This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Youth is a cause of hope for three reasons... And these three reasons may be gathered from the three conditions of the good which is the object of hope - namely, that it is future, arduous and possible... For youth has much of the future before it, and little of the past; and therefore since memory is of the past, and hope of the future, it has little to remember and lives very much in hope. Again, youths, on account of the heat of their nature, are full of spirit, so that their heart expands, and it is owing to the heart being expanded that one tends to that which is arduous; therefore youths are spirited and hopeful. Likewise they who have not suffered defeat, nor had experience of obstacles to their efforts, are prone to count a thing possible to them. Therefore youths, through inexperience of obstacles and of their own shortcomings, easily count a thing possible, and consequently are of good hope.
Saint John of Kronstadt, fully John Il’ich Serguiev, aka Holy Father John of the Kronstadt NULL
With death all will be taken from us, all earthly goods, riches, beauty of body and raiment, spacious dwellings, etc., but the virtue of the soul, that incorruptible raiment, shall remain with us eternally.
Despise | Doubt | Evil | Heart | Ideas | Imagination | Man | Sin | Soul | Thought | Truth | Will | Blessed | Thought |
Salman Rushdie, fully Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie
The novel does not seek to establish a privileged language but it insists upon the freedom to portray and analyze the struggle between the different contestants for such privileges.
Literature | Vision |
Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
From the middle of life onward, only he remains vitally alive who is ready to die with life.
Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
The purpose of an injury is to vex and trouble me. - Now, nothing can do that to him that is truly valiant.
Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape.
Consciousness | Heart | Reflection | Thought | Tragedy | Thought |
Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
There is less flogging in our great schools than formerly, but then less is learned there; so that what the boys get at one end they lose at the other.
Thanks be to God. Since my leaving the drinking of wine, I do find myself much better, and do mind my business better, and do spend less money, and less time lost in idle company.
Strange to say what delight we married people have to see these poor fools decoyed into our condition.
If the American Revolution had produced nothing but the Declaration of Independence, it would have been worthwhile.... The beauty and cogency of the preamble, reaching back to remotest antiquity and forward to an infinite future, having lifted the hearts of millions of men and will continue to do.... These words are more revolutionary than anything written by Robespierre, Marx, or Lenin, more explosive than the atom, a continual challenge to ourselves as well as an inspiration to the oppressed of all the world.
Simone de Beauvoir, fully Simone-Ernestine-Lucie-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir
I think I understand how it can make you. We tried to build our love beyond the moment, but only moments are sure. For the rest we need faith, and faith, is it courage or laziness?
Contemplation | Effort | Experience | Quiet | Contemplation | Think |
Ignatius Loyola, aka Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Be careful and do not lightly condemn the actions of others. We must consider the intention of our neighbor, which is often good and pure, although the act itself seems blameworthy.
Appearance | Confidence | Devil | Men | Nature | Piety | Pious | Skill |
Until we have acquired genuine prayer, we are like people teaching children to begin to walk. Try to lift up, or rather, to enclose your thought within the words of your prayer, and if in its infant state it wearies and falls, lift it up again. Instability is natural to the mind, but God is powerful to establish all things…. What higher good is there than to cling to the Lord and to persevere in unceasing union with Him?