This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
A grievous burden was thy birth to me; Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy; Thy schooldays frightful, desp'rate, wile and furious; Thy prime of manhood daring, bold, and venturous; Thy age confirmed, proud, subtle, sly, and bloody, More mild, but yet more harmful--kind in hatred. Richard III, Act iv, Scene 4
All gold and silver rather turn to dirt, An 'tis no better reckoned but of these Who worship dirty gods. Cymbeline (Arviragus at III, vi)
Spirit |
All pride is willing pride. Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act ii, Scene 1
Spirit |
All the courses of my life do show I am not in the roll of common men.
Light |
BEATRICE: What is he to a lord? Messenger: A lord to a lord, a man to a man; stuffed with all honourable virtues. Beatrice: It is so indeed, he is no less than a stuffed man, but for the stuffing, — Well, we are all mortal. Much Ado About Nothing, Act I, Scene 1
A frequent intercession with God, earnestly beseeching Him to forgive the sins of all mankind, to bless them with His providence, enlighten them with His Spirit, and bring them to everlasting happiness, is the divinest exercise that the heart of man can be engaged in. Be daily, therefore, on your knees, in a solemn deliberate performance of this devotion, praying for others in such forms, with such length, importunity, and earnestness, as you use for yourself; and you will find all little, ill-natured passions die away, your heart grow great and generous, delighting in the common happiness of others, as you used only to delight in your own.
Fear and Hope — those are the names of the two great passions which rule the race of man, and with which revolutionists have to deal; to give hope to the many oppressed and fear to the few oppressors, that is our business; if we do the first and give hope to the many, the few must be frightened by their hope; otherwise we do not want to frighten them; it is not revenge we want for poor people, but happiness; indeed, what revenge can be taken for all the thousands of years of the sufferings of the poor?
Light |
Lo, the lovers unloved that draw nigh for your blessing! For your tale makes the dreaming whereby yet they live the dreams of the day with their hopes of redressing, the dreams of the night with the kisses they give, the dreams of the dawn wherein death and hope strive.
Eve shall kiss night, and the leaves stir like rain as the wind stealeth light o'er the grass of the plain. Unseen are thine eyes mid the dreamy night's sleeping, and on my mouth there lies
So I say, if you cannot learn to love real art at least learn to hate sham art and reject it.
Affected simplicity is refined imposture.
Absence lessens moderate passions and increases great ones; as the wind extinguishes the taper, but kindles the burning dwelling.
Passion |
Duke Ellington, fully Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington
You can’t write music right unless you know how the man that’ll play it plays poker.