This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"Character is a journey, not a destination." - Bill Clinton, fully William Jefferson "Bill"Clinton, born William Jefferson Blythe III
"A grand meta-narrative is a story of the development and purpose of human history in which we as individual can find a place and play a role. Four basic meta-narratives: (1) Platonic Christian is the idea of life as a journey to another unchanging realm. (2) Hegel’s view that history is the unfolding of the consciousness of God. (3) Marx’s notion of another revolution ushering in a new era. (4) Nietzsche’s idea that there is no “beyond” and that the only meaning comes through creative activities through which we shape a life for ourselves." - Stephen A. Erickson
"An important way to distinguish philosophy from religion is that philosophy, at its best, raises questions, whereas religion provides answers. Answers can sometimes lose their force, however, if the questions to which they provide answers have somehow been lost, muted, or superseded. But philosophy can never end. As long as we live, we are going to ask ourselves about the meaning of life. Some have written about the “end of philosophy.” It has been thought that philosophy exists only if you can construe life as a journey traveling to a new and different dimension. Some have said that the cognitive sciences, linguistics, neuroscience, and so forth will advance so much that traditional technical problems of philosophy will diminish. Insofar as philosophy is a pursuit of the art of living providing (often conflicting) guidance for living, there is a future for philosophy." - Stephen A. Erickson
"In the axial mode, human life is understood as involving a journey in which those who are successful move from a Lower to a Higher Realm. This journey is central to the meaning of life. Through an elevated mode of knowing, the world as we ordinarily experience is largely left behind, deemed less if not illusory, and the domain of reality itself is approached." - Stephen A. Erickson
"The philosophical and religious West has been axial for almost 3,000 years. In the axial model, a sharp distinction was made between this world and a world beyond, and the idea arose that, although, we are in this world, we are not of this world. According to this model, human life is a journey that leads us from appearance to reality, bondage to liberation, confusion to insight, and darkness to light." - Stephen A. Erickson
"Life for every person should be a journey in jubilance!" - Charles Fillmore
"Life is a journey, not a destination, and happiness is not “there” but here; not tomorrow, but today." - Sidney Greenberg
"“Community” means with unity or oneness – the essence of which is harmony, sharing and a concern for others… Life is far more satisfying when you approach it not as a solitary journey, but with the perspective of “we are all in this together.”" - Tom Gregory
"Love is the highest form of energy… Love is much more than just a feeling of affection or of passion. Love is making choices in ways that can help others (and ourself) to have a more joyful and creative journey. Love is a way of life. It is the path of compassion, respect and kindness for all people and living things. Love is honoring the connection to each other." - Tom Gregory
"A sense of purpose and fulfillment is the single strongest issue flowing out of the quest for meaning… The end of the quest for meaning is the beginning of the journey of faith. Indeed, nothing better illuminates the entire journey of life and faith, and in particular the special challenge of finishing them well, than the issue of purpose." - Os Guiness
"Are you leading an examined life? Or are you living in the hand-me-down ideas of others? Do you pick up the music coming from dimensions beyond the here and now? Or are you one of those who just don’t get it? Let your mind and your heart run deep. Come, join the seeker’s path on the long journey home." - Os Guiness
"Life is a journey, a voyage, a quest, a pilgrimage, a personal odyssey, and we’re all at some unknown point between the beginning and the end of it… The humanness of life as a journey is something we should all care enough about to seek to make sense of it and to make up our minds for ourselves." - Os Guiness
"Speculating will not do. It takes the forward movement of deliberate, dynamic living to make this journey – especially the longest and most important journey of all, the journey from our heads to our hearts and from our hearts to our wills. If the journey is life, then only through living will truths gain force that are otherwise barren platitudes." - Os Guiness
"The first stage in every seeker’s journey – a time for questions. We become aware of a sense of reaching out that forces us to ask where we are in life. We must find meaning beyond the meaning we know." - Os Guiness
"When it is said and done, life’s journey isn’t about humanity in general, or even the person next door. It’s about you and me. Our individual lives are the focus, a picture framed by our birth and death. Our personal goals and principles are under scrutiny; our personal success or failure is in the balance." - Os Guiness
"We are moving. We are traveling at a remarkable speed, but we also carry with us our old baggage which is fit for the journey." - Tawfiq al-Hakim or Tawfik el-Hakim
"Whatever solitude we feel on our journey through life is entirely our own fabrication. We are the only judges who can sentence us to solitary confinement." - Allan J Hamilton
"If you should go before me, dear, walk slowly down the ways of death, well worn and wide, for I would want to overtake you quickly and seek the journey’s ending by your side. I would be so forlorn not to descry you down some shining high road when I came; walk slowly, dear, and often look behind you, and pause to hear if someone calls your name." - Adelaide Love
"The grave is the first stage of the journey into eternity." - Muhammad, also spelled Mohammad, Mohammed or Mahomet, full name Muhammad Ibn `Abd Allāh Ibn `Abd al-Muttalib NULL
"Neither power nor wealth, neither education nor ability, neither gifts of creativity nor stores of human energy can insure against the reality that suffering will be our companion at some time during our journey. It is a presence as inseparable from the human condition as food and oxygen are from human life. It is part of our legacy." - Paula Ripple, fully Paula Ripple Comin
"“Good” is what helps me and others along on this journey of liberation." - E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher
"Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us." - Samuel Smiles
"No one can give you wisdom. You must discover it for yourself, on the journey through life, which no one can take for you." - Sun Bear, aka Gheezis Mokwa, born Vincent LaDuke NULL
"Happiness is a journey… not a destination." - Ben Sweetland
"Success is a journey… not a destination." - Ben Sweetland
"Fret not over bygones and the forward journey take. Only a short distance have I gone astray, and I know today I am right, if yesterday was a complete mistake… Ah, homeward bound I go! Let me from now on learn to live alone! The world and I are not made for one another, and why drive round like one looking for what he has not found?" -
"The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins." - Bob Moawad
"A person's work is nothing but the long journey to recover, through the detours of art, the two or three simple and great images which first gained access to his heart." - Albert Camus
"Prayer stamps with its indelible mark our actions and demeanor. A tranquility of bearing, a facial and bodily repose are observed in those whose inner lives are thus enriched. Within the depths of consciousness a flame kindles. And man sees himself. He discovers his selfishness, his silly pride, his fear, his greeds, his blunder. He develops a sense of moral obligation, intellectual humility. Thus begins a journey of the soul toward the realm of grace." - Alexis Carrel
"Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome." - Arthur Ashe
"Religion is a journey, not a destination." - Author Unknown NULL
"Success is a journey, not a destination." - Author Unknown NULL
"We are a journey that has forgotten its destination." - Author Unknown NULL
"You learn from the journey and trying to get where you want to go. Actually arriving is not what it's all about." - Author Unknown NULL
"Evils in the journey of life are like the hills which alarm travelers upon their road; they both appear great at a distance, but when we approach them we find that they are far less insurmountable than we had conceived." - Charles Caleb Colton
"The longest journey is the journey inward." - Dag Hammarskjöld
"The longest journey is the journey inwards. Of him who has chosen his destiny, who has started upon his quest for the source of his being (Is there a source?). He is still with you, but without relation, isolated in your feeling like one condemned to death or one whom imminent farewell prematurely dedicates to the loneliness which is the final lot of all. Between you and him is distance, uncertainty - care." - Dag Hammarskjöld
"The longest journey is the journey inwards of him who has chosen his destiny." - Dag Hammarskjöld
"He who is outside his door already has the hard part of his journey behind him." - Dutch Proverbs
"We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile." - Earl Nightingale
"I think of death as some delightful journey that I shall take when all my tasks are done." - Ella Wheeler Wilcox
"What is life, but a form of motion and a journey through a foreign world." - George Santayana
"Let me but live from year to year, with forward face and unreluctant soul; not hurrying to, nor turning from, the goal; not mourning for the things that disappear in the dim past, nor holding back in fear from what the future veils; but with a whole and happy heart, that pays its toll to Youth and Age, and travels with cheer. So let the way wind up the hill or down o’er rough and smooth, the journey will be joy: still seeking what I sought when but a boy, new friendship, high adventure, and a crown, my heart will keep the courage of the quest, and hope the road’s last turn will be the best." - Henry Van Dyke
"Forgiveness is one of the least understood of all spiritual practices. It has nothing to do with condoning poor behavior in ourselves and others. Rather, it calls us to responsibility. In forgiving ourselves, we make the journey from guilt for what we have done (or not done) to celebration of what we become." - Joan Borysenko
"You cannot imitate somebody else’s journey and still be true to yourself. Are you prepared to honor your uniqueness?" - Jon Kabat-Zinn
"When you’re on a journey, and the end keeps getting further and further away, then you realize that the real end is the journey." - Joseph Campbell