This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Every industrious man, in every lawful calling, is a useful man. And one principle reason why men are so often useless is, that they neglect their own profession or calling, and divide and shift their attention among a multiplicity of objects and pursuits.
The lie is in the surrender of the man to his appearance; as if a man should neglect himself and treat his shadow on the wall with marks of infinite respect.
Appearance | Man | Neglect | Respect | Surrender |
T. S. Eliot, fully Thomas Sterns Eliot
The perception of Good and Evil - whatever choice we may make - is the first requisite of spiritual life.
He who expects from a great name in politics, in philosophy, in art, equal greatness in other things, is little versed in human nature. Our strength lies in our weakness. The learned in books are ignorant of the world. He who is ignorant of books is often well acquainted with other things; for life is of the same length in the learned and unlearned; the mind cannot be idle; if it is not taken up with one thing, it attends to another through choice or necessity; and the degree of previous capacity in one class or another is a mere lottery.
Art | Books | Capacity | Choice | Greatness | Human nature | Life | Life | Little | Mind | Nature | Necessity | Philosophy | Politics | Strength | Weakness | World |
There is nothing neutral about the soul. It is the seat and the source of life. Either we respond to what the soul presents in its fantasies and desires, or we suffer from this neglect of ourselves. The power of the soul can hurl a person into ecstasy or into depression. It can be creative or destructive, gentle or aggressive. Power incubates within the soul and then makes influential its influential move into life as the expression of soul. If there is no soulfulness, then there is no true power, and if there is no power, then there can be no true soulfulness.
Depression | Ecstasy | Life | Life | Neglect | Nothing | Power | Soul |
Colin Powell, fully Colin Luther Powell
Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.
Anaïs Nin, born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell
The artist is the only one who knows that the world is a subjective creation, that there is a choice to be made, a selection of elements.
Hiding your faults from others so they won’t correct you might save you from momentary unpleasantness, but you will remain with your faults... Fear of criticism stems from inferiority feelings... If you feel hurt by someone’s criticism, remember it is your choice to feel hurt. You can choose self-statements that allow you to feel grateful for the opportunity to improve yourself.
Choice | Criticism | Fear | Feelings | Inferiority | Opportunity | Self | Will |
Cardinal de Retz, Jean Francois-Paul de Gondil
Weakness has many stages. There is a difference between feebleness by the impotency of the will, of the will to the resolution, of the resolution to the choice of means, of the choice of the means to the application.
Choice | Means | Resolution | Weakness | Will |
Our sages have taught, "Whoever gets angry, it is as if he worshipped idols" (Zohar I, 27b). The reason for this is... because at the time of his anger, his faith has left him. For were he to believe that what happened to him was G d’s doing, he would not be angry at all. For although it is a person possessed of free choice that is cursing him, or striking him, or causing damage to his property -- and is accountable according to the laws of man and the laws of heaven for his evil choice -- nevertheless, as regards the person harmed, this [incident] was already decreed in heaven and “G d has many agents” [to carry out the decree].
Choice | Evil | Faith | Free choice | Heaven | Man | Property | Reason | Time |