This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Michel de Montaigne, fully Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness; her state is like that of things in the regions above the moon, always clear and serene.
Character | Cheerfulness | Wisdom |
Plautus, full name Titus Maccius Plautus NULL
Anger restrained is wisdom gained.
Plautus, full name Titus Maccius Plautus NULL
Not by age but by character is wisdom attained.
The goal of wisdom is laughter and play - not the kind that one sees in little children who do not yet have the faculty of reason, but the kind that is developed in those who have grown mature through both time and understanding. If someone has experienced the wisdom that can only be heard from oneself, learned from oneself, and created from oneself, he does not merely participate in laughter: he becomes laughter itself.
Character | Children | Laughter | Little | Play | Reason | Time | Understanding | Wisdom |
Who train themselves in wisdom cultivate true courage.
We ought, in humanity, no more to despise a man for the misfortunes of the mind that for those of the body, when they are such as he cannot help; were this thoroughly considered we should no more laugh at a man for having his brains cracked than for having his brain broke.
Learning, if rightly applied, makes a young man thinking, attentive, industrious, confident and wary; and an old man cheerful and useful. It is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, an entertainment at all times; it cheers in solitude, and gives moderation and wisdom in all circumstances.
Adversity | Character | Circumstances | Entertainment | Learning | Man | Moderation | Prosperity | Solitude | Thinking | Wisdom | Moderation | Old |
The height of all philosophy is to know thyself; and the end of this knowledge is to know God. Know thyself, that thou mayest know God; and know God, that thou mayest love him and be like him. In the one thou art initiated into wisdom; and in the other perfected in it.
Art | Character | God | Know thyself | Knowledge | Love | Philosophy | Wisdom | Art |
May those who represent advanced views bear in mind that true wisdom is always joined with mildness, that malice never converts the erring but strengthens him in his attitude, and that it is very unfitting to combat error (so long as this does not assume the aspect of injustice) with the weapons of hatred.
Shantananda Saraswathi, fully Swami Shantananda Saraswathi, born Chandrashekar
Our philosophy determines the quality of our life.... how many times you go through those ups and downs you maintain your Divine changelessness.
Character | Life | Life | Philosophy |
Consideration is not merely a matter of emotional goodwill but of intellectual vigor and moral self-sacrifice. Wisdom must combine with sympathy. That is why consideration underlies the phrase "a scholar and a gentleman," which really sums up the ideal of the output of a college education.
Character | Consideration | Education | Sacrifice | Scholar | Self | Self-sacrifice | Sympathy | Wisdom |
Don't laugh at a youth for his affections; he is only trying on one face after another to find a face of his own.