This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Some men are more beholden to their bitterest enemies than to friends who appear to be sweetness itself. The former frequently tell the truth, but the latter never.
He that openly tells his friends all that he thinks of them, must expect that they will secretly tell his enemies much that they do not think of him.
The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.
Race |
The reason why great men meet with so little pity or attachment in adversity, would seem to be this: the friends of a great man were made by his fortune, his enemies by himself, and revenge is a much more punctual paymaster than gratitude.
Adversity | Fortune | Gratitude | Little | Man | Men | Pity | Reason | Revenge | Friends |
He that has never known adversity, is but half acquainted with others, or with himself. Constant success shows us but one side of the world. for, as it surrounds us with friends, who will tell us only our merits, so it silences those enemies from whom alone we can learn our defects.
Confucius, aka Kong Qiu, Zhongni, K'ung Fu-tzu or Kong Fuzi NULL
In teaching there should be no class distinctions.
Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.
Man |
The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?
Challenge | Day | Heart | Revolution |
The thesis that there is an inherent conflict between science and our immortal souls is simply untrue.
Science |
Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us: power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness. Our enemies would dance with joy if only they knew how they were worrying us, lacerating us, and getting even with us! Our hate is not hurting them at all, but our hate is turning our own days and nights into a hellish turmoil.
To bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has at start with each one of us. When we begin to take the lowest place, to wash the feet of others, to love our brothers and sisters with that burning love, that passion, which led to the cross, then we can truly say, ‘Now I have begun.’
Heart | Love | Passion | Revolution |
Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict - alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence.
To be deceived by; our enemies or betrayed by our friends is insupportable; yet by ourselves are we often content to be so treated.
Friends |
Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict – alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence.
Adversity is a severe instructor, set over us by one who knows us better than we do ourselves, as he love us better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This conflict with difficulty makes us acquainted with our object, and compels us to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer us to be superficial.
Adversity | Better | Difficulty | Love | Object | Skill | Will |
Never explain: your friends don’t require it, and your enemies won’t believe you anyway.
Friends |
Great evils befall the world when the powerful begin to copy the weak. The desperate devices which enable the weak to survive are unequaled instruments of oppression and extermination in the hands of the strong.
Oppression | World |
Never explain. Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.
Eugene V. Debs, fully Eugene Victor Debs
The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose - especially their lives.
Nothing |