This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
François-René de Chateaubriand, fully François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand
I have explored the seas of the Old World and the New, and trodden the soil of the four quarters of the Earth. Having camped in the cabins of Iroquois, and beneath the tents of Arabs, in the wigwams of Hurons, in the remains of Athens, Jerusalem, Memphis, Carthage, Granada, among Greeks, Turks and Moors, among forests and ruins; after wearing the bearskin cloak of the savage, and the silk caftan of the Mameluke, after suffering poverty, hunger, thirst, and exile, I have sat, a minister and ambassador, covered with gold lace, gaudy with ribbons and decorations, at the table of kings, the feasts of princes and princesses, only to fall once more into indigence and know imprisonment.
He who is not capable of enduring poverty is not capable of being free.
Peace | Prosperity |
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
Ultimate meaning necessarily exceeds and surpasses the finite intellectual capacities of man... What is demanded of man is not, as some existential philosophers teach, to endure the meaninglessness of life, but rather to bear his incapacity to grasp its unconditional meaningfulness in rational terms. Logos is deeper than logic.
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
To discover that there was any semblance of art in a concentration camp must be a surprise enough for an outsider, but he may be even more astonished to hear that one could find a sense of humor there as well; of course, only the faint trace of one, and then only for a few seconds or minutes. Humor was another of the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation. It is well known that humor, more than anything else in the human make-up, can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds. I practically trained a friend of mine who worked next to me on the building site to develop a sense of humor. I suggested to him that we would promise each other to invent at least one amusing story daily, about some incident that could happen one day after our liberation. He was a surgeon and had once been an assistant on the staff of a large hospital. So I once tried to get him to smile by describing to him how he would be unable to lose the habits of camp life when he returned to his former work. On the building site (especially when the supervisor made his tour of inspection) the foreman encouraged us to work faster by shouting: 'Action! Action!' I told my friend, 'One day you will be back in the operating room, performing a big abdominal operation. Suddenly an orderly will rush in announcing the arrival of the senior surgeon by shouting, Action! Action!'
Indispensable | Knowledge | Meaning | Nothing | Search | Wisdom | Words |
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
Many weeks later we found out that even in those last hours fate had toyed with us few remaining prisoners. We found out just how uncertain human decisions are, especially in matters of life and death. I was confronted with photographs which had been taken in a small camp not far from ours. Our friends who had thought they were traveling to freedom that night had been taken in the trucks to this camp, and there they were locked in the huts and burned to death. Their partially charred bodies were recognizable on the photograph.
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
Man's last freedom is his freedom to choose how he will react in any given situation
Pay no heed to little worries; attach your mind to the Lord and then you will be led to the Company of good men and your talents will be transmuted.
Peace |
In pursuit of money, man descends to the level of the beast. Money is of the nature of manure. Piled up in one place, it pollutes the air. Spread it wide; scatter it over fields; it rewards you with a bumper harvest.
Peace |
My anxiety is over. The Guru has cut away my bonds, and I have found eternal peace. Whatever shall be, shall be in the end; so where can pain and pleasure be seen?
Peace | Prosperity | Happiness |
I have no beauty, understanding or strength; I am a stranger, from far away.
Such is my love for the Lord of the Universe; through perfect good destiny, I have been united with Him.
Harmony | Peace | Prosperity | Will |
Mind is a double edged sword. It has immense power and it is capable of accomplishing both useful and destructive feats.
Life | Life | Peace | Prosperity |
One should strive to maintain good health by taking balanced diet and exercising regularly.
The first impulse of jealousy, moreover the one that comes after the first, the fire, the heart-burning, that do we waft away from thee.
I serve the slaves of His slaves; in so many ways, I beg of Him. Setting them upon the scale, I have weighed all comforts and pleasures; without the Lord's Blessed Vision, they are all totally inadequate.
A weak man can never achieve success in his life.
Peace | Prosperity | Blessed |