This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Philip Wylie, fully Philip Gordon Wylie
The first gold star a child gets in school for the mere performance of a needful task is its first lesson in graft.
Pietro Metastasio, aka Metastasio, pseudonymn for Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi
As gold is tried by the furnace, and the baser metal shown, so the hollow-hearted friend is known by adversity.
Plutarch, named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus after becoming Roman citizen NULL
Empire may be gained by gold, not gold by empire. It used, indeed, to be a proverb that "It is not Philip, but Philip's gold that takes the cities of Greece."
Gold |
David Swing, aka Professor Swing
The decoration and enlargement of the heart are the direct end of truth, and, without this result, knowledge is not power, but is treasure buried and forgotten like the fabled gold of Capt. Kidd by some unknown sea.
Ramon Llul, aka Raymond Lully, Raymond Lull, Raimundus, Raymundus Lullus or Lullius
Man is nobler for his knowledge than for the gold and goods he possesses, even though these be gained with great good will.
Rainer Maria Rilke, full name René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke
The painter should not become conscious of his insights without taking the way round through his mental processes. His advances, enigmatic even to himself, must enter so swiftly into the work that he is unable to recognize them at the moment of transition. For him, alas, who watches for them, delays them... they change like the fine gold in the fairy tale which can no longer remain gold because some detail went wrong.
Ramakrishna, aka Ramakrishna Paramhamsa or Sri Ramakrishna, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay NULL
Iron, after it is converted into gold by the touch of philosopher's stone, may be kept under the ground or thrown into a rubbish heap; it will always remain gold and will not return to its former condition. Similar is the state of the man whose soul has touched, even once, the feet of the Almighty Lord. Whether he dwells in the bustle of the world, or in the solitude of the forest, nothing ever contaminates him.
Leroy bet me I couldn't find a pot of gold at the end, and I told him that was a stupid bet because the rainbow was enough.
Gold |
Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.
Robert Service, fully Robert William Service
There's gold, and it's haunting and haunting; It's luring me on as of old; Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting so much as just finding the gold. It's the forests where silence has lease; It's the beauty that thrills me with wonder, It's the stillness that fills me with peace.
Nature does not complete things. She is chaotic. Man must finish, and he does so by making a garden and building a wall. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing Gold can stay.
Robert Service, fully Robert William Service
I just think that dreams are best, Just to sit and fancy things; Give your gold no acid test, Try not how your silver rings; Fancy women pure and good, Fancy men upright and true: Fortressed in your solitude, Let Life be a dream to you. For I think that Thought is all; Truth's a minion of the mind; Love's ideal comes at call; As ye seek so shall ye find. But ye must not seek too far; Things are never what they seem: Let a star be just a star, And a woman -- just a dream. O you Dreamers, proud and pure, You have gleaned the sweet of life! Golden truths that shall endure Over pain and doubt and strife. I would rather be a fool Living in my Paradise, Than the leader of a school, Sadly sane and weary wise. O you Cynics with your sneers, Fallen brains and hearts of brass, Tweak me by my foolish ears, Write me down a simple ass! I'll believe the real "you" Is the "you" without a taint; I'll believe each woman too, But a slightly damaged saint. Yes, I'll smoke my cigarette, Vestured in my garb of dreams, And I'll borrow no regret; All is gold that golden gleams. So I'll charm my solitude With the faith that Life is blest, Brave and noble, bright and good,
Doubt | Dreams | Faith | Gold | Life | Life | Men | Pain | Thought | Woman | Leader | Think | Thought | Truths |
The Trial By Existence - Even the bravest that are slain Shall not dissemble their surprise On waking to find valor reign, Even as on earth, in paradise; And where they sought without the sword Wide fields of asphodel fore’er, To find that the utmost reward Of daring should be still to dare. The light of heaven falls whole and white And is not shattered into dyes, The light for ever is morning light; The hills are verdured pasture-wise; The angel hosts with freshness go, And seek with laughter what to brave;— And binding all is the hushed snow Of the far-distant breaking wave. And from a cliff-top is proclaimed The gathering of the souls for birth, The trial by existence named, The obscuration upon earth. And the slant spirits trooping by In streams and cross- and counter-streams Can but give ear to that sweet cry For its suggestion of what dreams! And the more loitering are turned To view once more the sacrifice Of those who for some good discerned Will gladly give up paradise. And a white shimmering concourse rolls Toward the throne to witness there The speeding of devoted souls Which God makes his especial care. And none are taken but who will, Having first heard the life read out That opens earthward, good and ill, Beyond the shadow of a doubt; And very beautifully God limns, And tenderly, life’s little dream, But naught extenuates or dims, Setting the thing that is supreme. Nor is there wanting in the press Some spirit to stand simply forth, Heroic in its nakedness, Against the uttermost of earth. The tale of earth’s unhonored things Sounds nobler there than ’neath the sun; And the mind whirls and the heart sings, And a shout greets the daring one. But always God speaks at the end: ’One thought in agony of strife The bravest would have by for friend, The memory that he chose the life; But the pure fate to which you go Admits no memory of choice, Or the woe were not earthly woe To which you give the assenting voice.’ And so the choice must be again, But the last choice is still the same; And the awe passes wonder then, And a hush falls for all acclaim. And God has taken a flower of gold And broken it, and used therefrom The mystic link to bind and hold Spirit to matter till death come. ‘Tis of the essence of life here, Though we choose greatly, still to lack The lasting memory at all clear, That life has for us on the wrack Nothing but what we somehow chose; Thus are we wholly stripped of pride In the pain that has but one close, Bearing it crushed and mystified.
Agony | Awe | Choice | Daring | Death | Existence | Fate | God | Gold | Good | Heart | Heaven | Laughter | Life | Life | Light | Little | Memory | Mind | Pain | Pride | Reward | Sacrifice | Spirit | Thought | Valor | Valor | Witness | Woe | Wonder | Fate | Trial | God | Thought |
Modern poets talk against business, poor things, but all of us write for money. Beginners are subjected to trial by market. So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.
Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron
May this my prayer aid mankind The path of right and worth to find; The living God, His wondrous ways, Herein inspire my song of praise. Nor is the theme at undue length set down, Of all my hymns behold "The Royal Crown. Wonderful are thy works, as my soul overwhelmingly knoweth. Thine, O Lord, are the greatness and the might, the beauty, the triumph, and the splendour. Thine, O Lord, is the Kingdom, and Thou art exalted as head over all. Thine are all riches and honour: Thine the creatures of the heights and depths. They bear witness that they perish, while Thou endurest. Thine is the might in whose mystery our thoughts can find no stay, so far art Thou beyond us. In Thee is the veiled retreat of power, the secret and the foundation. p. 83 Thine is the name concealed from the sages, The force that sustaineth the world on naught, And that can bring to light every hidden thing. Thine is the loving-kindness that ruleth over all Thy creatures, And the good treasured up for those who fear Thee. Thine are the mysteries that transcend understanding and thought. Thine is the life over which extinction holdeth no sway, And Thy throne is exalted above every sovereignty, And Thy habitation hidden in the shrouded height. Thine is the existence from the shadow of whose light every being was created, Of which we say, in His shadow we live. Thine are the two worlds between which Thou hast set a boundary, The first for deeds and the second for reward. Thine is the reward which Thou for the righteous hast stored up and hidden, Yea, Thou sawest it was goodly and didst hide it.
Art | Body | God | Gold | Grace | Heart | Joy | Longing | Man | Soul | Spirit | Thinking | Wealth | Art | God |
Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron
Who shall descend as deep as Thy thoughts? For from the splendour of the sphere of Intelligence Thou hast wrought the radiance of souls, And the high angels that are the messengers of Thy will, The ministers of Thy presence, Majestic of power and great in the Kingdom of heaven, "In their hand the flaming sword that turneth every way," Performing their work whithersoever the spirit wafteth them, All of them shapen to comeliness, shimmering as pearls, Transcendent creatures, Angels of the outer courts, or angels of the Presence, Watching Thy movements. From a holy place are they come, And from the fount of light are they drawn. They are divided into companies, And on their banner are signs graven of the pen of the swift scribe. There are superior and attendant bands, And hosts running and returning, But never weary and never faint, Seeing but invisible. And there are some wrought of flame, And some are wafted air, And some compounded of fire and of water, And there are Seraphim in burning rows, And wingèd lightnings and darting arrows of fire, And each troop of them all bows itself down "To Him who rideth the highest heavens." And in the supreme sphere of the universe they stand in thousands and tens of thousands, Divided into watches, That change daily and nightly at the beginning of their vigils, For the ritual of psalms and songs, "To Him who is girt with omnipotence." All of them with dread and trembling bow and prostrate themselves to Thee, Saying: To Thee we acknowledge That Thou art He, the Lord our God; Thou hast made us, and not we ourselves, And the work of Thy hands are we all. For Thou art our Lord, and we are Thy servants, Thou art our Creator, and we are Thy witnesses.
Gold | Power | Reason | Righteousness | Sacred | Truth | Understand |