This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
All that a man does outwardly is but the expression and completion of his inward thought. To work effectually, he must think clearly; to act nobly, he must think nobly. Intellectual force is a principal element of the soul’s life, and should be proposed by every man as the principal end of his being.
Character | Force | Life | Life | Man | Soul | Thought | Work | Think |
Miguel de Cervantes, fully Miguel de Cervantes Saaversa
Every one is responsible for his own acts.
Live for something. Do good, and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storm of time can never destroy. Write you name, in kindness, love, and mercy, on the hearts of thousands you come in contact with year by year; you will never be forgotten. No, your name, your deeds, will be as legible on the hearts you leave behind as the stars on the brow of evening. Good deeds will shine as the stars of heaven.
Character | Deeds | Destroy | Good | Heaven | Kindness | Love | Mercy | Time | Virtue | Virtue | Will | Deeds |
Sri Chinmoy, born Chinmoy Kumar Ghose
Responsibility is the possibility of opportunity culminating in inevitable fulfillment.
Character | Fulfillment | Inevitable | Opportunity | Responsibility |
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, aka Lord Clarendon
No man is so insignificant as to be sure his example can do not hurt.
The best answer to all objections urged against prayer is that fact that man cannot help praying; for we may be sure that which is so spontaneous and ineradicable in human nature has its fitting objects and methods in the arrangement of a boundless Providence.
Character | Human nature | Man | Nature | Prayer | Providence |
Persecution was at least a sign of personal interest. Tolerance is composed of nine parts of apathy to one of brotherly love.
Cyril Connolly, fully Cyril Vernon Connolly
The man who is master of his passions is Reason's slave.
Calvin Coolidge, fully John Calvin Coolidge, Jr.
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Character | Determination | Education | Genius | Men | Nothing | Persistence | Will | World | Talent |