This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Virgil, also Vergil, fully Publius Vergilius Maro NULL
The food is awful, it's too cold, and every time you ask somebody anything, the answer is the same: 'We're working on it,'
Fear |
Vernon Howard, fully Vernon Linwood Howard
Have the daring to stop doing the things you really don’t want to do. Can you see them? Look closely. Can you observe the many things you do because you reluctantly feel you should or must? Watch closely. Examine every action and reaction. Do you act naturally or do you act because you feel compelled? If you feel compelled, stop. Compulsion is slavery. Example: Refuse to go along with the crowd.
Fear |
Vernon Howard, fully Vernon Linwood Howard
Make every appearance of discomfort your signal for winning insight into it.
Virgil, also Vergil, fully Publius Vergilius Maro NULL
Whatever may be the issue we shall share one common danger, one safety.
Fear |
Virgil, also Vergil, fully Publius Vergilius Maro NULL
I have known sorrow and learned to aid the wretched.
Fear |
Vernon Howard, fully Vernon Linwood Howard
You can either think about yourself or you can study yourself. The difference between the two is the difference between chains and liberty.
Excitement | Fear | Inspiration | Mind | Nothing | World |
Vernon Howard, fully Vernon Linwood Howard
You must see how violently you fight your own salvation.
Fear |
Vernon Howard, fully Vernon Linwood Howard
The wise person replaces toys with medicines.
All those places that we no longer see, which perhaps we shall never see again, but whose image we have preserved, assume a painful charm, return to us with the sadness of a ghost.
He as the bird perched for an instant on the too frail branch which she feels bending beneath, but sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
Seen from this point of view, the mental reactions of the inmates of a concentration camp must seem more to us than the mere expression of certain physical and sociological conditions. Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him--mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp. Dostoevski said once, 'There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.' These words frequently came to my mind after I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost. It can be said that they were worthy of their sufferings; the way they bore their suffering was a genuine inner achievement. It is this spiritual freedom--which cannot be taken away--that makes life meaningful and purposeful.
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
Is this to say that suffering is indispensable to the discovery of meaning? In no way. I only insist meaning is available in spite of--nay, even through suffering, provided . . . that the suffering is unavoidable. If it is avoidable, the meaningful thing to do is to remove its cause, for unnecessary suffering is masochistic rather than heroic. If, on the other hand, one cannot change a situation that causes his suffering, he can still choose his attitude. Long had not . . . chosen to break his neck, but he did decide not to let himself be broken by what had happened to him.
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
The death rate in the week between Christmas, 1944, and New Year’s, 1945, increased in camp beyond all previous experience. In his opinion, the explanation for this increase did not lie in the harder working conditions or the deterioration of our food supplies or a change of wealth or new epidemics. It was simply that the majority of the prisoners had lived in the naive hope that they would be home again by Christmas. As the time drew near and there was no encouraging news, the prisoners lost courage and disappointment overcame them. This had a dangerous influence on their powers of resistance and a great number of them died.
Experience | Fear | Need | Nothing |
As women break reeds for a mattress with a stone, thus do I break thy member.
Fear |
One, who wishes well of others and works for their welfare, quite naturally becomes the ruler of the masses.
Man is, they say, a monkey that has lost its tail; well, he must lose many more attributes of the monkey before he is entitled to call himself Man. He must dedicate his thought, word and deed to God and surrender to His Will. Then only is this animal entitled to become a Man in whom the Divine is enshrined.
Through this oblation, that causes prosperity, may this man flourish anew; may he excel the wife that they have brought to him with his sap.
They shall guard thee, they shall protect thee. Reverence be to them. Hail be to them.
Fear |