This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Mary Kay Ash, fully Mary Kathlyn Wagner Ash
Courage is having the strength and the vision to make a commitment in life, then standing by that commitment simply because you know it's the right decision.
Commitment | Right | Strength | Vision |
The world of sight is still limitless. It is the artist who limits vision to the cramped dimensions of his own ego.
What would it be like to have not only color vision but culture vision, the ability to see the multiple worlds of others.
Mary Kay Ash, fully Mary Kathlyn Wagner Ash
When children know their mothers believe in them, they develop self-confidence. On the other hand, if a parent repeatedly tells a child that he's shy, he's stupid, he's mean or he's going to grow up to be a bank robber, he'll probably develop that quality or bring that vision to pass.
The ''self-image'' is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behavior.
Change | Personality | Self |
Max DePree, alternatively De Pree or Depree
We can teach ourselves to see things the way they ARE. Only with vision can we begin to see things the way they CAN BE.
[Gratitude] turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity...it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
We need to build millions of little moments of caring on an individual level. Indeed, as talk of a politics of meaning becomes more widespread, many people will feel it easier to publicly acknowledge their own spiritual and ethical aspirations and will allow themselves to give more space to their highest vision in their personal interactions with others. A politics of meaning is as much about these millions of small acts as it is about any larger change. The two necessarily go hand in hand.
Individual | Little | Meaning | Need | People | Politics | Space | Vision | Will |
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
Perhaps the most distinguishing trait of visionary leaders is that they believe in a goal that benefits not only themselves, but others as well. It is such vision that attracts the psychic energy of other people, and makes them willing to work beyond the call of duty for the organization.
Miguel de Unamuno, fully Miguel de Unamuno y Jogo
Your neighbor's vision is as true for him as your own vision is true for you.
Vision |
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
A leader will find it difficult to articulate a coherent vision unless it expresses his core values, his basic identity...one must first embark on the formidable journey of self-discovery in order to create a vision with authentic soul.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
The names we use to describe personality traits - such as extrovert, high achiever, or paranoid - refer to the specific patterns people have used to structure their attention. At the same party, the extrovert will seek out and enjoy interactions with others, the high achiever will look for useful business conacts, and the paranoid will be on guard for signs of danger he must avoid. Attention can be invested in innumerable ways, ways that can make life eihther rich or miserable.
Attention | Business | Danger | Life | Life | People | Personality | Will | Danger | Business |
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
A paycheck is a sufficient impetus to motivate some employees to do the minimum amount to get by, and for others, the challenge of getting ahead in the organization provides a satisfactory focus for a while. But these incentives alone are rarely strong enough to inspire workers to give their best to their work. For this a vision is needed, an overarching goal that gives meaning to the job, so that an individual can forget himself in the task and experience flow without doubts or regrets. The most important component of such a vision is an ingredient we call soul.
Challenge | Enough | Experience | Focus | Important | Individual | Meaning | Organization | Vision |
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
Business leaders cannot begin to foster a climate of positive order if their sole concern is making a profit. They must also have a vision that gives life meaning, that offers people hope for their own future and those of their children.
Milton Friedman, fully John Milton Friedman
Every friend of freedom must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence.
Mohamed Iqbal or Sir Muhammad Iqbal, aka Allama Iqbal
To the mystic, the mystic state is a moment of intimate association with a Unique Other Self, transcending, encompassing, and momentarily suppressing the private personality of the subject of experience.
Association | Personality | Unique | Association |
Mohamed Iqbal or Sir Muhammad Iqbal, aka Allama Iqbal
The one grasp Reality piecemeal, the other grasps it in its wholeness. The one fixes its gaze on the eternal the other on the temporal aspect of Reality. The one is present enjoyment of the whole of Reality; the other aims at traversing the whole by slowly specifying and closing up the various regions of the whole for exclusive observation. Both are in need of each other for mutual rejuvenation. Both seek vision of the same reality, which reveals itself to them in accordance to the function of life. In fact, intuition, as Bergson rightly says, is only a higher kind of intellect.
Aims | Enjoyment | Eternal | Need | Present | Reality | Vision |
Moshe Chayim Luzzatto, also Moses Hayyim Luzzato, known by Hebrew acronym RaMCHal
The foundation of righteousness and the root of perfection in the service of G-d lies in a man's coming to see clearly and to recognize as a truth the nature of his duty in the world and the end towards which he should direct his vision and his aspiration in all of his labors all the days of his life
Aspiration | Duty | Nature | Perfection | Righteousness | Service | Truth | Vision | World | Aspiration |
Mohamed Iqbal or Sir Muhammad Iqbal, aka Allama Iqbal
But the kind of knowledge that poetic inspiration brings is essentially individual in its character; it is figurative, vague, and indefinite. Religion, in its more advanced forms, rises higher than poetry. It moves from individual to society. In its attitude towards the ultimate reality it is opposed to the limitations of man; it enlarges his claims and holds out the prospect of nothing less than a direct vision of Reality. Is it then possible to apply the purely rational method of philosophy to religion?
Individual | Inspiration | Knowledge | Method | Nothing | Philosophy | Reality | Vision |
Mohamed Iqbal or Sir Muhammad Iqbal, aka Allama Iqbal
Vision without power does bring moral elevation but cannot give a lasting culture. Power without vision tends to become destructive and inhuman. Both must combine for the spiritual expansion of humanity.