This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
French National Assembly - Declaration of the Rights of Man NULL
Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.
Distinction | Public | Right |
Georg Hegel, fully Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights.
G. K. Chesterton, fully Gilbert Keith Chesterton
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.
Right |
Fulton Sheen, fully Archbishop Fulton John Sheen
Right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong.
Faith, in fact, is right knowledge. For faith is not believing something which our intelligence denies. It is the choice of the nobler hypothesis. Faith is the resolve to place the highest meaning on the facts which we observe.
Choice | Faith | Intelligence | Meaning | Right |
The true value of man is not determined by his possession, supposed or real, of Truth, but rather by his sincere exertion to get to the Truth. It is not possession of Truth by which he extends his powers and in which his ever-growing perfectability is to be found. Possession makes one passive, indolent and proud. If God were to hold all Truth concealed in his right hand, and in his left only the steady and diligent drive for Truth, albeit with the proviso that I would always and forever err in the process, and to offer me the choice, I would with all humility take the left hand.
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
Bigotry | Conscience | Giving | Good | Government | Indulgence | Liberty | Mankind | People | Policy | Right | Toleration | Government |
We have abundant reason to rejoice, that, in this land, the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition, and that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart. In this enlightened age, & in this land of equal liberty, it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining & holding the highest offices that are known in the United States.
Bigotry | God | Land | Light | Power | Reason | Right | Tenets | Truth | Will | Worship | God |
George Augustus Sala, fully George Augustus Henry Sala
Not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving something behind.
Individual | Right | World |
These cases . . . teach us the immense importance of Right Knowledge. Love is not enough unless it is complete love; that is, understanding as well as attachment, comprehension as well as compassion, intelligent interest as well as emotive affection. We must grasp what the process is, of which we are the growing edge.
Enough | Love | Right | Teach | Understanding |
Gilbert Keith "G.K." Chesteron
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.
Right |
H. G. Wells, fully Herbert George Wells
Thought has made me shameless. It does not matter at last at all if one is a little harsh or indelicate or ridiculous if that also is in the mystery of things. Behind everything I perceive the smile that makes all effort and discipline temporary, all the stress and pain of life endurable. In the last resort I do not care whether I am seated on a throne or drunk or dying in a gutter. I follow my leading. In the ultimate I know, though I cannot prove my knowledge in any way whatever, that everything is right and all things mine.
Care | Discipline | Effort | Knowledge | Life | Life | Little | Mystery | Pain | Right | Smile |
Han Fei, also Han Fei Zi, Han Feitzu and Han Fei Tzu
The law does not fawn on the noble; the string does not yield to the crooked. Whatever the law applies to, the wise cannot reject nor can the brave defy. Punishment for fault never skips ministers, reward for good never misses commoners. Therefore, to correct the faults of the high, to rebuke the vices of the low, to suppress disorders, to decide against mistakes, to subdue the arrogant, to straighten the crooked, and to unify the folkways of the masses, nothing could match the law. To warn the officials and overawe the people, to rebuke obscenity and danger, and to forbid falsehood and deceit, nothing could match penalty. If penalty is severe, the noble cannot discriminate against the humble. If law is definite, the superiors are esteemed and not violated. If the superiors are not violated, the sovereign will become strong and able to maintain the proper course of government. Such was the reason why the early kings esteemed legalism and handed it down to posterity. Should the lord of men discard law and practice selfishness, high and low would have no distinction. Hence to govern the state by law is to praise the right and blame the wrong.
Blame | Falsehood | Fault | Good | Law | Lord | Men | Nothing | Practice | Praise | Punishment | Reason | Rebuke | Reward | Right | Will | Wise | Fault | Govern |
Cultivate fine taste and discrimination in your choice of things. Get a right idea of values. Material possessions that you do not need and cannot use may be only an encumbrance. Let your guiding rule be not how much but how good. A thing you do not want is dear at any price. Avoid surplus age. Choose things that express your own individuality. You must possess your things or they will possess you. Look for quality rather than quantity. Unnecessary possessions bring unnecessary care and responsibility. Excess is waste. Have an occasional stocktaking and eliminate unsparingly.
Care | Choice | Excess | Need | Possessions | Right | Rule | Surplus | Taste | Will |