This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
The formation of one’s character ought to be everyone’s chief aim.
There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.
Helen Keller. aka Helen Adams Keller
A man can't make a place for himself in the sun if he keeps taking refuge under the family tree.
Jack L. Nelson & William B. Stanley
Most teachers do not like controversy. A study some years ago found that 92 percent of teachers did not initiate discussion of controversial issues, 89 percent didn't discuss controversial issues when students brought them up, and 79 percent didn't believe they should. Among the topics that teachers felt children were interested in discussing but that most teachers believed should not be discussed in the classroom were the Vietnam War, politics, race relations, nuclear war, religion, and family problems such as divorce.
Children | Controversy | Discussion | Family | Politics | Problems | Race | Religion | Study | War |
Nancy Moser, born Nancy Etta Lynette Jeffrey
Characters live to be noticed. People with character notice how they live.
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
The most powerful lessons about ethics and morality do not come from school discussions or classes in character-building. They come from family life where people treat one another with respect, consideration, and love.
Character | Consideration | Ethics | Family | Life | Life | Love | Morality | People | Respect |
Small kindnesses, small courtesies, small considerations, habitually practiced in our social intercourse, give a greater charm to the character than the display of great talents and accomplishments.
Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.
Character | Education | Intelligence |
In general the character tradition assumes that institutions such as families, schools, and long-lived organizations will act more wisely than individuals and also that individuals who have lived through a variety of experiences have learned things that many young people do not yet know.