This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
A good case can be made for the proposition that, although involved or passionate commitment to some cause or ideal is normally healthy and happiness-producing, devout, pious, or fanatic commitment to the same kind of cause or ideal is potentially pernicious and frequently (though not always) does much more harm than good.
Cause | Commitment | Good | Harm | Pious |
Al Gore, Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr.,
What makes the United States special in the history of nations is our commitment to the rule of law and our carefully constructed system of checks and balances. Our national distrust of concentrated power and our devotion to openness and democracy are what have led us as a people to consistently choose good over evil in our collective aspirations.
Commitment | Democracy | Devotion | Distrust | Evil | Good | History | Law | Nations | Openness | People | Power | Rule | System |
Vince Lombardi, fully Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi
The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
Commitment | Excellence | Life | Life | Excellence |
I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life's greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they achieve. This level of resolve can move mountains, but it must be constant and consistent.
Commitment | Life | Life |
True commitment begins when we reach the point of not knowing how we can possibly go on, and decide to do it anyway.
Commitment | Knowing |
The ‘great’ commitment is so much easier than the ordinary everyday one - and can all too easily shut our hearts to the latter. A willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice can be associated with, and even produce, a great hardness of heart.
Commitment | Heart | Sacrifice |
We are all afraid - for our confidence, for the future, for the world. That is the nature of the human imagination. Yet every man, every civilization has gone forward because of its engagement with what it has set itself to do. The personal commitment and the emotional commitment working together as one, has made the Ascent of Man.
Civilization | Commitment | Confidence | Future | Imagination | Man | Nature | World | Engagement | Afraid |
M. Scott Peck, fully Morgan Scott Peck
Genuine love implies commitment and the exercise of wisdom.
Commitment | Love | Wisdom |
Martin Seligman, Martin E. P. "Marty" Seligman
Optimism is just a useful adjunct to wisdom. By itself it cannot provide meaning. Optimism is a tool to help the individual achieve the goals he has set for himself. It is in the choice of the goals themselves that meaning - or emptiness - resides. When learned optimism is coupled with a renewed commitment to the commons [common good], our epidemic of depression and meaninglessness may end.
Choice | Commitment | Depression | Goals | Good | Individual | Meaning | Optimism | Wisdom |
The moment you commit and quit holding back, all sorts of unforseen incidents, meetings and material assistance will rise up to help you. The simple act of commitment is a powerful magnet for help
Commitment | Will |
Sharpen your thinking about goal setting. Be realistic about the amount of time and effort that might be necessary. Make a commitment to excellence. Learn to distinguish between a goal and a wish. Prepare for ultimate goals by achieving your interim goals. Choose goals that will benefit others as well as yourself.
Commitment | Distinguish | Effort | Excellence | Goals | Thinking | Time | Will | Learn |
If there is anything more dangerous to the life of the mind than having no independent commitment to ideas, it is having an excess of commitment to some special and constricting idea.
Truth is not really a soul word; souls is after insight more than truth. Truth is a stopping point asking for commitment and defense. Insight is a fragment of awareness that invites further exploration. Intellect tends to enshrine its truth, while soul hopes that insights will keep coming until some degree of wisdom is achieved.
Awareness | Commitment | Defense | Insight | Soul | Truth | Will | Wisdom | Awareness | Intellect |
We live in a world that trusts logic, and from that commitment we distrust desire; but if we lived in a world that validated desire, we would know how to trust it.
Ted Kennedy, fully Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy
The commitment I seek is not to outworn views but to old values that will never wear out. Programs may sometimes become obsolete, but the ideal of fairness always endures. Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue.
Circumstances | Commitment | Compassion | Fairness | Will | Work | Old |
As compared with impulsive commitment to the first idea which dawns, that is, with intuitive action, reasoning is patient, exploratory of other possibilities, and deliberative.
My satisfaction comes from my commitment to advancing a better world.
Better | Commitment |
Gerald Ford, fully Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr., Orig. name Leslie Lynch King, Jr.
There are no adequate substitutes for father, mother, and children bound together in a loving commitment to nurture and protect. No government, no matter how well-intentioned, can take the place of the family in the scheme of things.
Children | Commitment | Family |
Blind commitment to a theory is not an intellectual virtue: it is an intellectual crime.