This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Thomas Malthus, fully Thomas Robert Malthus
On the whole it may be observed, that the specific use of a body of unproductive consumers, is to give encouragement to wealth by maintaining such a balance between produce and consumption as will give the greatest exchangeable value to the results of the national industry.
Opportunity | Value |
Thomas Malthus, fully Thomas Robert Malthus
The love of independence is a sentiment that surely none would wish to see erased from the breast of man, though the parish law of England, it must be confessed, is a system of all others the most calculated gradually to weaken this sentiment, and in the end may eradicate it completely.
Opportunity | Present | Wants | Think |
Woodrow Wilson, fully Thomas Woodrow Wilson
The nation's honor is dearer than the nation's comfort; yes, than the nation's life itself.
Age | Counsel | Day | Feelings | God | Government | Heart | Ideals | Justice | Knowledge | Mercy | Need | Opportunity | Politics | Right | Search | Time | Will | Government | Counsel | God | Understand |
Woodrow Wilson, fully Thomas Woodrow Wilson
There is a very great thrill to be had from the memories of the American Revolution, but the American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation, and the duty laid upon us by that beginning is the duty of bringing the things then begun to a noble triumph of completion.
Children | Consequences | Equality | Men | Opportunity |
Perhaps it's obvious, but it's also so easy to forget: never get too discouraged by the apparent gap between what you believe you are capable of, and what it seems you are right now.
Tom Robbins, fully Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins
I journey to the east, where I have been told, there are men who have taught death some manners.
Opportunity | Protest | Respect | Respect |
Tom Robbins, fully Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins
How then does soul differ from spirit?’ You’re probably asking yourself, although he must have been reasonably sure nobody was. Well, soul is darker of color, denser of volume, saltier of flavor, rougher of texture, and tends to be more maternalistic than paternalistic: soul is connected to Mother Earth, just as spirit is connected to Father Sky.
Think |
No more fiendish punishment could be devised, were such a thing physically possible, than that one should be turned loose in society and remain absolutely unnoticed.
Character | Good | Hell | Maxims | Opportunity |
Appearances deceive and this one maxim is a standing rule: men are not what they seem.
Books | God | Mind | Opportunity | God |
Selection is the very keel on which our mental ship is built. And in this case of memory its utility is obvious.
Experience | Opportunity | Resolution |
Douglas Adams, fully Douglas Noel Adams
There are of course many problems connected with life, of which some of the most popular are Why are people born? Why do they die? Why do they want to spend so much of the intervening time wearing digital watches?
A great many men — some comparatively small men now — if put in the right position, would be Luthers and Columbuses.
Competition | Love | Men | Opportunity |
Elizabeth Bowen, Full name Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen
Was she now to be clapped down under an adjective, to crawl round life-long inside some quality like a fly in a tumbler?
Now, to appease his conscience when he did the balance of a long life, he had taken this strange journey and was home to a woman with such expectations. The outer walls were the color of ash cherchevetata windows and balcony railings were painted in two different colors - lighter and darker shade of gray. When discrete scenery around the double door were completed, the block shone with dazzling beauty. Most striking feature of the building, which at the insistence of Pavel Pavlovich Antipov was built in the style ar nuvo9, although it was no longer in vogue was that floors were completely different. The apartments on the ground floor, as if to compensate for the lack of balconies were much larger windows than others. As for the balcony, and they were different on each floor. terrace on the second floor were heavily exported forward in graceful semicircle, and those on the third floor were more retracted so that one could easily sit without being visible from the outside. Balcony on the fourth floor were like those of the second, except that instead of metal railings had curb decorated with embossed flowers, and at both ends were attached marble pots, in which you can grow plants. differences were so striking that one wondered Yet if the residents of these apartments they live in the same place. reliefs on the front façade to balance between decoration windows on the first and second floor, very eye-catching. Here in the circle was painted peacock with a small head and a huge body. His five items, two right, two left and one right on the head sticking out of different countries. One pointed toward the sky, and the other - the four cardinal directions. At the end of each feather was painted a large eye, beautifully finished with subtle touches that resemble eyelashes. In complete contrast, the head of the peacock was brought down. Directly below his feet in a faint oval frame was inscribed the initials of the spouses. - Elif Shafak , The Flea Palace
Depression | Global | Opportunity | Reason |
Elizabeth Bowen, Full name Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen
The best that an individual can do is to concentrate on what he or she can do, in the course of a burning effort to do it better.
Emanuel Swedenborg, born Emanujel Swedberg
This Divine truth flows into heaven from the Lord from His Divine love.
Death | Opportunity |
I like someone who laughs, but not all the time, and not too loud. I like it when someone laughs at the world, and not at someone in particular — when some particularly absurd thing happens, not just someone falling down.
Opportunity | People | Think |
We hackers are a playful bunch; we'll hack anything, including language, if it looks like fun (thus our tropism for puns). Deep down, we like confusing people who are stuffier and less mentally agile than we are, especially when they're bosses. There's a little bit of the mad scientist in all hackers, ready to discombobulate the world and flip authority the finger — especially if we can do it with snazzy special effects.
Reputation | Science | Work |