This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.
There seemed to be nothing she could add to the material things we already had. And so she offered something of far greater value: a gift of the heart, an act of kindness carried out in our name.
Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession... Do that which is assigned to you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much.
Cultivation | Force | Hope | Life | Life | Present | Talent |
Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of thyself.
Quentin Crisp, born Denis Charles Pratt
To be a man of destiny is to arrive at a point in history when the only gift you have to offer has suddenly become relevant.
The only gift is a portion of thyself. Therefore the poet brings his poem; the shepherd, his lamb; the farmer, corn; the miner, a gem; the sailor, coral and shells; the painter, his picture; the girl, a handkerchief of her own sewing.
Poem |
Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous half-possession. That which each can do best none but his Maker can teach him.
Cultivation | Force | Life | Life | Present | Teach | Talent |
Arthur Helps, fully Sir Arthur Helps
There is a gift that is almost a blow, and there is a kind word that is munificence; so much is there in the way of doing things.
A wise love regards not so much the gift of him who loves, as the love of him who gives. He esteems affection rather than valuables, and sets all gifts below the Beloved. A noble-minded lover rests not in the gift, but in Me above every gift.
Mahabharata or The Mahabharata NULL
The making of a gift is superior to the acceptance of a gift.
Your mindful breath and your smile will bring happiness to you and to those around you. Even if you spend a lot of money on gifts for everyone in your family, nothing you could buy them can give as much true happiness as your gift of awareness, breathing, and smiling, and these precious gifts cost nothing.
Awareness | Cost | Family | Money | Nothing | Smile | Will | Happiness |
Those who love with purity consider not the gift of the lover, but the love of the giver.
Voltaire, pen name of François-Marie Arouet NULL
How is reason so precious a gift that we would not lose it for anything in the world? and how has this reason served only to make us the most unhappy of all beings? Whence comes it that loving truth passionately, we are always betrayed to the most gross impostures?
No matter how burning the thirst, we must always take the time to honor the gift of water, for it is sacred. It is a gift of life. It is in the times of dire thirst, when the body craves the water the most, we should especially take the time for prayer and thanksgiving... If you do not honor and cherish the waters, then how can you ever expect others to?