This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.
He who does not know how to serve his fellow man, wants to rule him. Looks like what is going on right now. He also says we should always support the minority, even if that minority is 1. That the majority is often wrong, and we should then protect the one that majority "goes after.
A Course In Miracles, aka ACIM
Love will immediately enter into any mind that truly wants it.
Lou Holtz, fully Louis Leo "Lou" Holtz
There are only three things you can do when you have a problem with somebody. Change him, accept him, or divorce yourself from him.
Change |
Madame Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvières de la Mothe Guyon
The more wants we have, the further we are from God, and the nearer we approach him, the better can we dispense with everything that is not Himself.
Ludwig von Mises, fully Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises
It is irrelevant to the entrepreneur, as the servant of the consumers, whether the wishes and wants of the consumers are wise or unwise, moral or immoral. He produces what the consumers want. In this sense he is amoral. He manufactures whiskey and guns just as he produces food and clothing. It is not his task to teach reason to the sovereign consumers. Should one entrepreneur, for ethical reasons of his own, refuse to manufacture whiskey, other entrepreneurs would do so as long as whiskey is wanted and bought. It is not because we have distilleries that people drink whiskey; it is because people like to drink whiskey that we have distilleries. One may deplore this. But it is not up to the entrepreneurs to improve mankind morally. And they are not to be blamed if those whose duty this is have failed to do so.
Duty | Mankind | People | Reason | Sense | Teach | Wants | Wise | Wishes |
Ludwig Feuerbach, fully Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach
But like the desire for eternal life, the desire for omniscience and absolute perfection is merely an imaginary desire; and, as history and daily experience prove, the supposed human striving for unlimited knowledge and perfection is a myth. Man has no desire to know everything; he only wants to know the things to which he is particularly drawn.
Absolute | Desire | Eternal | Experience | History | Knowledge | Man | Omniscience | Perfection | Wants |
Ludwig Feuerbach, fully Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach
Man has many wishes that he does not really wish to fulfil, and it would be a misunderstanding to suppose the contrary. He wants them to remain wishes, they have value only in his imagination; their fulfilment would be a bitter disappointment to him. Such a desire is the desire for eternal life. If it were fulfilled, man would become thoroughly sick of living eternally, and yearn for death. In reality man wishes merely to avoid a premature, violent or gruesome death. Everything has its measure, says a pagan philosopher; in the end we weary of everything, even of life; a time comes when man desires death. Consequently there is nothing frightening about a normal, natural death, the death of a man who has fulfilled himself and lived out his life.
Death | Desire | Eternal | Man | Nothing | Reality | Time | Wants | Wishes | Value |
Mark Twain, pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens
A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
Wants |
Nothing in man is more serious than his sense of humor; it is the sign that he wants all the truth.
Mary Kay Ash, fully Mary Kathlyn Wagner Ash
Faith is wanting something with all your heart. Faith is taking a chance on something before you are sure how everything will work out. Almost anything can be accomplished by the person who really wants to succeed. But no woman will ever believe she can move a mountain unless she really wants that mountain to move. Apply this definition of faith to your dreams.
God has invited us to participate in His work here on earth. Though He could do it without us, He has chosen not to. He wants our help. He longs for our participation.
God doesn’t want us because of what we have to offer him; he wants us because he has everything to offer us. God doesn’t want you because you have certain gifts to offer. He wants to give you gifts so that you then can offer them to other people.
You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.
Maximilien Robespierre, fully Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre
Terror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country.
Wants |
I used to spend so much time reacting and responding to everyone else that my life had no direction. Other people's lives, problems, and wants set the course for my life. Once I realized it was okay for me to think about and identify what I wanted, remarkable things began to take place in my life.
Meher Baba, born Merwan Sheriar Irani
Say, "I do not want any-thing," and be happy. The continuous realization of the futility of wants will eventually lead you to Knowledge. This Self-knowledge will give you the freedom from wants to the road to abiding happiness.
Freedom | Self-knowledge | Wants | Will |