This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
We distrust our heart too much, and our head not enough.
Maltbie Babcock, fully Maltbie Davenport Babcock
Lord, let me make this rule to think of life as school, and try my best to stand each test, and do my work and nothing shirk. Should someone else outshine this dullard head of mine, should I be sad? I will be glad. To do my best is Thy behest. Some day the bell will sound, some day my heart will bound, as that with a shout, that school is out and lessons done, I homeward run.
Day | Heart | Life | Life | Lord | Nothing | Rule | Sound | Will | Work | Think |
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, born Mahesh Prasad Varma
The meaning of life is rooted in each person’s search for happiness. Happiness is not something one has to go anywhere to find: The nature of life is happiness. Life knows this about itself, not through analysis or investigation but simply by virtue of being.
Life | Life | Meaning | Nature | Search | Virtue | Virtue | Happiness |
Cicero, fully Marcus Tullius Cicero, anglicized as Tully NULL
We should not be so taken up in the search for truth, as to neglect the needful duties of active life; for it is only action that gives a true value and commendation to virtue.
Action | Life | Life | Neglect | Search | Truth | Virtue | Virtue | Value |
Cicero, fully Marcus Tullius Cicero, anglicized as Tully NULL
The search after truth is peculiar to man.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
No matter how much we strive to understand, ultimate reality will always remain hidden? Only if the search for truth is motivated by the desire to reach an absolute answer. The person looking for certainty is bound to be disappointed... If on the other hand we realize that the partial truths we uncover are all legitimate aspects of the unknowable universe, then we can learn to enjoy the search and derive from it the pleasure one gets from any creative act... One must painstakingly match one’s preconceptions against actual, ongoing experience to begin separating truth from illusion.
Absolute | Desire | Experience | Illusion | Pleasure | Reality | Search | Truth | Universe | Will | Learn | Truths |
Norman Lear, fully Norman Milton Lear
The desire to lead a more purposeful life, to search for ultimate meanings, is a central theme of human experience... This spiritual urge is undeniable. From the beginning of human history, we have been embarked on a search for transcendent meaning.
Beginning | Desire | Experience | History | Life | Life | Meaning | Search |
Octavio Paz, born Octavio Paz Lozano
Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone, and the only one who seeks out another. His nature -if that word can be used in reference to man, who has ‘invented’ himself by saying ‘no’ to nature- consists in his longing to realize himself in another. Man is nostalgia and a search for communion. Therefore, when he is aware of himself he is aware of his lack of another, that is, of his solitude.
Paul Tillich, fully Paul Johannes Tillich
Philosophy is the continuing search for life’s meaning.
Life | Life | Meaning | Philosophy | Search |
No heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.
The whole of man’s life on the face of Earth can be summed up by that search for his Soul Mate. He may pretend to be running after wisdom, money, or power, but none of that matter. Whatever he achieves will be incomplete if he fails to find his Soul Mate.
Earth | Life | Life | Man | Money | Power | Search | Soul | Will | Wisdom |
You are not a human being in search of a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being immersed in a human experience.
Experience | Search |
A person may sometimes have a clear conscience simply because his head is empty.