This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
The moralists cease to be realistic and commit idolatry inasmuch as they worship, not God, but their own ethical ideals, inasmuch as they treat virtue as an end in itself and not as the necessary condition of the knowledge and love of God – a knowledge and love without which that virtue will never be made perfect or even socially effective.
God | Ideals | Knowledge | Love | Virtue | Virtue | Will | Worship | 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 |
Alphonse de Lamartine, fully Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine
Kindness is virtue itself.
Temperance to be a virtue must be free, and not forced.
Alexis de Tocqueville, fully Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville
The principle of self-interest rightly understood produces no great acts of self-sacrificed, but it suggest daily small acts of self-denial. By itself it cannot suffice to make a man virtuous; but it disciplines a number of person sin habits of regularity, temperance, moderation, foresight, self-command; and if it does not lead men straight to virtue by the will, it gradually draws them in that direction by their habits. If the principle of interest rightly understood were to sway the whole moral world, extraordinary virtues would doubtless be more rare; but I think that gross depravity would then also be less common. The principle of interest rightly understood perhaps prevents men from rising far above the level of mankind, but a great number of other men, who were falling far below it, are caught and restrained by it.
Foresight | Man | Mankind | Men | Moderation | Self | Self-denial | Self-interest | Sin | Virtue | Virtue | Will | World | Think |
The faculty of imagination is the great spring of human activity, and the principal source of human improvement. As it delights in presenting to the mind scenes and characters more perfect than those which we are acquainted with, it prevents us from ever being completely satisfied with our present condition or with our past attainments, and engages us continually in the pursuit of some untried enjoyment, or of some ideal excellence. Hence the ardour of the selfish to better their fortunes, and to add to their personal accomplishments; and hence the zeal of the patriot and philosopher to advance the virtue and the happiness of the human race. Destroy this faculty, and the condition of man will become as stationary as that of the brutes.
Better | Destroy | Enjoyment | Excellence | Human race | Imagination | Improvement | Man | Mind | Past | Present | Race | Virtue | Virtue | Will | Zeal | Happiness |
When one's body is viewed with scorn and contempt, and one's joy is in the soul alone, this constitutes a direct and simple way to fulfill the commandment "Love your fellow as yourself" toward every Jew, great or small... For the source of their souls is in the One G‑d, and they aredivided only by virtue of their bodies. Therefore, those who give priority to their body over their soul, find it impossible to share true love and brotherhood except that which is conditional on some benefit. This is what Hillel the Elder meant when he said about this commandment [the love of Israel]: "This is the whole Torah; and the rest is commentary." For the foundation and source of all Torah is to elevate and give ascendancy to the soul over the body.
Body | Brotherhood | Joy | Love | Rest | Soul | Virtue | Virtue | Torah |
A soul which is conversant with virtue is like an ever flowing source, for it is pure and tranquil and potable and sweet and communicative (social) and rich and harmless and free from mischief.
By virtue of its inborn nature, the mind rules the heart.
Silver and gold are not the only coin; virtue too passes current all over the world.
Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.
Confidence | Hope | Indispensable | Life | Life | Trust | Virtue | Virtue |
Erwin Schrödinger, fully Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger
For a solitary animal egoism is a virtue that tends to preserve and improve the species: in any kind of community it becomes a destructive vice.