This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
That is not the best sermon which makes the hearers go away talking to one another, and praising the speaker, but which makes them go away thoughtful and serious, and hastening to be alone.
Conscience is thoroughly well bred and soon leaves off talking to those who do not wish to hear it.
Character | Conscience | Talking |
If it is the great delusion of moralists to suppose that all previous ages were less sinful than their own, then it is the great delusion of intellectuals to supposed that all previous ages were less sick.
John T. McNicholas, fully John Timothy McNicholas
The God-given rights of parents are not understood or are ignored by our secularist educators and by many school administrators who, in the delusion of sovereignty, act as though they, not the parents, have complete control of the education of the child.
Character | Control | Delusion | Education | God | Parents | Rights |
One cannot properly appreciate the human realities so long as one labors under the adolescent delusion that people get the fates they deserve.
Elizabeth Bowen, Full name Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen
There is no end to the violations committed by children on children, quietly talking alone.
When you talk about your troubles, your ailments, your diseases, your hurts, you give longer life to what makes you unhappy. Talking about your grievances merely adds to those grievances. Give recognition only to what you desire. Think and talk only about the good things that add to your enjoyment of your work and life. If you don't talk about your grievances, you'll be delighted to find them disappearing quickly.
Desire | Enjoyment | Good | Life | Life | Talking | Troubles | Wisdom | Work | Think |
People are always talking about originality; but what do they mean? As soon as we are born, the world begins to work on us; and this goes on to the end. And after all, what can we call our own, except energy, strength, and will. If I could give an account of all that I owe to great predecessors and contemporaries there would be but a small balance in my favor.
Balance | Energy | Originality | People | Strength | Talking | Will | Wisdom | Work | World |
Whenever I hear people talking about "liberal ideas," I am always astounded that men should love to fool themselves with empty sounds. An idea should never be liberal; it must be vigorous, positive, and without loose ends so that it may fulfill its divine mission and be productive. The proper place for liberality is in the realm of the emotions.
Emotions | Ends | Ideas | Love | Men | Mission | People | Talking | Wisdom |
Many a time I have wanted to stop talking and find out what I really believed.