This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Alphonse de Lamartine, fully Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine
The greatness of a popular character is less according to the ratio of his genius than the sympathy he shows with the prejudices and even the absurdities of his time. Fanatics do not select the cleverest, but the most fanatical leaders.
We are in the grip of a scientific materialism, caught in a vicious cycle where our security today seems to depend on regimentation and weapons which will ruin us tomorrow… the intellectual achievements of great scientists are being perverted by the material exploitation of industry and war…I have lived to experience the early results of scientific materialism… have watched pride of workmanship leave and human character decline as efficiency of production lines increased… I have seen the science I worshipped and the aircraft I loved destroying the civilization I expected them to save.
Character | Civilization | Efficiency | Experience | Industry | Materialism | Pride | Science | Security | Tomorrow | War | Weapons | Will |
C. S. Lewis, fully Clive Staples "C.S." Lewis, called "Jack" by his family
The truth is that right actions done for the wrong reasons do not help to build the internal quality or character that is called "virtue," and it is this quality or character that really matters.
Charles de Gaulle, fully Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle
Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.
Action | Character | Man | Responsibility |
Claudian, latin Claudius Claudianus NULL
The noblest character is stained by the addition of pride.
Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.
Character | Control | Self | Understanding |
David Ben-Gurion, born David Grün
The State of Israel will prove itself not by material wealth, not by military might or technical achievement, but by its moral character and human values.
Achievement | Character | Wealth | Will |
If we see the universe as not simply a bunch of dead matter and empty space but actually a living system, then our story may well be one of learning how to live together in a living universe. If we don't have a story to guide us into the future, we're going to pull back into our smaller life stories of the past--stories of nationalism, of ethnic groups, of tribal groups, of geographic groups--and instead of pulling together in cooperation we're going to pull apart in conflict. What I am suggesting is to step back and see the universe as our original, larger home. If we are going to pull together as a human family for a promising future, this is an inclusive project; no one is left out.
Cooperation | Family | Future | Learning | Life | Life | Past | Space | Story | System | Universe |
Émile Durkheim, fully David Émile Durkheim
A family which allows one of its members to die without being wept for shows by that very fact that it lacks moral unity and cohesion; it abdicates, it renounces its existence.
Eleanor Roosevelt, fully Anna Eleanor Roosevelt
Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth.
Erich Fromm, fully Erich Seligmann Fromm
Love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person; it is an attitude, an orientation of character which determines the relatedness of a person to the world as a whole, not toward one "object" of love.
Character | Relationship | World |
Elizabeth Janeway, born Elizabeth Ames Hall
Growing up human is uniquely a matter of social relations rather than biology. What we learn from connections within the family takes the place of instincts that program the behavior of animals; which raises the question, how good are these connections?
Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open.
E. O. Wilson, fully Edward Osborne "E.O." Wilson
True character arises from a deeper well than religion. It is the internalization of moral principles of a society, augmented by those tenets personally chosen by the individual, strong enough to endure through trials of solitude and adversity. The principles are fitted together into what we call integrity, literally the integrated self, wherein personal decisions feel good and true. Character is in turn the enduring source of virtue. It stands by itself and excites admiration in others
Admiration | Character | Enough | Good | Principles | Solitude | Tenets | Trials |
If you dream of something worth doing and then simply go to work on it and don't think anything of personalities, or emotional conflicts, or of money, or of family distractions; if you think of, detail by detail, what you have to do next, it is a wonderful dream even though the end is a long way off, for there are about five thousand steps to be taken before we realize it; and [when you] start taking the first ten, and ... twenty after that, it is amazing how quickly you get through through the four thousand [nine hundred] and ninety. The last ten steps you never seem to work out. But you keep on coming nearer to giving the world something.
Eddie Rickenbacker, formally Edward Vernon "Eddie" Rickenbacker
The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: Initiative, Imagination, Individuality and Independence.