This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth- even more than death. Thought is subversive, and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; though its merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless to the well-trained wisdom of ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid... Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world and the chief glory of man. But if thought is to become the possession of the many, and not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds man back - fear that their cherished beliefs should prove delusions, fear lest the institutions by which they live should prove harmful, fear least they themselves prove less worthy to the respect they have supposed themselves to be.
Authority | Death | Earth | Fear | Glory | Hell | Light | Looks | Man | Men | Nothing | Respect | Thought | Wisdom | World | Respect | Privilege | Thought |
What a chimera is man! what a confused chaos! what a subject of contradiction! a professed judge of all things, and ;yet a feeble worm of the earth! the great depository and guardian of truth, and yet a mere huddle of uncertainty! the glory and the scandal of the universe!
Contradiction | Earth | Glory | Man | Scandal | Truth | Uncertainty | Universe |
All the glory of greatness has no luster for people who are in search of understanding.
Glory | Greatness | People | Search | Understanding |
Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell
Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
Glory | Habit | Hell | Light | Looks | Man | Thought | World | Thought |
Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth more than ruin more even than death.... Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
Death | Earth | Fear | Glory | Habit | Hell | Light | Looks | Man | Men | Nothing | Thought | World | Thought |
Speaking generally, no man appears great to his contemporaries, for the same reason that no man is great to his servants - both know too much of him.
The sun should not set upon our anger, neither should he rise upon our confidence. We should forgive freely but forget rarely. I will not be revenged, and this I owe to my enemy; but I will remember, and this I owe to myself.
Anger | Confidence | Enemy | Will | Forgive |
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Like the rainbow, peace rests upon the earth, but its arch is lost in heaven. Heaven bathes it in hues of light - it springs up amid tears and clouds - it is a reflection of the eternal sun - it is an assurance of calm - it is the sign of a great covenant between God and man - it is an emanation from the distant orb of immortal light.
Earth | Eternal | God | Heaven | Light | Man | Peace | Reflection | Tears | God |
Chief Seattle, also spelled Seathl
Every part of this country is sacred to my people... Even the rocks that seem to lie dumb as they swelter in the sun of past events connected with the fate of my people, and the very dust under your feet responds more lovingly to our footsteps than to yours, because it is the ashes of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch, for the soil is rich with the life of our kindred.
Events | Fate | Life | Life | Past | People | Sacred | Fate |
Confucius, aka Kong Qiu, Zhongni, K'ung Fu-tzu or Kong Fuzi NULL
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Perfect happiness is the absence of happiness; perfect glory is the absence of glory.
Confucius, aka Kong Qiu, Zhongni, K'ung Fu-tzu or Kong Fuzi NULL
Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
Tacitus, fully Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus NULL
The desire of glory is the last infirmity cast off even by the wise.
We often glory in the most criminal passion; but that of envy is so shameful that we dare not even own it.
The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.
Difficulty | Glory | Reputation |
Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience.