This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Arnold J. Toynbee, fully Arnold Joseph Toynbee
Though sixteen civilizations may have perished already to our knowledge, and nine others may be now at the point of death, we - the twenty-sixty - are not compelled to submit the riddle of our fate to the blind arbitrament of statistics. The divine spark of creative power is still alive in us, and, if we have the grace to kindle it into flame, then the stars in their courses cannot defeat our efforts to attain the goal of human endeavor.
Death | Defeat | Fate | Grace | Knowledge | Power | Statistics | Fate |
I do not make success or failure the criteria by which I live. I like to take chances and I am impressed by others who do so with a freedom of spirit. Those who dare to try also dare to fail. This is a wonderful thing! If we limit ourselves to what is risk-free, we may be missing out on the most rewarding adventures in life.
Failure | Freedom | Life | Life | Risk | Spirit | Success | Failure |
True heroism is remarkably sober, very un-dramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.
Cost |
Unwelcome are the loiterer, who makes appointments he never keeps; the consulter, who asks advice he never follows; the boaster, who seeks for praise he does not merit; the complainer, who whines only to be pitied; the talker, who talks only because he loves to talk always; the profane and obscene jester, whose words defile; the drunkard, whose insanity has tot the better of his reason; and the tobacco-chewer and smoker, who poisons the atmosphere and nauseates others.
Advice | Better | Insanity | Merit | Praise | Reason | Words |
He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.
Appreciation | Beauty | Better | Children | Earth | Inspiration | Life | Life | Little | Love | Memory | Men | Respect | Soul | Success | World | Appreciation | Respect | Beauty |
Constant activity in doing good, and endeavoring to make others happy, is one of the surest ways of making ourselves so.
Dedication is not what others expect of you, it is what you can give to others.
It is not so difficult a task to plant new truths as to root out old errors, for there is this paradox in men: they run after that which is new, but are prejudiced in favor of that which is old... A truth that is merely acquired from others only clings to us as a limb added to the body, or as a false tooth, or a wax nose. A truth we have acquired by our own mental exertions, is like our natural limbs, which really belong to us. This is exactly the difference between an original thinker and the mere learned man.
Others. What will they think of this? What will they say to that? So others arise. When there are others there’s I. In truth there just IS. Isness alone is; no others, no I, only a dance, a rhythm, only a being.
Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
Ayn Rand, born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum
Man - every man - is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others. He must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing other to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life.
Achievement | Ends | Life | Life | Man | Means | Purpose | Purpose | Self | Self-interest | Work | Happiness |
Ayn Rand, born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum
Altruism declares that any action taken for the benefit of others is good, and any action taken for one's own benefit is evil. Thus the beneficiary of an action is the only criterion of moral value - and so long as that beneficiary is anybody other than oneself, anything goes.
A man of honor should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.
Ayn Rand, born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum
Altruism declares that any action taken for the benefit of others is good, and any action taken for one's own benefit is evil. Thus the beneficiary of an action is the only criterion of moral value -- and so long as that beneficiary is anybody other than oneself, anything goes.
Ayn Rand, born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum
My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own purpose. Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars.
All men are idolaters, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure.
Fame | Men | Pleasure | Self | Self-interest |