration to an extent even beyond the norm.
Administration | Discipline | Fear | Future | Means | Opportunity | Patriotism | Practice | Service | Terror |
‘Tis the only discipline we are born for; all studies else are but as circular lines, and death the center where they all must meet.
Death | Discipline |
The golden thread of a highly successful and meaningful life is self-discipline. Discipline allows you to do all those things you know in your heart you should do but never feel like doing. Without self-discipline, you will not set clear goals, manage your time effectively, treat people well, persist through the tough times, care for your health, or think positive thoughts.
Care | Discipline | Goals | Health | Heart | Life | Life | People | Self | Time | Will | Think |
William Jones, fully Sir William Jones of Nayland, aka Trinity Jones
Voices of the glorified urge us onward. they who have passed from the semblances of time to the realities of eternity call upon us to advance. The rest that awaits us invites us forward. We do not pine for our rest before God wills it. We long for no inglorious rest. We are thankful rather for the invaluable training of difficulty, the loving discipline of danger and strife. Yet in the midst of it all the prospect of rest invites us heavenward. Through all, and above all, God cries, “Go forward!” “Come up higher.”
Danger | Difficulty | Discipline | Eternity | God | Rest | Time | Training | Wills | Danger | God |
Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell
For the learning of every virtue there is an appropriate discipline and for the learning of suspended judgment the best discipline is philosophy.
Discipline | Judgment | Learning | Philosophy | Virtue | Virtue |
How can man be intelligent, happy, or useful, without the culture and discipline of education? It is this that unlocks the prison-house of his mind, and releases the captive.
Culture | Discipline | Man |
Frank Herbert, formally Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr.
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
Discipline | Freedom |