This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.
There are good, God-fearing persons who still fall into certain faults, and it is better to bear with them than to be hard on them.
God | Haste | Important | Providence | Time | Will | Loss | God | Negotiation |
With God's help, you will continue to succeed in your leadership and in your duties, because Our Lord's work is accomplished not so much by the multitude of workers as by the fidelity of the small number whom He calls.
Providence | Truth | Following |
When designs are form'd to raze the very foundation of a free government, whose few who are to erect their grandeur and fortunes upon the general ruin, will employ every art to sooth the devoted people into a state of indolence, inattention and security, which is forever the fore-runner of slavery.
Ambition | Blessings | Heaven | Men | Providence | Purpose | Purpose | Ambition |
Simón Bolívar, fully Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Blanco
To do something right it must be done twice. The first time instructs the second.
Arthur Conan Doyle, fully Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
What the deuce is it to me?’ he interrupted impatiently: ‘you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.’
Character | Existence | Hope | Nothing | Past | Providence | Rest | Science |
Arthur Conan Doyle, fully Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
I do not know whether it came from his own innate depravity or from the promptings of his master, but he was rude enough to set a dog at me. Neither dog nor man liked the look of my stick, however, and the matter fell through. Relations were strained after that, and further inquiries out of the question.
Action | Good | Life | Life | Love | Providence | Will | Woman |
Thérèse de Lisieux, fully Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin NULL
Time is but a shadow, a dream; already God sees us in glory and takes joy in our eternal beatitude. How this thought helps my soul! I understand then why He lets us suffer...
Experience | Family | Glory | Joy | Knowing | Martyrs | Providence | Will | Happiness |
Jean Baptiste Lacordaire, fully Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire
The more you devote yourself in prayer the more you will do well in your work.
Jean Baptiste Lacordaire, fully Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire
The more loving you are to the young, the greater will be the effects of God’s grace.
Miracles | Providence |
Stendhal, pen name of Marie Henn Beyle or Marie-Henri Beyle NULL
I am mad, I am going under, I must follow the advice of a friend, and pay no heed to myself.
The being of a God is the guard of the world; the sense of a God is the foundation of civil order; without this there is no tie upon the consciences of men. What force would there be in oaths for the decision of controversies, what right could there be in appeals made to one that had no being? A city of atheists would be a heap of confusion; there could be no ground of any commerce, when all the sacred bonds of it in the consciences of men were snapt asunder, which are torn to pieces and utterly destroyed by denying the existence of God. What magistrate could be secure in his standing? What private person could be secure in his right? Can that, then, be a truth that is destructive of all public good?
Cause | Conscience | Evidence | Good | Justice | Man | Omniscience | Order | Providence | Witness | World |
Conscience is nothing but an actuated or reflex knowledge of a superior power and on equitable law; a law impressed, and a power above it impressing it. Conscience is not the lawgiver, but the remembrancer to mind us of that law of nature imprinted upon our souls, and actuate the considerations of the duty and penalty, to apply the rule to our acts, and pass judgment upon matter of fact: it is to give the charge, urge the rule, enjoin the practice of those notions of right, as part of our duty and obedience. But man is as much displeased with the directions of conscience, as he is out of love with the accusations and condemning sentence of this officer of God: we cannot naturally endure any quick and lively practical thoughts of God and his will, and distaste our own consciences for putting us in mind of it: they therefore like not to retain God in their knowledge; that is, God in their own consciences; they would blow it out, as it is the candle of the Lord in them to direct them and their acknowledgments of God, to secure themselves against the practice of its principles.
Glory | God | Light | Power | Providence | Reason | Regard | Wisdom | God | Understand |
God is a Spirit infinitely happy, therefore we must approach to him with cheerfulness; he is a Spirit of infinite majesty, therefore we must come before him with reverence; he is a Spirit infinitely holy, therefore we must address him with purity; he is a Spirit infinitely glorious, we must therefore acknowledge his excellency in all that we do, and in our measures contribute to his glory, by having the highest aims in his worship; he is a Spirit infinitely provoked by us, therefore we must offer up our worship in the name of a pacifying Mediator and Intercessor.
Age | Church | Compassion | Little | Men | People | Pity | Power | Providence | Security | World |
Now listen a while, and I will tell, Of the Gelding of the Devil of Hell; And Dick the Baker of Mansfield Town, To Manchester Market he was bound, And under a Grove of Willows clear, This Baker rid on with a merry Cheer: Beneath the Willows there was a Hill, And there he met the Devil of Hell. Baker, quoth the Devil, tell me that, How came thy Horse so fair and fat? In troth, quoth the Baker, and by my fay, Because his Stones were cut away: For he that will have a Gelding free, Both fair and lusty he must be: Oh! quoth the Devil, and saist thou so, Thou shalt geld me before thou dost go. Go tie thy Horse unto a Tree, And with thy Knife come and geld me; The Baker had a Knife of Iron and Steel, With which he gelded the Devil of Hell, It was sharp pointed for the nonce, Fit for to cut any manner of Stones: The Baker being lighted from his Horse, Cut the Devil's Stones from his Arse. Oh! quoth the Devil, beshrow thy Heart, Thou dost not feel how I do smart; For gelding of me thou art not quit, For I mean to geld thee this same Day seven-night. The Baker hearing the Words he said, Within his Heart was sore afraid, He hied him to the next Market Town, To sell his Bread both white and brown. And when the Market was done that Day, The Baker went home another way, Unto his Wife he then did tell, How he had gelded the Devil of Hell: Nay, a wondrous Word I heard him say, He would geld me the next Market Day; Therefore Wife I stand in doubt, I'd rather, quoth she, thy Knaves Eyes were out. I'd rather thou should break thy Neck-bone Than for to lose any manner of Stone, For why, 'twill be a loathsome thing, When every Woman shall call thee Gelding Thus they continu'd both in Fear, Until the next Market Day drew near; Well, quoth the good Wife, well I wot, Go fetch me thy Doublet and thy Coat. Thy Hose, thy Shoon and Cap also, And I like a Man to the Market will go; Then up she got her all in hast, With all her Bread upon her Beast: And when she came to the Hill side, There she saw two Devils abide, A little Devil and another, Lay playing under the Hill side together. Oh! quoth the Devil, without any fain, Yonder comes the Baker again; Beest thou well Baker, or beest thou woe, I mean to geld thee before thou dost go: These were the Words the Woman did say, Good Sir, I was gelded but Yesterday; Oh! quoth the Devil, that I will see, And he pluckt her Cloaths above her Knee. And looking upwards from the Ground, There he spied a grievous Wound: Oh! (quoth the Devil) what might he be? For he was not cunning that gelded thee, For when he had cut away the Stones clean, He should have sowed up the Hole again; He called the little Devil to him anon, And bid him look to that same Man. Whilst he went into some private place, To fetch some Salve in a little space; The great Devil was gone but a little way, But upon her Belly there crept a Flea: The little Devil he soon espy'd that, He up with his Paw and gave her a pat: With that the Woman began to start, And out she thrust a most horrible Fart. Whoop! whoop! quoth the little Devil, come again I pray, For here's another hole broke, by my fay; The great Devil he came running in hast, Wherein his Heart was sore aghast: Fough, quoth the Devil, thou art not sound, Thou stinkest so sore above the Ground, Thy Life Days sure cannot be long, Thy Breath it fumes so wond'rous strong. The Hole is cut so near the Bone, There is no Salve can stick thereon, And therefore, Baker, I stand in doubt, That all thy Bowels will fall out; Therefore Baker, hie thee away, And in this place no longer stay.
One of the most essential preparations for eternity is delight in praising God; a higher acquirement, I do think, than even delight and devotedness in prayer.
Energy | Greatness | History | Individual | Peculiarity | Providence | Think |
Whosoever persuadeth by reasoning from principles written, maketh him to whom he speaketh judge, both of the meaning of those principles and also of the force of his inferences upon them.
Existence | Men | Providence | Will |