This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Bawa Mahaiyadden, fully Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
My children, Allah's greetings of peace and supplications, His salams and salawats, resonate there in that water of divine knowledge. There you will find His representatives, His prophets, His olis, qutbs, auliya' and all those who know Him. Every second, every minute, they are praying and resonating with that beauty of Allah. Whoever falls into this water of divine knowledge will keep changing, until the taste of Allah is within him and he becomes the beauty of Allah.
Muhammed al-Taqī or Muhammad al-Jawād, given name Muhammad ibn ‘Alī ibn Mūsā
The lapse of time uncovers hidden secrets.
Time |
Nachman of Breslov, aka Reb Nachman Breslover or Bratslav, Nachman from Uman NULL
It is a great thing for a person to still have an evil inclination because then he is able to serve Hashem with the evil inclination itself. That is, to take all of the fire in his heart and channel it towards service of Hashem. For example, to pray with fiery passion of the heart, etc. For, if there is no evil inclination in a person his service cannot be complete.
Evil | Heart | Inclination | Passion | Service |
In this hidden world of cause-and-effect, the environmental movement and the public stand at a crossroads. Is growth a product of “consumerism” — the most socially acceptable and socially neutral explanation that we usually encounter in discussions of environmental deterioration? Or does growth occur because of the nature of production for a market economy? To a certain extent, we can say. both. But the overall reality of a market economy is that consumer demand for a new product rarely occurs spontaneously, nor is its consumption guided purely by personal considerations.
Public concern for the environment cannot be addressed by placing the blame on growth without spelling out the causes of growth. Nor can an explanation be exhausted by citing “consumerism” while ignoring the sinister role played by rival producers in shaping public taste and guiding public purchasing power. Aside from the costs involved, most people quite rightly do not want to “live simply.” They do not want to diminish their freedom to travel or their access to culture, or to scale down needs that often serve to enrich human personality and sensitivity.
Blame | Freedom | Growth | People | Personality | Public | Taste |
Nāgārjuna, fully Acharya Nāgārjuna NULL
The fire which burned the forest Became the companion of the wind. But just as the wind extinguished the fire, the weak man loses his friends.
Man |
In the context of this more mature discourse, the Valdez oil spill is no longer seen as an Alaskan matter, an “episode” in the geography of pollution. Rather it is recognized as a social act that raises such “accidents” to the level of systemic problems-rooted not in consumerism, technological advance, and population growth but in an irrational system of production, an abuse of technology by a grow-or-die economy, and the demographics of poverty and wealth. Ecological dislocation cannot be separated from social dislocations. The social roots of our environmental problems cannot remain hidden without trivializing the crisis itself and thwarting its resolution.
Abuse | Growth | Poverty | Problems | System | Technology | Crisis |
Bawa Mahaiyadden, fully Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
Like this, in truth man is the seed of God, and He is buried within God, and God contains everything necessary for that seed of God to grow into the Tree of God, which is True Man. And when man comes to the point in his life when this truth of him emerges from within him, and if at that time he realizes, understands, accepts, and joins with that truth of him, then God within him will realize that man now knows "who he is", that he is the seed of God, and that man now knows "where he is", that he is within God, and God is within him, within the wisdom within him, like the apple fruit is hidden within the apple tree that is hidden within the apple seed that is buried within the earth. And that man now knows "what is happening", that God is happening, by first allowing True Man to happen, first allowing True Man to be revealed within the Creation of God, first allowing the Tree of God to be revealed from within the Seed of God, so True Man can then reveal God within the Creation of True Man, so the Tree of God can then reveal the Fruit of God from within the Tree of God. And that man now knows, that God contains everything necessary for that seed of God to grow into the Tree of God, into True Man within the Creation of God, and for the Tree of God to bear fruit, to reveal God within the Creation of True Man. Then out of this mutual awareness, God surrenders to man and man surrenders to God, and True Man is revealed within the Creation of God, within the 18,000 universes within this world, and then God is revealed within the Creation of True Man, within the 99 qualities of God in the next world, and in this way revealing the Oneness of God and True Man, which in truth is God and True Man
God | Life | Life | Man | Oneness | Qualities | Time | Truth | Will | Wisdom | God |
Nachman of Breslov, aka Reb Nachman Breslover or Bratslav, Nachman from Uman NULL
When a person knows that everything that happens to him is for the best, this is a taste of the world to come.
Nahmanides, aka Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi, Bonastruc ça Porta and by his acronym RaMBaN NULL
Hear, my son, the instruction of your father and don't forsake the teaching of your mother (Mishlei 1:8). Get into the habit of always speaking calmly to everyone. This will prevent you from anger, a serious character flaw which causes people to sin... Once you have distanced yourself from anger, the quality of humility will enter your heart.This radiant quality is the finest of all admirable traits... so that you will succeed in all your ways. Thus you will succeed and merit the World to Come which lies hidden away for the righteous.
Character | Father | Habit | Humility | Merit | Mother | People | Will | World | Instruction |
Nahmanides, aka Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi, Bonastruc ça Porta and by his acronym RaMBaN NULL
Every glory and wonder, every deep mystery and all beautiful wisdom are hidden in the Torah, sealed up in her treasures.
Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon I
When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.
Rank |
Nathalie Sarraute, fully Nathalie Tcherniak Sarraute
What is hidden beneath the interior monologue an immense profusion of sensations, images, sentiments, memories, impulses, little larval actions that no inner language can convey, that jostle one another on the threshold of consciousness. .
Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon I
Many a one commits a reprehensible action, who is at bottom an honourable man, because man seldom acts upon natural impulse, but from some secret passion of the moment which lies hidden and concealed within the narrowest folds of his heart.
How do we keep our inner fire alive? Two things, at minimum, are needed: an ability to appreciate the positives in our life – and a commitment to action. Every day, it's important to ask and answer these questions: ‘What's good in my life?’ and ‘What needs to be done?
Niccolò Machiavelli, formally Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli
There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.
Flattery | Men | Truth | Will | Understand |
Niccolò Machiavelli, formally Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli
When evening comes, I return home and go into my study. On the threshold I strip off my muddy, sweaty, workday clothes, and put on the robes of court and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the antique courts of the ancients and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity, reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death: I pass indeed into their world.
Nicolas Chamfort,fully Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort, also spelled Nicholas
Good taste, tact, and propriety have more in common than men of letters affect to believe. Tact is good taste applied to bearing and conduct, and propriety is good taste applied to conversation.
Nelson Mandela, fully Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.
Nicolas Chamfort,fully Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort, also spelled Nicholas
Men whose only concern is other people's opinion of them are like actors who put on a poor performance to win the applause of people of poor taste; some of them would be capable of good acting in front of a good audience. A decent man plays his part to the best of his ability, regardless of the taste of the gallery.