This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
The sad truth is that excellence makes people nervous.
Character | Excellence | People | Truth | Excellence |
Embellish the soul with simplicity, with prudence, and everything which is neither virtuous nor vicious. Love all men. Walk according to God; for, as a poet hath said, his laws govern all.
Character | God | Love | Men | Prudence | Prudence | Simplicity | Soul | Govern |
A great estate is a great disadvantage to those who do not know hot to use it, for nothing is more common than to see wealthy persons live scandalously and miserably; riches do them no service in order to virtue and happiness; it is precept and principle, not an estate, that makes a man good for something.
Character | Good | Man | Nothing | Order | Precept | Riches | Service | Virtue | Virtue | Riches |
Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then with a continuous series of such thoughts as these: that where a man can live, there he can also live well.
Enthusiasm is a kind of faith that has been set afire.
Character | Enthusiasm | Faith | Wisdom |
Whoever sets out to persuade men to accept a new idea, or one which seems to be new, not just as an idea, but as a truth that is felt, should know beforehand that the human mind is not a blank sheet, on which one an write with ease, and should not therefore grieve or despair when he finds that people do not pay attention to him.
Attention | Character | Despair | Men | Mind | People | Truth |
He that does not respect confidence will never find happiness in his path. The belief in virtue vanishes from his heart; the source of nobler actions becomes extinct in him.
Belief | Character | Confidence | Heart | Respect | Virtue | Virtue | Will | Wisdom | Respect | Happiness |
An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of learning.
Character | Discretion | Learning | Worth |
Be simple and modest in your deportment, and treat with indifference whatever lies between virtue and vice.
Character | Indifference | Virtue | Virtue |
Faith without evidence is, properly, not faith, but prejudice or presumption; faith beyond evidence is superstition, and faith contrary to evidence is either insanity or willful perversity of mind.
Character | Evidence | Faith | Insanity | Mind | Prejudice | Presumption | Superstition |