This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Pope John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła, aka Saint John Paul the Great NULL
Social justice cannot be attained by violence. Violence kills what it intends to create.
Justice |
Pope Pius X, aka Saint Pope Pius X and Pope of the Eucharist, born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto NULL
We take courage in Him Who strengthens Us; and setting Ourselves to work, relying on the power of God, We proclaim that we have no other program in the Supreme Pontificate… The desire for peace is harbored in every breast, and there is no one who does not ardently invoke it. But to want peace without God is an absurdity, seeing that where God is absent thence too justice flies, and when justice is taken away, it is vain to cherish the hope of peace. "Peace is the work of justice" (Is. 22:17). There are many, We are well aware, who, in their yearning for peace, that is, for the tranquility of order, band themselves into societies and parties, which they style parties of order. Hope and labor lost. For there is but one party of order capable of restoring peace in the midst of all this turmoil, and that is the party of God. It is this party, therefore, that We must advance.
Courage | Desire | God | Hope | Justice | Labor | Order | Peace | Power | Style | Work | God |
Barbara Ehrenreich, born Barbara Alexander
We (the left) have to be used to being a minority – a small minority- for some time to come. The odd thing is that the right even when it is in power, likes to think of itself as an embattled minority against this elite that somehow runs everything. Whereas the left, even when it has no power at all, likes to imagine it somehow represents the majority of people. These are mirror -image delusions. It is important to stick to principles, even when some of them may be unpopular now for one reason or another. For example, there has been a tendency for some progressives to look at the power of the right, and say, ‘Well, all we can focus on is economic justice issues, because other things, whether they are abortion rights or drug law reform, will be less popular and more divisive.’ And I think that is wrong approach. There are certain core things we stand for, and these include both economic justice and civil liberties, which you can’t back away from.
Focus | Important | Justice | Law | Majority | Power | Reason | Right | Rights | Time | Will | Wrong | Think |
Investment that only goes to enrich an already wealthy elite bent on monopolizing both economic and political power cannot contribute toward égalité and justice — the foundation stones for a sound democracy.
The effort necessary to remain uncorrupted in an environment where fear is an integral part of everyday existence is not immediately apparent to those fortunate enough to live in states governed by the rule of law. Just laws do not merely prevent corruption by meting out impartial punishment to offenders. They also help to create a society in which people can fulfill the basic requirements necessary for the preservation of human dignity without recourse to corrupt practices. Where there are no such laws, the burden of upholding the principles of justice and common decency falls on the ordinary people. It is the cumulative effect on their sustained effort and steady endurance which will change a nation where reason and conscience are warped by fear into one where legal rules exist to promote man's desire for harmony and justice while restraining the less desirable destructive traits in his nature.
Change | Conscience | Corruption | Desire | Dignity | Effort | Endurance | Enough | Existence | Fear | Harmony | Justice | People | Principles | Punishment | Reason | Rule | Society | Will | Society |
But we know that we are not alone. The cause of liberty and justice finds sympathetic responses around the world. Thinking and feeling people everywhere, regardless of color or creed, understand the deeply rooted human need for a meaningful existence that goes beyond the mere gratification of material desires. Those fortunate enough to live in societies where they are entitled to full political rights can reach out to help their less fortunate brethren in other areas of our troubled planet.
Cause | Enough | Existence | Justice | Liberty | Need | People | Rights | Thinking | Understand |
The wellspring of courage and endurance in the face of unbridled power is generally a firm belief in the sanctity of ethical principles combined with a historical sense that despite all setbacks the condition of man is set on an ultimate course for both spiritual and material advancement. It is his capacity for self-improvement and self-redemption which most distinguishes man from the mere brute. At the root of human responsibility is the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path if not to the end at least the distance needed to rise above individual limitations and environmental impediments. It is man's vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear. Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against ruthless power.
Belief | Capacity | Compassion | Courage | Endurance | Humanity | Individual | Intelligence | Justice | Man | Power | Principles | Responsibility | Self-improvement | Sense | Vision | Will | World |
Although I am a typical loner in my daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has preserved me from feeling isolated.
Consciousness | Justice |
My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced freedom from the need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I gang my own gait and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties I have never lost an obstinate sense of detachment, of the need for solitude — a feeling which increases with the years.
Freedom | Justice | Need | Responsibility | Sense | Solitude |
My scientific work is motivated by an irresistible longing to understand the secrets of nature and by no other feeling. My love for justice and striving to contribute towards the improvement of human conditions are quite independent from my scientific interests.
Improvement | Justice | Longing | Love | Nature | Work | Understand |
Queen Elizabeth II, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary NULL
I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else - I can give my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.
Brotherhood | Devotion | Heart | Justice | Old |
Striving for social justice is the most valuable thing to do in life.
Justice |
Pythagoras, aka Pythagoras of Samos or Pythagoras the Samian NULL
Practice justice in word and deed, and do not get in the habit of acting thoughtlessly about anything.
Ramon Llul, aka Raymond Lully, Raymond Lull, Raimundus, Raymundus Lullus or Lullius
In the beautiful arrangement and ordering through which we recognize the world as something beautiful and orderly, Lord, we understand and apperceive intellectually your great wisdom and your great power and your great justice and your sweet mercy and all your other virtues.
A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.
Ram Dass, aka Baba Ram Dass, born Richard Alpert
By acting compassionately, by helping to restore justice and to encourage peace, we are acknowledging that we are all part of one another.
Justice |
Raymond Chandler, fully Raymond Thornton Chandler
The law isn't justice. It's a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be.
Reinhold Niebuhr, fully Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr
The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world.