This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Whatever difference there may appear to be in man's fortunes, there is still a certain compensation of good and ill in all, that makes them equal.
Compensation | Good | Man | Wisdom |
We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. The dead very often have more power than the living.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, fully Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald
The compensation of a very early success is a conviction that life is a romantic matter. In the best sense one stays young.
Sigmund Freud, born Sigismund Schlomo Freud
Philosophy is not opposed to science; it behaves itself as if it were a science, and to a certain extent it makes use of the same methods; but it parts company with science, in that it clings to the illusion that it can produce a complete and coherent picture of the universe, though in fact that picture must needs fall to pieces with every new advance in our knowledge.
Illusion | Knowledge | Philosophy | Science | Universe | Wisdom |
Have you ever rightly considered what the mere ability to read means? That it is the key which admits us to the whole world of thought and fancy and imagination? to the company of the saint and sage, of the wisest and the wittiest at their wisest and wittiest moment? That it enables us to see with the keenest eyes, hear with the finest ears, and listen to the sweetest voices of all time? More than that, it annihilates time and space for us.
Ability | Imagination | Means | Space | Thought | Time | Wisdom | World | Thought |
To be at peace with self, to find company and nourishment in self - this would be the test of the free and productive psyche.
Reading affords the opportunity to everyone - the poor, the rich, the humble, the great - to spend as many hours as he wishes in the company of the noblest men and women that the world has ever known.
William Paley, Archdeacon of Saragossa
No man’s spirits were ever hurt by doing his duty; on the contrary, one good action, one temptation resisted and overcome, one sacrifice of desire or interest, purely for conscience’ sake, will prove a cordial for weak and low spirits, far beyond what either indulgence or diversion or company can do for them.
Action | Conscience | Desire | Diversion | Duty | Good | Indulgence | Man | Sacrifice | Temptation | Will | Wisdom | Temptation |
Court the society of a superior, and make much of the opportunity; for in the company of an equal thy good fortune must decline.
We should accustom the mind to keep the best company by introducing it only to the best books.
We are rewarded not for our good deeds but by our good deeds. The reward for doing good is becoming a better human being. The greatest compensation for any good deed is simply to have done it.
Is there then no reward for living a life of rectitude and uprightness? There is, indeed. We are rewarded not for our good deeds but by our good deeds. The reward for doing good is becoming a better human being. The greatest compensation for any good deed is simply to have done it.
Better | Compensation | Deeds | Good | Life | Life | Reward | Deeds |
Niccolò Machiavelli, formally Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli
There is no better indication of a man’s character than the company which he keeps.