This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Weakness with watchfulness will stand, when strength with too much confidence fails. Weakness, with acknowledgement of it, is the fittest seat and subject for God to perfect his strength in; for consciousness of our infirmities drives us out of ourselves to him in whom our strength lies.
Confidence | Consciousness | God | Strength | Watchfulness | Will | God |
Richard Nixon, fully Richard Milhous Nixon
This administration has proved that it is utterly incapable of cleaning out the corruption which has completely eroded it and reestablishing the confidence and faith of the American people in the morality and honesty of their government employees.
Administration | Confidence | Corruption | Faith | Government | Honesty | Morality | People | Government |
Every man who attacks my belief, diminishes in some degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneasy; and I am angry with him who makes me uneasy.
Confidence | Man |
And I might add the confidence with which distracted persons do oftentimes, when they are awake, think, they see black fiends in places, where there is no black object in sight without them.
Confidence | Object |
It is in this matter that I fall foul of so many American writers on writing; they seem to think that writing is a confidence game by means of which the author cajoles a restless, dull-witted, shallow audience into hearing his point of view. Such an attitude is base, and can only beget base prose.
Confidence | Means | Writing | Think |
Have not too low thoughts of thyself. The confidence a man hath of his being pleasant in his demeanor is a means whereby he infallibly cometh to be such.
Confidence | Demeanor | Man | Means |
Shoghí Effendi, fully Shoghí Effendí Rabbání
The long ages of infancy and childhood, through which the human race has to pass, have receded into the background. Humanity is now experiencing the commotions invariably associated with the most turbulent stage of its evolution, the stage of adolescence, when the impetuosity of youth and its vehemence reach their climax, and must gradually be superseded by the calmness, the wisdom, and the maturity that characterize the stage of adulthood. Mankind, in these fateful years... is... being simultaneously called upon to give account of its past actions, and is being purged and prepared for its future mission. It can neither escape the responsibilities of the past, nor shirk those of the future. Then will a world civilization be born, flourish, and perpetuate itself, a civilization with a fullness of life such as the world has never seen nor can as yet conceive... Then will the promise enshrined in all the books of God be redeemed, and all the prophecies uttered by the prophets of old come to pass, and the vision of seers and poets be realized. Then will the planet, galvanized through the universal belief of its dwellers in one God, and their allegiance to one common revelation... be acclaimed as the earthly heaven, capable of fulfilling that ineffable destiny fixed for it from time immemorial by the love and wisdom of its Creator.
Accomplishment | Confidence | Contemplation | Decision | Determination | Faith | Power | Prayer | Right | Silence | Spirit | Will | Words | Contemplation |
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, aka Vatican II
As a simple example of what We mean, consider the extremely critical problems which exist today in the political and economic spheres. Men are so worried by these things that they give scant thought to those religious concerns, which are the province of the Church's teaching authority. All this is evil, and we are right to condemn it. But this new state of affairs has at least one undeniable advantage: it has eliminated the innumerable obstacles erected by worldly men to impede the Church's freedom of action. We have only to take a cursory glance through the annals of the Church to realize that even those ecumenical councils which are recorded there in letters of gold, were celebrated in the midst of serious difficulties and most distressing circumstances, through the unwarranted intervention of the civil authority. Such intervention was sometimes dictated by a sincere intention on the part of the secular princes to protect the Church's interests, but more often than not their motives were purely political and selfish, and the resultant situation was fraught with spiritual disadvantage and danger.
Appreciation | Church | Confidence | Energy | Future | Light | Nations | System | Will | Appreciation |
Rufus Jones, fully Rufus Matthew Jones
There is no great future for any people whose faith has burned out.
Confidence | Faith | Spirit |
Rutherford B. Hayes, fully Rutherford Birchard Hayes
Coming in, I was denounced as a fraud by all the extreme men of the opposing party, and as an ingrate and a traitor by the same class of men in my own party. Going out, I have the good will, blessings, and approval of the best people of all parties and sections.
Confidence | Contrast | Fame | Giving | Greatness | History | Honesty | Logic | Modesty | Position | Sound | Success | Think |
God has seen fit that, since our services are useful to many persons, everyone approves them, but only when they are carried out in the spirit of Our Lord.
Confidence | Courage | Temptation | Will | Temptation |
The kingdom of God is peace in the Holy Spirit; He will reign in you if your heart is at peace. So, be at peace, Mademoiselle, and you will honor in a sovereign way the God of peace and love.
Children | Confidence | Lord |
Let us love God my brothers, let us love God. But let it be with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brow.
Confidence | World |
The liberties of our Country, the freedom of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have receiv'd them as a fair Inheritance from our worthy Ancestors: They purchas'd them for us with toil and danger and expence of treasure and blood; and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle; or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men. Of the latter we are in most danger at present: Let us therefore be aware of it. Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity; and resolve to maintain the rights bequeath'd to us from the former, for the sake of the latter. - Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we have already made, which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance. Let us remember that if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom. It is a very serious consideration, which should deeply impress our minds, that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers of the event.
Aid | Character | Confidence | Despondency | Determination | Dignity | Heaven | Justice | Liberty | People | Public | Rights | Spirit | Will | World |
Parents are the last people on earth who ought to have children.
Confidence | Trust |
Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
Every man wishes to be wise, and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning.
Belief | Confidence | Man |
Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
Those writers who lie on the watch for novelty can have little hope of greatness; for great things cannot have escaped former observation.
Confidence | Genius | Knowledge | Maxims | Neglect | Nothing | Will |
Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
It seems not more reasonable to leave the right of printing unrestrained, because writers may be afterwards censured, than it would be to sleep with doors unbolted, because by our laws we can hang a thief
Confidence | Little | Spirit |
Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
Such are the vicissitudes of the world, through all its parts, that day and night, labor and rest, hurry and retirement, endear each other. Such are the changes that keep the mind in action; we desire, we pursue, we obtain, we are satiated; we desire something else, and begin a new pursuit.
Accuracy | Confidence | Reputation |