This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden.
Distrust |
That which acts for an end unknown to itself, depends upon some overruling wisdom that knows that end. Who should direct them in all those ends, but He that bestowed a being upon them for those ends; who knows what is convenient for their life, security, and propagation of their natures? An exact knowledge is necessary both of what is agreeable to them, and the means whereby they must attain it, which, since it is not inherent in them, is in that wise God who puts those instincts into them, and governs them in the exercise of them to such ends.
Doctrine | Fear | God | Hell | Joy | Nothing | Order | Present | Security | Vengeance | Wishes | God | Afraid | Guilty |
Will Rogers, fully William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers
Do the best you can, and don't take life too serious.
Willa Cather, fully Willa Sibert Cather
Sometimes I wonder why God ever trusts talent in the hands of women, they usually make such an infernal mess of it. I think He must do it as a sort of ghastly joke.
The Lord is without attributes; the attributes of virtue are under His control.
Lord | Selfishness | Worship |
Those who are greedy and avaricious end up in misery. Because of their evil deeds they are short lived.
There are no exact guidelines. There are probably no guidelines at all. The only thing I can recommend at this stage is a sense of humor, an ability to see things in their ridiculous and absurd dimensions, to laugh at others and at ourselves, a sense of irony regarding everything that calls out for parody in this world. In other words, I can only recommend perspective and distance. Awareness of all the most dangerous kinds of vanity, both in others and in ourselves. A good mind. A modest certainty about the meaning of things. Gratitude for the gift of life and the courage to take responsibility for it. Vigilance of spirit.
Ability | Absurd | Courage | Good | Gratitude | Life | Life | Meaning | Responsibility | Sense | Sensibility |
Where there are no sheep, they call goats Abdur Rahim Chelebi.(In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king!)
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.
The generality of men have, like plants, latent properties, which chance brings to light.
O, what a world of vile ill-favored faults Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year. The Merry Wives of Windsor (Anne Page at III, iv)
Conscience | Cunning | Defeat | Devil | Father | Force | Gall | Heart | Heaven | Life | Life | Murder | Oppression | Passion | Play | Power | Property | Revenge | Soul | Spirit | Tears | Weakness | Will | Words | Murder | Guilty |