This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"Just as a tested and rugged virtue of the moral hero is worth more than the lovely, tender, untried innocence of the child, so is the massive strength of a soul that has conquered truth for itself worth more than the soft peach-bloom faith of a soul that takes truth on trust." - Francis Ellington Abbot
"It's what each of us sows, and how, that gives to us character and prestige. Seeds of kindness, goodwill, and human understanding, planted in fertile soil, spring up into deathless friendships, big deeds of worth, and a memory that will not soon fade out. We are all sowers of seeds - and let us never forget it!" - George Matthew Adams
"An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of learning." - Thomas Adams
"Once thing here is worth a great deal, to pass thy life in truth and justice, with a benevolent disposition even to liars and unjust men." - Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
"The one thing worth living for is to keep one's soul pure." - Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
"No one's worth wrath." - Henry Christopher "H.C." Bailey
"Nothing of worth or weight can be achieved with half a mind, with a faint heart, and with a lame endeavor." - Isaac Barrow
"We must learn that competence is better than extravagance, that worth is better than wealth, that the golden calf we have worshipped has no more brains than that one of old which the Hebrews worshipped. So beware of money and money’s worth as the supreme passion of the mind. Beware of the craving for enormous acquisition." -
"An ounce of practice is worth a pound of precept." - R. D. Blackmore, fully Richard Doddridge Blackmore
"True worth is in being, not seeming." - Alice Cary
"If thou takes virtue for the rule of life, and valuest thyself upon acting in all things comfortably thereto, thou wilt have no cause to envy lords and princes; for blood is inherited, but virtue is common property and may be acquired by all; it has, moreover, an intrinsic worth, which blood has not." - Miguel de Cervantes, fully Miguel de Cervantes Saaversa
"Three things too much and three too little are pernicious to man: to speak much and know little; to spend much and have little; to presume much and be worth little." - Miguel de Cervantes, fully Miguel de Cervantes Saaversa
"Infidelity gives nothing in return for what it takes away. What, then, is it worth? Everything valuable has a compensating power. Not a blade of grass that withers, or the ugliest weed that is flung away to rot and die, but reproduces something." - Thomas Chalmers
"I see nothing worth living for but the divine virtue which endures and surrenders all things for truth, duty, and mankind." - William Ellery Channing
"The domestic relations precede, and in our present existence are worth more than all our other social ties. They give the first throb to the heart, and unseal the deep fountains of its love. Home is the chief school of human virtue. Its responsibilities, joys, sorrows, smiles, tears, hopes, and solicitudes form the chief interest of human life." - William Ellery Channing
"The only freedom worth possessing is that which gives enlargement to a people’s energy, intellect and virtues." - William Ellery Channing
"The only freedom worth possessing is that which gives enlargement to a people's energy, intellect and virtues... Progress, the growth of intelligence and power, is the end and boon of liberty; and, without this, a people may have the name, but want the substance and spirit of freedom." - William Ellery Channing
"Your awareness of your self-worth is not a contradiction to the obligation to be humble. Humility is not a lack of awareness of your positive accomplishments and abilities. Only a fool is not aware of what he really is an this is not humility. Humility is the internalized awareness with every fiber of your body that everything, yes everything, you have is not your own. Rather it is a gift from the Almighty who bestowed His kindness on you. The more a person actually feels that what he has is a gift the greater is his humility." - Yehuda Leib Chasman
"Whatsoever is worthy of their love is worth their anger." - John Denham, fully Sir John Denham
"A person lacking internal feelings of self-worth feels a need for honor from others. The greater the lack of self-esteem, the greater the need for the validation of one’s self-worth through the approval of others." - Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler
"When the great finals come, each one of us will be asked five questions: First: What did you accomplish in the world with the power that God gave you? Second: How did you help your neighbor and what did you do for those in need? Third: What did you do to serve God? Fourth: What did you leave in the world that was worth while when you came from it? Last: What did you bring into this world which will be of use here?" - J. Stanley Durkee
"The vital force in business life is the honest desire to serve. Business, it is said, is the science of service. He profits most who serves best. At the very bottom of the wish to render service must be honesty of purpose, and, as I go along through life, I see more and more that honesty in word, thought, and work means success. It spells a life worth living and in business clean success." - Abba Eban, born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban
"There is no detraction worse than to over-praise a man, for if his worth proves short of what report doth speak of him, his own actions are ever giving the lie of his honor." - Owen Feltham
"Life was not given for indolent contemplation and study of self, nor for brooding over emotions of piety: actions and actions only determine the worth." - Immanual Hermann Fichte
"Worth begets in base minds, envy; in great souls, emulation." - Henry Fielding
"One never finds life worth living. One always has to make it worth living." - Harry Emerson Fosdick
"If principle is good for anything, it is worth living up to." - Benjamin Franklin
"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead,, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing." - Benjamin Franklin
"When the well's dry, we know the worth of water." - Benjamin Franklin
"The best teacher is... the one who kindles an inner fire, arouses moral enthusiasm, inspires the student with a vision of what he may become and reveals the worth and permanency of moral and spiritual and cultural values." - Harold Gwyer Garnett
"Every situation - nay, every moment - is of infinite worth, for it is the representative of a whole eternity." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"In the works of man as in those of nature, it is the intention which is chiefly worth studying." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Security and equality cannot bring man happiness.. but they can bring him something no less important - dignity - a sense of social value and individual worth." - Hayim Greenberg
"One pang of conscience is worth more than many lashes." - Jose ben Halafta, or Rabbi Yose ben Halafta, aka Rabbi Yossi
"In building a firm foundation for Success, here are a few stones to remember: The wisdom of preparation. The value of confidence. The worth of honesty. The privilege of working. The discipline of struggle. The magnetism of character. The radiance of health. The forcefulness of simplicity. The winsomeness of courtesy. The attractiveness of modesty. The inspiration of cleanliness. The satisfaction of serving. The power of suggestion. The buoyancy of enthusiasm. The advantage of initiative. The virtue of patience. The rewards of co-operation. The fruitfulness of perseverance. The sportsmanship of losing. The joy of winning." - Rollo C. Hester
"Hidden worth differs little from buried indolence." - Horace, full name Quintus Horatius Flaccus NULL
"A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice." - E. W. Howe, fully Edgar Watson Howe
"No man ever knows the few joys of living without some sort of success to his credit. Of all the games worth a candle, success is first. The greatest punishment is to be despised by your neighbors, the world and members of your family." - E. W. Howe, fully Edgar Watson Howe
"True wisdom is to know what is best worth knowing, and to do what is best worth doing." - Edward Porter Humphrey
"True wisdom is to know what is best worth knowing, and to do what is best worth doing." - Hubert Humphrey, fully Hubert Horatio Humphrey
"True wisdom is to know what is best worth knowing, and to do what is best worth doing." - Harry E. Humphreys, Jr.
"As a rule, the game of life is worth playing, but the struggle is the prize." - William Ralph Inge
"Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create that fact." - William James
"The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it." - Carl Jung, fully Carl Gustav Jung
"True worth is as inevitably discovered by the facial expression, as its opposite is sure to be clearly represented there. The human face is nature’s tablet, the truth is certainly written thereon." - Johann Kaspar Lavater
"It is not the truth which a man possesses, or believes he possesses, but the earnest effort which he puts forth to reach the truth, which constitutes the worth of a man. For it is not by the possession, by the search after truth that he enlarges his power, wherein alone consists his ever-increasing perfection. Possession makes one content, indolent, proud." - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
"It is, I think, an error to believe that there is any need of religion to make life seem worth living." - Sinclair Lewis, fully Harry Sinclair Lewis