This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
We are material in the hands of the Genius of the universe for a still larger destiny that we cannot see in the everlasting rhythm of worlds.
Elizabeth Browning, fully Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Since when was genius found respectable?
Genius |
All the great – the permanently great – things that have been achieved in the world have been so achieved by individuals, working from the instinct of genius or goodness.
Build your reputation by helping other people build theirs.
People | Reputation |
Talent is a very common family trait; genius belongs rather to the individuals – just as you find one giant or one dwarf in a family, but rarely a whole brood of either. Talent is often to be envied, and genius very commonly to be pitied. It stands twice the chance of the other of dying in a hospital, in jail, in debt, in bad repute. It is a perpetual insult to mediocrity; its every word is a trespass against somebody’s vested ideas.
Chance | Debt | Family | Genius | Ideas | Insult | Mediocrity | Talent | Insult |
Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored… It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction.
Distinction | Genius |
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
Flattery’s fire is hidden. Its sweet taste is apparent, but the smoke is bound to come out at last.