This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron
Forget thy affliction, and cease supplication, Recall thy release from Egyptian rod, The hand is not short that hath laid earth’s foundation, Who stretched out the heavens remaineth thy God. And at thy due season the glory that dwelleth In Zion shall rest on thy head that great day, When moonlight as sunlight in radiance welleth And sunlight shall glow with a sevenfold ray.
Mother |
Saint Isaac of Nineveh, also Isaac the Syrian, Isaac of Qatar and Isaac Syrus NULL
There is nothing which even Satan fears so much as prayer that is offered during vigilance at night. And even if it is offered with distraction, it does not return empty, unless perhaps that which is asked for is unsuitable.
Nothing | Prayer | Satan | Time | Tribulations | Vigilance | War | Will |
Saint Isaac of Nineveh, also Isaac the Syrian, Isaac of Qatar and Isaac Syrus NULL
This is the fruit of humility. And once a person has become humble, straightaway mercy encircles and embraces him; and once mercy has approached, immediately his heart becomes aware of God helping him. Then his heart is filled with faith, and from this he understands that prayer is the haven of help, the fountain of salvation, a treasury of assurance, a saving anchor in time of storm, a source of recovery at times of sickness, a staff for the weak, a shelter in time of trials, an illumination to those in darkness. [paraphrased]
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.
Simón Bolívar, fully Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Blanco
The art of victory is learned in defeat.
We build our personalities laboriously and through many years, and we cannot order fundamental changes just because we might value their utility; no button reading positive attitude protrudes from our hearts, and no finger can coerce positivity into immediate action by a single and painless pressing.
Freedom |
Walt Whitman, fully Walter "Walt" Whitman
And of the rights of them the others are down upon, of the deformed, trivial, flat, foolish, despised, fog in the air, beetles rolling balls of dung. Through me forbidden voices, voices of sexes and lusts, voices veiled and I remove the veil, voices indecent by me clarified and transfigured.
How could sufferings be relieved through purification? To know the Path is to get lost at the ford. Indeed, sickness comes from worldly love And poverty begins with the pursuit of greed.
W. Winwood Reade, fully William Winwood Reade
If Christianity were true religious persecution would become a pious and charitable duty: if God designs to punish men for their opinions it would be an act of mercy to mankind to extinguish such opinions. By burning the bodies of those who diffuse them many souls would be saved that would otherwise be lost, and so there would be an economy of torment in the long run. It is therefore not surprising that enthusiasts should be intolerant.
W. Winwood Reade, fully William Winwood Reade
As for the system of the Commune, which makes it impossible for a man to rise or fall, it is merely the old caste system revived; if it could be put into force, all industry would be disheartened, emulation would cease, and mankind would go to sleep.
Virgil, also Vergil, fully Publius Vergilius Maro NULL
Let us go singing as far as we go the road will be less tedious.
The greatness of democracy is that it denies nothing and renounces nothing of humanity. Next to the rights of Man, side by side with them, at least, are the rights of the Soul.
Man |
The whirring of the bowstring and the drums shall shout at the directions where the conquered armies of the enemies go in successive ranks.
There are times when we must sink to the bottom of our misery to understand truth, just as we must descend to the bottom of a well to see the stars in broad daylight.
Ability | Absurd | Awareness | Courage | Good | Gratitude | Irony | Life | Life | Meaning | Responsibility | Sense | Vigilance | Awareness |