This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
False modesty is the masterpiece of vanity: showing the vain man in such an illusory light that he appears in the reputation of the virtue quite opposite to the vice which constitutes his real character; it is a deceit.
Character | Deceit | Light | Man | Modesty | Reputation | Virtue | Virtue | Vice |
The essence of justice is mercy. Making a child suffer for wrong-doing is merciful to the child. There is no mercy in letting a child have its own will, plunging headlong to destruction wit the bits in its mouth. There is no mercy to society nor to the criminal if the wrong is not repressed and the right vindicated. We injure the culprit who comes up to take his proper doom at the bar of justice, if we do not make him feel that he has done a wrong thing. We may deliver his body from the prison, but not at the expense of justice nor to his own injury.
Body | Character | Justice | Mercy | Prison | Right | Society | Will | Wit | Wrong | Society | Child |
Write your name in kindness, love, and mercy on the hearts of thousands you come in contact with year by year, and you will never be forgotten. Your name and your good deeds will shine as the stars of heaven.
Character | Deeds | Good | Heaven | Kindness | Love | Mercy | Will | Deeds |
There are three kinds of silence. Silence from words is good, because inordinate speaking tends to evil. Silence, or rest from desires and passions is still better, because it promotes quietness of spirit. But the best of all is silence from unnecessary and wandering thoughts, because that is essential to internal recollection, and because it lays a foundation for a proper reputation and for silence in other respects.
Better | Character | Evil | Good | Reputation | Rest | Silence | Spirit | Words |
Character lives in a man, reputation outside of him.
Character | Man | Reputation |
A man’s Self is the sum-total of all that he can call his, not only his body, and his psychic powers, but this clothes and his house, his wife and children, his ancestors and friends, his reputation and works, his land and horse and yacht and bank account.
Body | Character | Children | Land | Man | Reputation | Self | Wife |
Patience is the guardian of faith, the preserver of peace, the cherisher of love, the teacher of humility; patience, governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, subdues the hand, tramples upon temptation, endures persecutions, consummates martyrdom; patience produces unity in the church, loyalty in the state, harmony in families and societies; she comforts the poor and moderates the rich; she makes us humble in prosperity, cheerful in adversity, unmoved by calumny and reproach; she teaches us to forgive those who have injured us, and to be the first in asking forgiveness of those whom we have injured; she delights the faithful, and invites the unbelieving; she adorns the woman, and approves the man; is loved in a child, praised in a young man, admired in an old man; she is beautiful in either sex and every age.
Adversity | Age | Anger | Calumny | Character | Church | Envy | Faith | Forgiveness | Harmony | Humility | Love | Loyalty | Loyalty | Man | Patience | Peace | Prosperity | Spirit | Temper | Temptation | Unity | Woman | Forgiveness | Forgive | Old | Teacher |
The only time you have a reputation is when you're not living up to it.
Character | Reputation | Time |
It is a wretched thing to lean on the reputation of others, lest the pillars being withdrawn the roof should fall in ruins.
Character | Reputation |
War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
Character | Day | Reputation | War | Will |
A just person knows how to secure his own reputation without blemishing another’s by exposing his faults.
Character | Reputation |
When a man has once forfeited the reputation of his integrity, he is set fast, and nothing will then serve his turn, neither truth nor falsehood.
Character | Falsehood | Integrity | Man | Nothing | Reputation | Truth | Will |
Character is made by what you stand for; reputation by what you fall for.
Character | Reputation |
A reputation for a thousand years may depend upon the conduct of a single moment.
Conduct | Reputation | Wisdom |