This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"The first draught serveth for health, the second for pleasure, the third for shame, and the fourth for madness." - Anacharsis NULL
"[Paraphrase] List of virtues: courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, pride, good temper, friendliness, truthfulness, wittiness, shame, justice." - Aristotle NULL
"Shame is an ornament to the young, a disgrace to the old, since an old man ought not to do anything of which he need be ashamed." - Aristotle NULL
"The path of Knowledge is only to dive inward with the mind, not uttering the word ‘I’, and to question whence, as ‘I’, it rises. To meditate ‘This is not I’ or ‘That I am’ may be an aid, but you can it form the enquiry? When the mind, inwardly enquiring, ‘Who am I?’ attains the heart, something of Itself manifests as ‘I-I’, so that the individual ‘I’ must bow in shame. Though manifesting, it is not ’I’ by nature by Perfection, and this is the Self." - Ramana Maharshi, fully Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
"We may doubt the existence of matter, if we please, and like Berkeley deny it, without subjecting ourselves to the shame of a very conclusive confutation; but there is this remarkable difference between matter and mind, that he that doubts the existence of mind, by doubting proves it." - Charles Caleb Colton
"Have charity; have patience; have mercy. Never bring a human being, however silly, ignorant, or weak - above all, any little child - to shame and confusion of face. Never by petulance, by suspicion, by ridicule, even by selfish and silly haste - never, above all, by indulging in the devilish pleasure of a sneer - crush what is finest and rouse up what is coarsest in the heart of any fellow-creature." -
"Our fathers gave us many laws, which they had learned from their fathers. These laws were good. They told us to treat all people as they treated us; that we should never be the first to break a bargain; that it was a disgrace to tell a lie; that we should speak only the truth; that it was a shame for one man to take from another his wife or his property without paying for it. We were taught that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything, and that he never forgets, that hereafter he will give every man a spirit-home according to his deserts: If he has been a good man, he will have a good home; if he has been a bad man, he will have a bad home. This I believe, and all my people believe the same." - Chief Joseph, born Hinmuuttu-yalatlat
"Our fathers gave us many laws, which they have learned from their fathers; these laws were good. They told us to treat all men as they treated us; that we should never break a bargain; that it was a disgrace to tell a lie, that we should speak only the truth; that it was a shame for one man to take from another his wife, or his property without paying for it. We were taught to believe that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything and that he never forgets; that hereafter He will give every man a spirit home according to his desserts - if he has been a good man, he will have a good home; if he was bad, he will have a bad home. This I believe, and all my people believe the same." - Chief Joseph, born Hinmuuttu-yalatlat
"To be fond of learning is to draw close to wisdom. To practice with vigor is to draw close to benevolence. To know the seen of shame is to draw close to courage. He who knows these three things knows how to cultivate his own character. Knowing how to cultivate his own character, he knows how to govern other men. Knowing how to govern other men, he knows how to govern the world, it states, and its families." - Confucius, aka Kong Qiu, Zhongni, K'ung Fu-tzu or Kong Fuzi NULL
"God cannot endure that unfestive, mirthless attitude of ours in which we eat our bread in sorrow, with pretentious, busy haste, or even with shame. Through our daily meals he is calling us to rejoice, to keep holiday in the midst of our working day." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"Nothing is so contagious as example; never was there any considerable good or ill done that does not produce its like. We imitate good actions through emulation, and bad ones though a malignity in our nature, which shame conceals, and example sets at liberty." - François de La Rochefoucauld, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, Francois A. F. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
"Instead of casting away our old prejudices, we cherish them to a very considerable degree, and, more shame to ourselves, we cherish them because they are prejudices; and the longer they have lasted the more we cherish them. We are afraid to put men to live and trade each on his own private stock of reason, because we suspect that this stock in each man is small, and that the individuals would do better to avail themselves of the general bank and capital of nations and of ages." - Edmund Burke
"Guilt binds us to the darkest part of ourselves… Shame and guilt are deeply connected… Guilt and time are closely connected, too. Since guilt always comes from the past, it keeps the past alive… Only when you release your guilt do you truly release your past to create a new future." - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
"Men fear death, as children fear the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by frightful tales, so is the other. Groans, convulsions, weeping friends, and the like show death terrible; yet there is no passion so weak but conquers the fear of it, and therefore death is not such a terrible enemy. Revenge triumphs over death, loves slights its, honor aspires to it, dread of shame prefers it, grief flies to it, and fear anticipates it." - Francis Bacon
"Must love be ever treated with profaneness as a mere illusion? or with coarseness as a mere impulse? or with fear as a mere disease? or with shame as a mere weakness? or with levity as a mere accident? whereas it is a great mystery and a great necessity, lying at the foundation of human existence, morality, and happiness - mysterious, universal, inevitable as death." - Harriet Martineau
"He who wins honor through his neighbor’s shame will never reach Paradise." - Hebrew Proverbs
"Experiences of shame appear to embody the root meaning of the word - to uncover, to expose, to wound. They are experiences of exposure, exposure of peculiarly sensitive, intimate, vulnerable aspects of self. The exposure may be to others, but whether others are or are not involved, it is always… exposure to one’s own eyes." - Helen Merrell Lynd
"Shame goes with poverty, but confidence with wealth." - Hesiod NULL
"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people." - Howard Zinn
"In my many years, I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is congress." - John Adams
"Where the mind is past hope, the heart is past shame." - John Lyly or Lilly or Lylie
"Where shame is, there is fear." - John Milton
"No peace was ever won from fate by subterfuge or agreement; no peace is ever in store for any of us, but that which we shall win by victory over shame or sin - victory over the sin that oppresses, as well as over that which corrupts." - John Ruskin
"No peace was ever won from fate by subterfuge or argument; no peace is ever in store for any of us, but that which we shall win by victory over shame or sin - victory over the sin that oppresses, as well as over that which corrupts." - John Ruskin
"Among the greatest of cultural lies is that we are, by nature, violent, and that only chaos would prevail without the order imposed by law and the shame stress that powers it." - Joseph Chilton Pearce, aka Joe
"No person is without sense of compassion, or a sense of shame, or a sense of courtesy, or a sense of right and wrong. The sense of compassion is the beginning of humanity; the sense of shame is the beginning of righteousness; the sense of courtesy is the beginning of decorum [li]; the sense of right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom. Every person has within him these four beginnings; just as he has four limbs." - Mencius, born Meng Ke or Ko NULL
"It is only in solitude, when it has broken the thick crust of shame that separates us from one another and separates us all from God, that we have no secrets from God; only in solitude do we raise our hearts to the Heart of the Universe; only in solitude does the redeeming hymn of supreme confession issue from our soul." -
"Where old men have no shame, there young men will most certainly be devoid of reverence. The best way of training the young is to train yourself at the same time; not to admonish them, but to be always carrying out your own admonitions in practice." - Plato NULL
"Wickedness is a wonderfully diligent architect of misery, of shame, accompanied with terror, and commotion, and remorse, and endless perturbation." - Plutarch, named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus after becoming Roman citizen NULL
"Our flag stands for "liberty and justice for all." Our flag must never be misused or defiled as a bandana for war crimes, as a gag against the people's freedom of speech and conscience or as a fig leaf to hide the shame of charlatans in high public office, who violate our Constitution, our laws and our founding fathers' framework for accountable, responsive government." - Ralph Nader
"Three fatall Sisters wait upon each sin; First, Fear and Shame without, then Guilt within." - Robert Herrick
"To be rash is to be bold without shame and without skill." - Roger Ascham
"In shame there is no comfort, but to be beyond all bounds of shame." - Philip Sidney, fully Sir Philip Sidney
"A life of shame is shame for noble souls." - Sophocles NULL
"Poverty is not a Shame, but being ashamed of it is." - Thomas Fuller
"Poverty is not a shame, but the being ashamed of it." - Thomas Fuller
"He that has no Shame, has no Conscience." - Thomas Fuller
"The public have neither shame nor gratitude." - William Hazlitt
"Where fear is, shame is." - Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, sometimes known as Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam
"Children learn what they live. If children live with criticism,they learn to condemn. If children live with hostility, they learn to fight. If children live with fear,they learn to be apprehensive. If children live with pity,they learn to feel sorry for themselves. If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy. If children live with jealousy,they learn what envy is. If children live with shame,they learn to feel guilty. If children live with tolerance,they learn to be patient. If children live with encouragement,they learn to be confident. If children live with praise,they learn to appreciate. If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves. If children live with acceptance, they learn to find love in the world. If children live with recognition, they learn to have a goal. If children live with sharing, they learn to be generous. If children live with honesty and fairness, they learn what truth and justice are. If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and those around them. If children live with friendliness, they learn that the world is a nice place in which to live. If children live with serenity, they learn to have a peace of mind. With what are your children living? " -
"Children learn what they live. If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn. If children live with hostility, they learn to fight. If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive. If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves. If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy. If children live with jealousy, they learn what envy is. If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty. If children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient. If children live with encouragement, they learn to be confident. If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate. If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves. If children live with acceptance, they learn to find love in the world. If children live with recognition, they learn to have a goal. If children live with sharing, they learn to be generous. If children live with honesty and fairness, they learn what truth and justice are. If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and those around them. If children live with friendliness, they learn that the world is a nice place in which to live. If children live with serenity, they learn to have a peace of mind. With what are your children living?" - Dorothy Law Nolte
"He who puts a friend to public shame is as guilty as a murderer." - Hebrew Proverbs
"Everyone has his faults which he continually repeats: neither fear nor shame can cure them. " - Jean de La Fontaine
"It is a shame for a man to desire honor because of his noble progenitors, and not to deserve it by his own virtue." - John Chrysotom
"No one in the world was ever you before, with your particular gifts and abilities and possibilities. It’s a shame to waste those by doing what someone else has done." - Joseph Campbell
"The worst kind of shame is being ashamed of frugality or poverty." - Livy, formally Titus Livius, aka Titus Livy NULL
"False shame only is harmful." - Livy, formally Titus Livius, aka Titus Livy NULL
"One of the misfortunes of our time is that in getting rid of false shame we have killed off so much real shame as well." - Louis Kronenberger