This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
A king rules as he ought, a tyrant as he lists; a king to the profit of all, a tyrant only to please a few.
Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.
Life | Life | Opportunity | Responsibility |
I have accustomed myself to receive with respect the opinion of others but always take the responsibility of deciding for myself.
Opinion | Receive | Respect | Responsibility | Respect |
Arnold J. Toynbee, fully Arnold Joseph Toynbee
As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice, and we cannot shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of God or nature. We must shoulder it ourselves. It is up to us.
[Man’s] self-conscious existence as man forces on him a choice of uses for his faculties... This choice is what is called free will. Free will, therefore, not only a prerogative but an obligation for man. Free will thus understood, has nothing to do with destiny. It is a power which man is compelled by his own nature to use, whether the use he makes of it is predestined or not... the responsibility of deciding rests with me just the same whether the outcome is predetermined or not. If it is predetermined, it is my own past habit-forming and character-forming decisions in this and previous lifetimes which have predetermined it; and this decision in its turn will help to condition my mind, thus determining future ones.
Character | Choice | Decision | Destiny | Existence | Free will | Future | Habit | Man | Mind | Nature | Nothing | Obligation | Past | Power | Responsibility | Self | Will |
Perfect clarity would profit the intellect but damage the will.
Booker T. Washington, fully Booker Taliaferro Washington
Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon them and to let them know that you trust them.
Individual | Responsibility | Trust |
No one can deny that much of our modern advertising is essentially dishonest; and it can be maintained that to lie freely and all the time for private profit is not to abuse the right of free speech, whether it is a violation of the law or not. But again the practical question is, how much lying for private profit is to be permitted by law?
Abuse | Advertising | Free speech | Law | Lying | Question | Right | Speech | Time |
The happiest people in the world are those who feel absolutely terrific about themselves, and this is the natural outgrowth of accepting total responsibility for every part of their life.
Life | Life | People | Responsibility | World |
Booker T. Washington, fully Booker Taliaferro Washington
Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.
Individual | Responsibility | Trust |
Each day, say ‘thank you’ for being alive. Each day, take responsibility for your physical performance. Each day, be careful of human nature [your own and others’]. Each day, behold the wonder of Mother nature.
Day | Human nature | Mother | Nature | Responsibility | Wonder |
Dan Millman, born Daniel Jay Millman
Our responsibility is to allow our deepest drivers and talents to find expression through whatever form of service or career we choose, in the most positive, altruistic way we can.
Dan Millman, born Daniel Jay Millman
Freedom and responsibility go together, as do independence and discipline.
Discipline | Freedom | Responsibility |
Dan Millman, born Daniel Jay Millman
This metaphor of a mountain path allows us to reconcile an ancient paradox about whether we truly have free will or whether our life is somehow predestined. At the moment of birth we are each given a specific inner mountain to climb, reflecting the force of predestination. How we climb and the time we take are up to us, reflecting the power of free will. In other words, we're given the playing field, but we choose how to play the game. We always have the power of choice, discipline, responsibility and commitment. No life path is harder or easier, better or worse, than any other, except to the degree we make it so.
Better | Birth | Choice | Commitment | Discipline | Force | Free will | Life | Life | Paradox | Play | Power | Predestination | Responsibility | Time | Will | Words |
Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the 'someday I'll’ philosophy.
Fear | People | Philosophy | Procrastination | Responsibility | Success | Will | Afraid |
Dwight Eisenhower, fully Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower
This is what I found out about religion. It gives you courage to make the decisions you must make in a crisis, and then the confidence to leave the result to Higher Power. Only by trust in God can a man carrying responsibility find repose.
Confidence | Courage | God | Man | Power | Religion | Repose | Responsibility | Trust | God |
It is to escape responsibility for failure that the weak so eagerly throw themselves into grandiose undertakings.
Failure | Responsibility | Failure |