This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
His tawny beard was thÂ’ equal grace both of his wisdom and his face; in cut and dye so like a tile, a sudden view it would beguile; the upper part thereof was whey, the nether, orange mixt with gray.
When you have gained a victory, do not push it too far; 'tis sufficient to let the company and your adversary see 'tis in your power but that you are too generous to make use of it.
Do not mistake the rule of force for true power. Men are not shaped by force.
I fell, giving the arm at least a million stairs | and now you're not there is a vacuum at each step .
Indifference | Lord |
I loathe a friend ... who takes his friend's prosperity but will not voyage with him in his grief.
When a man's stomach is full it makes no difference whether he is rich or poor.
Avoid disputes as much as possible. In order to appear easy and well-bred in conversation, you may assure yourself that it requires more wit, as well as more good humour, to improve than to contradict the notions of another: but if you are at any time obliged to enter on an argument, give your reasons with the utmost coolness and modesty, two things which scarce ever fail of making an impression on the hearers. Besides, if you are neither dogmatical, nor show either by your actions or words that you are full of yourself, all will the more heartily rejoice at your victory. Nay, should you be pinched in your argument, you may make your retreat with a very good grace. You were never positive, and are now glad to be better informed. This has made some approve the Socratic way of reasoning, where, while you scarce affirm anything, you can hardly be caught in an absurdity; and though possibly you are endeavouring to bring over another to your opinion, which is firmly fixed, you seem only to desire information from him.
A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today - and in fact we have forgotten.
Man |
Joint undertakings stand a better chance when they benefit both sides.
Knowledge is not wisdom: cleverness is not, not without awareness of our death, not without recalling just how brief our flare is. He who overreaches will, in his overreaching, lose what he possesses, betray what he has now. That which is beyond us, which is greater than the human, the unattainably great, is for the mad, or for those who listen to the mad, and then believe them.
At the inner circle of the disciples and friends of the Cross - composed mostly of men representing the official culture (school, universities, academies) I never belonged. But instead, I breathed the air of other environments where the teaching of the Cross had penetrated inland perhaps indirect.
True poetry is similar to certain pictures whose owner is unknown and which only a few initiated people know.
Hast thou ice that thou shalt bind it to thy breast, and make thee dead to thy children, to thine own spirit's pain? When the hand knows what it dares, when thine eyes look into theirs, shalt thou keep by tears unblended thy dividing of the slain? These be deeds Not for thee: these be things that cannot be!
Man |
When a wise man chooses a sane basis for his arguments, it is no great task to speak well.