This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
The institutions of a country depend in great measure on the nature of its soil and situation. Many of the wants of man are awakened or supplied by these circumstances. To these wants, manners, laws, and religion must shape and accommodate themselves. The division of land, and the rights attached to it, alter with the soil; the laws relating to its produce, with its fertility. The manners of its inhabitants are in various ways modified by its position. The religion of a miner is not the same as the faith of a shepherd, nor is the character of the ploughman so war-like as that of the hunter. The observant legislator follows the direction of all these various circumstances. the knowledge of the natural advantages or defects of a country thus form an essential part of political science and history.
Character | Circumstances | Defects | Faith | History | Knowledge | Land | Man | Manners | Nature | Position | Religion | Rights | Science | Wants | War | Wisdom |
The light of genius is sometimes so resplendent as to make a man walk through life, amid glory and acclamation; but it burns very dimly and low when carried into “the valley of the shadow of death.” But faith is like the evening star, shining into our souls the more brightly, the deeper is the night of death in which they sink.
Death | Faith | Genius | Glory | Life | Life | Light | Man | Wisdom |
Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
The Christian faith is a sacrifice: a sacrifice of all freedom, all pride, all self-confidence of the spirit; at the same time, enslavement and self-mockery, self-mutilation.
Confidence | Faith | Freedom | Mockery | Pride | Sacrifice | Self | Self-confidence | Spirit | Time | Wisdom |
Paramananda, fully Swami Paramananda, born Suresh Chandra Guha-Thakurta NULL
A man's happiness requires a great deal more than any material thing. We all find it out sooner or later. If we live our lives thoughtlessly, we defeat our purpose; because our faith in God becomes shattered and there is no greater loss.
Defeat | Faith | God | Man | Purpose | Purpose | Wisdom | God | Happiness |
Paramananda, fully Swami Paramananda, born Suresh Chandra Guha-Thakurta NULL
Have faith in your immortal nature. Know that you are Spirit. Those who think they are limited and mortal, that they are born and that they die, are superstitious. Anything that is weakening, anything that is degenerating, anything that tells us that we are limited human beings is a terrible superstition. By all the means in our power we must overcome it. Let us tear aside this veil of superstition, recognize our true nature, and know that we are eternal, imperishable and immortal.
Eternal | Faith | Means | Mortal | Nature | Power | Spirit | Superstition | Wisdom | Think |
Paramananda, fully Swami Paramananda, born Suresh Chandra Guha-Thakurta NULL
One cannot have faith without optimism. Faith and hope are inseparable. Depression is a great obstacle in the spiritual life and we must strive to conquer it... Cheerfulness is one of the essential spiritual qualities we must guard ourselves against dejection, self-denunciation, or even feeling a little down-hearted... Dejection invariably distorts our vision - it magnifies our troubles.
Cheerfulness | Dejection | Depression | Faith | Hope | Life | Life | Little | Optimism | Qualities | Self | Troubles | Vision | Wisdom | Obstacle |
When the American poor turn to religion, as most of them do, they turn not to faith in revolution, but to a more radical revolt against faith in their fellow man.
Faith | Man | Religion | Revolution | Wisdom |