This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
No repentance on earth can undo the past.
Character | Earth | Past | Repentance |
One need remain in hell no longer than he chooses to; and the moment he chooses not to remain longer, not all the powers in the universe can prevent his leaving it. One can rise to any heaven he himself chooses; and when he chooses so to rise, all the higher powers of the universe combine to help him heavenward.
From the perspective of the minuteness of our planet in relationship with the entire universe a person’s seeking honor is ridiculous.
Character | Honor | Relationship | Universe |
Hugh Walpole, fully Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole
I believe the root of all happiness on this earth to life in the realization of a spiritual life with a consciousness of something wider than materialism; in the capacity to live in a world that makes you unselfish because you are not over anxious about your personal place; that makes you tolerant because you realize your own comic fallibility; that gives you tranquillity without complacency because you believe in something so much larger than yourself.
Capacity | Character | Complacency | Consciousness | Earth | Life | Life | Materialism | Tranquility | World | Happiness |
Walt Whitman, fully Walter "Walt" Whitman
Simplicity is the glory of expression. The whole theory of the universe is directed unerringly to one single individual.
Character | Glory | Simplicity | Universe |
The physical loss is not sufficient for mourning. Purely on a physical level what would a person gain if he lived many more years? What is the ultimate gain in devouring hundreds more chickens and thousands more loaves of bread? What is the overall difference if the deceased left all this to others? The Torah obligates us to mourn to emphasize the loss of the true value of life; which is the spiritual elevation a person could have gained if he were still alive. The Almighty placed him on this earth for this purpose. The person’s death should remind the mourners to fill their lives with the spiritual growth that they are capable of.
Character | Death | Earth | Growth | Life | Life | Mourn | Mourning | Purpose | Purpose | Loss | Torah | Value |
Walt Whitman, fully Walter "Walt" Whitman
All the things of the universe are perfect miracles, each as profound as any.
Thomas Wolfe, fully Thomas Clayton Wolfe
I think the enemy is here before us... I think the enemy is simple selfishness and compulsive greed... I think he stole our earth from us, destroyed our wealth, and ravaged and despoiled our home land.
Character | Earth | Enemy | Greed | Land | Selfishness | Wealth | Think |
Arnold Bennett, fully Enoch Thomas Arnold Bennett
You wake up in the morning, and your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. No one can take it from you. And no one receives either more or less than you receive.