This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Robert Bellarmine, fully Saint Robert Bellarmine
An ounce of peace is worth more than a pound of victory.
All true prayer is worship – the ascription of worth to the Eternal. Without adoration, thanksgiving may become a miserliness, petition a selfish clamor, intercession a currying of special favors for our friends, and even contemplation may turn into a refined indulgence.
Contemplation | Eternal | Indulgence | Prayer | Worship | Worth | Contemplation |
The essence of the Jewish concept of life seems to me to be the affirmation of life for all creatures. For the life of the individual has meaning only in the service of enhancing and ennobling the life of every living thing. Life is holy; i.e., it is the highest worth on which all other values depend.
To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else.
Worth |
Mahatma Gandhi, fully Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, aka Bapu
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes [err].
Life without commitment is not worth living.
Commitment | Life | Life | Worth |
Mohamed Iqbal or Sir Muhammad Iqbal, aka Allama Iqbal
Prayer is an expression of man’s inner yearning for a response in the awful silence of the universe. It is a unique process of discovery whereby the searching ego affirms itself in the very moment of self-negation, and thus discovers its own worth and justification as a dynamic factor in the life of the universe.
Discovery | Dynamic | Ego | Justification | Life | Life | Man | Prayer | Self | Silence | Unique | Universe | Worth | Discovery |
The ultimate grounding of obligation, and finally of all morality, is a single but universal relationship between each and all… a sense of duty grounded in the recognition of the intrinsic worth of persons.
Duty | Morality | Obligation | Relationship | Sense | Worth |
A religion would not be worth my adherence if I could live up to it perfectly.
The joy and meaning of life is enhanced through increased self-realization, through the fulfillment of each being’s potential. Whatever the differences between beings, increased self-realization implies broadening and deepening of the self… Part of the joy stems from the consciousness of our intimate relation to something bigger than our own ego, something which has endured for millions of years and is worth continued life for millions of years.
Consciousness | Ego | Fulfillment | Joy | Life | Life | Meaning | Self | Self-realization | Worth |