This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Elizabeth Bowen, Full name Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen
The slight sense of degeneracy induced by reading novels before luncheon
Illusion |
Shine comforts from the east, That I may back to Athens by daylight From these that my poor company detest; And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye, Steal me awhile from mine own company.
Art | Beauty | Death | Enough | Evil | Father | Fortune | God | Good | Government | Heart | Rage | Shame | Tears | Vengeance | Virtue | Virtue | Government | Art | Beauty | God |
She hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in Ethiope's ear.
So may the outward shows be least themselves. The world is still deceived with ornament. In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt but, being seasoned with a gracious voice, obscures the show of evil? In religion, what damnèd error, but some sober brow will bless it and approve it with a text, hiding the grossness with fair ornament? There is no vice so simple but assumes some mark of virtue on his outward parts. How many cowards whose hearts are all as false as stairs of sand wear yet upon their chins the beards of Hercules and frowning Mars, who, inward searched, have livers white as milk, and these assume but valor’s excrement to render them redoubted. Look on beauty, and you shall see ’tis purchased by the weight, which therein works a miracle in nature, making them lightest that wear most of it. So are those crispèd snaky golden locks which maketh such wanton gambols with the wind, upon supposèd fairness, often known to be the dowry of a second head, the skull that bred them in the sepulcher. Thus ornament is but the guilèd shore to a most dangerous sea, the beauteous scarf veiling an Indian beauty—in a word, the seeming truth which cunning times put on to entrap the wisest. Therefore then, thou gaudy gold, hard food for Midas, I will none of thee. Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge ‘tween man and man. But thou, thou meagre lead, which rather threaten’st than dost promise aught, thy paleness moves me more than eloquence, and here choose I. Joy be the consequence! Merchant of Venice, Act iii, Scene 2
Fortune |
Should all despair that have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind would hang themselves.
She hath prosperous art When she will play with reason and discourse, And well she can persuade.
Wealth |
Since, then, my office hath so far prevailed That, face to face and royal eye to eye, You have congreeted, let it not disgrace me If I demand before this royal view, What rub or what impediment there is Why that the naked, poor, and mangled Peace, Dear nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births, Should not, in this best garden of the world, Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage.
Such a nature, tickled with good success, disdains the shadow which he treads on at noon.
We are not alien visitors to this planet, after all but natural residents and relatives of every living entity here. This earth is where we came from and where we'll all end up when we die, and during the interim, it is our home, And there's no way we can ever hope to understand ourselves if we don't at least marginally understand our home.
Ego | Fortune | Life | Life | Mind | Perfection | Right | Silence |
We were talking the other evening about the phrases one uses when trying to comfort someone who is in distress. I told him that in English we sometimes say, 'I've been there.' This was unclear to him at first-I've been where? But I explained that deep grief sometimes is almost like a specific loacation, a coordinate on a map of time. When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place. But if someone can assure you that they themselves have stood in that same place, and now have moved on, sometimes this will bring hope.
One of the problems of contemporary culture is that life moves at such a quick pace, we usually don't give ourselves time to feel and listen deeply. You may have to take deliberate action to nurture the soul. If you want to increase your soul's bank account, you may have to seek out the unfamiliar and do things that at first could feel uncomfortable. Give yourself time as you experiment. How will you know if you're on the right track? I like Rumi's counsel: 'When you do something from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.'
Age | Better | Cause | Earth | Enlightenment | Fame | Famous | Fortune | Good | Illusion | Kill | Labor | Light | Man | Mind | Money | People | Present | Problems | Shame | Terrorism | Work | Worry | Instruction | Understand |
Elizabeth Browning, fully Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Love doesn't make the world go round, Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.
Elizabeth Browning, fully Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The child's heart curseth deeper in the silence than the strong man in his wrath.
Memory |
Feast, and your halls are crowded fast, and the world goes by succeed and give, and it helps you live but no man can help you die.
Elizabeth II, born Elizabeth Alexandra May NULL
There will never Queen sit in my seat with more zeal to my country, care to my subjects and that will sooner with willingness venture her life for your good and safety than myself. For it is my desire to live nor reign no longer than my life and reign shall be for your good. And though you have had, and may have, many princes more mighty and wise sitting in this seat, yet you never had nor shall have, any that will be more careful and loving.
Wit |