This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Voltaire, pen name of François-Marie Arouet NULL
To wish the greatness of our own country is often to wish evil to our neighbors. He who could bring himself to wish that his country should always remain as it is, would be a citizen of the universe.
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 |
It is but the littleness of man that seeth no greatness in trifles.
Wilferd Peterson, fully Wilferd Arlan Peterson
The art of humility begins with a recognition of our dependence on others and an appreciation of God’s gift of life... He discovers that those of a gentle spirit do have the earth for their possession; that humility opens the gates of the mind and heart so greatness can flow through.
Appreciation | Art | Dependence | Earth | God | Greatness | Heart | Humility | Life | Life | Mind | Spirit | Appreciation | Art |
Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
Alphonse de Lamartine, fully Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine
True greatness is sovereign wisdom. We are never deceived by our virtues.
Alphonse de Lamartine, fully Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine
The greatness of a popular character is less according to the ratio of his genius than the sympathy he shows with the prejudices and even the absurdities of his time. Fanatics do not select the cleverest, but the most fanatical leaders.
The beginning of greatness is to be little, the increase of greatness is to be less, and the perfection of greatness is to be nothing.
Beginning | Greatness | Little | Nothing | Perfection |
Elizabeth Bowen, Full name Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen
All your youth you want to have your greatness taken for granted; when you find it taken for granted, you are unnerved.
The total disorder in the universe, as measured by the quantity that physicists call entropy, increases steadily over time. Also, the total order in the universe, as measured by the complexity and permanence of organized structures, also increases steadily over time.
Order |
Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Of what is great, one must either be silent, or speak with greatness - that means cynically and with innocence.
Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
The man of belief is necessarily a dependent man... He does not belong to himself, but to the author of the idea he believes... At every step, one has to wrestle for truth; one has to surrender to it almost everything to which the heart, to which our love, our trust in life clings otherwise. That requires greatness of soul: the service of truth is the hardest service...faith makes blessed: consequently, it lies.
Belief | Greatness | Life | Life | Man | Service | Surrender | Trust | Truth |
By constant self-discipline and self-control you can develop greatness of character.