This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
A philosopher, who purposes only to represent the common sense of mankind in more beautiful and more engaging colors, if by accident he falls into error, goes not farther; but renewing his appeal to common sense, and the natural sentiments of the; mind, returns into the right path, and secures himself from any dangerous illusions.
Accident | Common Sense | Error | Mankind | Mind | Right | Sense | Wisdom |
Robert Hillyer, fully Robert Silliman Hillyer
Perfectionism is a dangerous state of mind in an imperfect world. The best way is to forget doubts and set about the task at hand... If you are doing your best, you will not have time to worry about failure.
Of law there can be no less acknowledged than that her seat is thy bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world; all things do her homage, the very least as feeling her care; and the greatest as not exempted from her power; both angels and men, and creatures of what condition soever, though each in different sort and manner, yet all with uniform consent admiring her as the mother of their peace and joy.
Angels | Care | God | Harmony | Joy | Law | Men | Mother | Peace | Power | Wisdom | World |
Men may be linked by friendship. Nations are linked only by interests.
Hubert Humphrey, fully Hubert Horatio Humphrey
The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
Emil G. Hirsch, fully Emil Gustav Hirsch
Wherever the right of property clashes with a duty toward humanity, the former has not credentials that are entitled to consideration.
Consideration | Duty | Humanity | Property | Right | Wisdom |
Robert H. Jackson, fully Robert Houghwout Jackson
Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.
Richard and Mary-Alice Jafolla
No time exists other than now... So now is all you have and all you ever will have... Why not begin doing the best you can right where you are?... Trust the process of growth. Trust God. Pay attention to the details of your life, doing your very best with each challenge that presents itself... The past is the raw material of the present, but the past is not a blueprint for the present... Begin where you are. Do what you can. Even a small effort to change, to grow, to improve, will bring astonishing results... You can choose to build on what you were, but you are not what you were. You can focus on what you will be, but you are not what you will be. What you are is what you are right now - the inheritor of all of God’s gifts.
Attention | Challenge | Change | Effort | Focus | God | Growth | Life | Life | Past | Present | Right | Time | Trust | Will | Wisdom |
John F. Kennedy, fully John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy
The state is the servant of the citizen, and not his master.
Wisdom |