This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Paganism attributes the creation of the world to blind chance.
Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa, also known as Rabbeinu Behaye
It is integrity that invests man with immortality, and bestows upon him the privilege of direct communion with God.
Character | God | Immortality | Integrity | Man | Privilege |
Virtue, the strength and beauty of the soul, is the best gift of heaven; a happiness that, even above the smiles and frowns of fate, exalts great Nature’s favorites; a wealth that ne’er encumbers, nor can be transferr’d.
Beauty | Character | Fate | Heaven | Nature | Soul | Strength | Virtue | Virtue | Wealth | Beauty | Happiness |
Simeon ben Azai, sometimes Ben Azai
Despise not any man, and do not spurn anything; for there is no man that has not his hour, nor is there anything that has not its place.
Isaac Abravanel, fully Don Itshak ben Yehouda Abravanel
The receiver of a gift is not the chooser.
Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren
Illusion and self-deception stand in the way of an honest, penetrating and fearless self-appraisal. Though it would appear that we have access to the innermost core of our individual being, and that there is nothing in the world with which we are on more intimate terms than our own self, the self remains an elusive object of knowledge and understanding.
Character | Illusion | Individual | Knowledge | Nothing | Object | Self | Self-deception | Understanding | World |
Gentleness in the gait is what simplicity is in the dress. Violent gesture or quick movement inspires involuntary disrespect. One looks for a moment at a cascade; but one sits for hours, lost in thought, and gazing upon the still water of a lake. A deliberate gait, gentle manners, and a gracious tone of voice - all of which may be acquired - give a mediocre man an immense advantage over those vastly superior to him. To be bodily tranquil, to speak little, and to digest without effort are absolutely necessary to grandeur of mind or of presence, or to proper development of genius.
Character | Disrespect | Effort | Genius | Gentleness | Little | Looks | Man | Manners | Mind | Simplicity | Thought |
Ahad HaAm, pen name, born Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg
Wise men weigh the advantages of any course of action against its drawbacks, and move not an inch until they can see what the result of their action will be; but while they are deep in thought, the men with self-confidence ‘come and see and conquer.’
Action | Character | Confidence | Men | Self | Self-confidence | Thought | Will | Wise |
Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
A man does not sin by commission only, but often by omission.