This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
O dearest soul, your cause doth strike my heart with pity that doth make me sick.
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ORLANDO: I take thee, Rosalind, for wife. ROSALIND: I might ask you for your commission; but,— I do take thee, Orlando, for my husband: — there's a girl goes before the priest; and, certainly, a woman's thought runs before her actions. ORLANDO: So do all thoughts; they are winged. ROSALIND: Now tell me how long you would have her, after you have possessed her. ORLANDO: For ever and a day. ROSALIND: Say "a day," without the "ever." No, no, ORLANDO: men are April when they woo, December when they wed: maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives.
On, on, you noble English, whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof, fathers that like so many Alexanders have in these parts from morn till even fought and sheathed their swords for lack of argument dishonor not your mothers; now attest that those whom you called fathers did beget you!
On a day (alack the day!) Love, whose month is ever May, Spied a blossom passing fair Playing in the wanton air. Through the velvet leaves the wind, All unseen, can passage find; That the lover, sick to death, Wished himself the heaven's breath.
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Open thy gate of mercy, gracious God, My soul flies through these wounds to seek out thee.
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The Buddha said that when we dedicate merit, it is like adding a drop of water to the ocean. Just as a drop of water added to the ocean will not dry up but will exist as long as the ocean itself exists, so, too, if we dedicate the merit of any virtuous deed, it merges with the vast ocean of merit that endures until enlightenment.
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Prince Shōtoku, born Shotoku Taishi, aka Prince Umayado or Prince Kamitsumiya
Punish the evil and reward the good. This was the excellent rule of antiquity. Therefore do not hide the good qualities of others or fail to correct what is wrong when you see it. Flatterers and deceivers are a sharp weapon for the overthrow of the state, and a sharp sword for the destruction of the people. Men of this kind are never loyal to their lord, or to the people. All this is a source of serious civil disturbances.
Accomplishment | Day | Enough | Work |
Ban Zhao, courtesy name Huiban
The illness I suffer from is serious and persistent and my life may be over any day. Whenever I think about you, I become sad and depressed. In my leisure time I have written Precepts for My Daughters in seven chapters. My daughters, each of you make yourself a copy; perhaps it will be of some use and benefit to you. Do your very best once you have left home!
Birth | Day | Duty | Esteem | Labor | Play | Practice | Regard | Worship |
Ban Zhao, courtesy name Huiban
No woman who observes these three fundamentals of life has ever had a bad reputation or has fallen into disgrace. If a woman fail to observe them, how can her name be honored; how can she but bring disgrace upon herself?
Murasaki Shikibu, aka Lady Murasaki
No art or learning is to be pursued halfheartedly...and any art worth learning will certainly reward more or less generously the effort made to study it.
Day | Life | Life | Circumstance |
I have not been animated in my life to fight against race and sex discrimination simply because of my own identity. That would mean that one must be South African to fight apartheid, or a poor white in Appalachia to fight poverty, or Jewish to fight anti-Semitism. And I just reject that conception of how struggles should be waged.
Eldridge Cleaver, fully Leroy Eldridge Cleaver
I know that sometimes people fake on each other out of genuine motives to hold onto the object of their tenderest feelings. They see themselves as so inadequate that they feel forced to wear a mask in order to continuously impress the other. I do not want to "hold" you, I want you to "stay" out of your own need for me.
Elizabeth Bowen, Full name Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen
The dining-room was dark red, with a smoky ceiling, and Gerald said afterwards he had felt like a disease in a liver. When the blancmange came in it lay down with a sob and Miss Thompson frowned at it.
Elizabeth Bowen, Full name Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen
Emmeline’s world, that had hung shining throughout the week like a bubble on some divine breath, contracted suddenly to this room – staring, positive, full of shelves and tables – the scene of some terror from which she had lately fled.