This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Idolatry is the denial of all hope for the future. The idols of the past were worshipped by people who were afraid of change, who wanted things to remain the same, who did not want a future that was different, who found their security in the status quo. The same is true today.
Change | Future | Hope | Past | People | Security | Afraid |
Yves Congar, fully Yves Marie-Joseph Congar
Congreve, William Congreve - Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing and the overtaking and possessing of a wish, discovers the folly of the chase.
Expectation | Folly | Life | Life | Security | Uncertainty | Expectation |
The history of mankind is crowded with evidences proving that physical coercion is not adapted to moral regeneration; that the sinful dispositions of men can be subdued only by love; that evil can be exterminated from the earth only by goodness… that there is great security in being gentle, harmless, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy; that it is only the meek who shall inherit the earth, for the violent, who resort to the sword, are destined to perish with the sword.
Coercion | Earth | Evil | History | Love | Mankind | Men | Mercy | Security | Suffering |
Erich Fromm, fully Erich Seligmann Fromm
It is the emancipation from the security of Paradise which is the basis for man’s truly human development.
The only security that man has ever had has been in the warm enfoldment of the natural and social environment.
Ted Kennedy, fully Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy
[Power] waxes in secrecy and wanes in bright light.
Lao Tzu, ne Li Urh, also Laotse, Lao Tse, Lao Tse, Lao Zi, Laozi, Lao Zi, La-tsze
Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. It’s the only path to serenity.
Care | Heart | Money | People | Security | Serenity | Will | Work | Approval |
The art of crisis management, now widely acknowledged to be the essence of statecraft, owes its vogue to the merger of politics and spectacle. Propaganda seeks to create in the public a chronic sense of crisis, which in turn justifies the expansion of executive power and the secrecy surrounding it.
Art | Politics | Power | Public | Secrecy | Sense | Art | Crisis | Propaganda |
That government is or ought to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community; of all the various modes and forms of government, that is best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of mal-administration, and that whenever any government shall be found inadequate, or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the weal.
Administration | Danger | Government | Majority | People | Reform | Right | Security | Government | Danger | Happiness |
There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity.
Earth | Opportunity | Security |
The degradation of our society today stems mainly from the lack of awareness of what is within us. Being ignorant of our true nature, we seek external solutions to the problems rooted within. In our search for security and prosperity we have abandoned ourselves and are constantly drifting away from human values and virtues.
Awareness | Nature | Problems | Prosperity | Search | Security | Society | Society | Awareness |
John Whitmore, fully Sir John Whitmore
All instruction, all criticism, every reduction in choice, every manifestation of hierarchy, every act of secrecy subtly lowers people’s self-belief. Coaching, trust, openness, respect, authentic praise, freedom of choice and, of course, success raise it.
Belief | Choice | Criticism | Freedom | Openness | People | Praise | Respect | Secrecy | Self | Success | Trust |
Damon Keith, fully Damon Jerome Keith
A government operating in the shadow of secrecy stands in complete opposition to the society envisioned by the framers of our Constitution.
Government | Opposition | Secrecy | Society | Society | Government |
Adulthood offered two basic choices: either to help life in its wildness and unfolding, or to resist life by choosing security and routine.