This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
To feel, to feel exquisitely, is the lot of every man; it is the charm that lends a superstitious joy to fear. But to appreciate belongs to the few; to one or two alone, here and there, the blended passion and understanding that constitute in its essence worship.
Character | Fear | Joy | Man | Passion | Understanding | Worship |
Lillian Smith, fully Lillian Eugenia Smith
Minds broken in two. Hearts broken. Conscience torn from acts. A culture split in a thousand pieces. That is segregation.
Character | Conscience | Culture |
We grow with the years more fragile in body but morally stouter, and can throw off the chill of a bad conscience almost at once.
Body | Character | Conscience |
We can do nothing well without joy, and a good conscience which is the ground of joy.
Character | Conscience | Good | Joy | Nothing |
Moritz Saphir, fully Moritz Gottlieb Saphir, born Moses Saphir
The quintessence of every passion is selfishness.
Character | Passion | Selfishness |
Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt.
Character | Conscience | Fear | Guilt |
To achieve something great in the world you need Passion To fulfill vision, a great leader’s courage comes from Passion Whatever it may be, you must find your Passion If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins Follow your passion and success will follow you! Never underestimate the power of passion Without passion religion is spiritless Without Passion history is meaningless Without Passion art is useless Follow your passion and success will follow you! When you take up a mission with passion There are no dreams too large No innovation unimaginable No frontiers beyond reach Follow your passion and success will follow you! Our passions are the winds that propel our vessel Our reason is the pilot that steers her Without winds the vessel would not move Without a pilot she would be lost Follow your passion and success will follow you! There is no end and there is no beginning There is only the passion of life Passion is universal humanity Passion is the genesis of genius Follow your passion and success will follow you!
Art | Character | Courage | Dreams | History | Innovation | Mission | Need | Passion | Power | Reason | Religion | Success | Will | World | Art |
Good character is human nature in its best form. It is moral order embodied in the individual. Men of character are not only the conscience of society, but in every well governed state they are its best motive power; for it is moral qualities which, in the main, rule the world.
Character | Conscience | Good | Human nature | Individual | Men | Nature | Order | Power | Qualities | Rule | Society | World |
A passion comes to an end; it is carried off in a coffin, or, weeping in a post-chaise; it drops out of life one way or another, and the earth-clods close over it, and we see it no more. But it has been part of our souls, and it is eternal.
Madame Swetchine, fully Anne Sophie Swetchine née Sophia Petrovna Soïmonov or Soymanof
Our faults afflict us more than our good deeds console. Pain is ever uppermost in the conscience as in the heart.
Character | Conscience | Deeds | Good | Heart | Pain | Deeds |
Lawrence Sterne, alternatively Laurence Sterne
Trust that man is nothing who has not a conscience in everything.
Character | Conscience | Man | Nothing | Trust |
No man becomes fully evil at once; but suggestion bringeth on indulgence; indulgence, delight; delight, consent; consent, endeavor; endeavor, practice; practice, custom; custom, excuse; excuse, defense; defense, obstinacy; obstinacy, boasting; boasting, a seared conscience and a reprobate mind.
Boasting | Character | Conscience | Custom | Defense | Evil | Indulgence | Man | Mind | Practice |
The desire to serve others is the highest impulse of the human heart and the rewards of such service are beyond measure. If you wish to taste this, then just do it. Just take one step... You will see that the tyranny of self-concern, worry, and trivial pursuits can be released from your life with that single step. It doesn't really matter what you do, it only matters that you do it.
Character | Desire | Heart | Impulse | Life | Life | Self | Service | Taste | Tyranny | Will | Worry |