This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Catherine II "Catherine the Great", born Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg NULL
I praise loudly; I blame softly.
Charles de Saint-Évremond, fully Charles Marguetel de Saint-Denis, seigneur de Évremond
Reputation is rarely proportioned to virtue. We have seen a thousand people esteemed, either for the merit they had not yet attained or for that they no longer possessed.
Though we may sometimes unintentionally bestow our beneficence on the unworthy, it does not take from the merit of the act. For charity doth not adopt the vices of its objects.
The man who is consumed by hate is not only a misery to himself, but a source of misery to all around him, not because of the menace he offers to our interests but because he defiles the atmosphere we breathe and debases the currency of our kind.
We should not be too hasty in bestowing either our praise or censure on mankind, since we shall often find such a mixture of good and evil in the same character, that it may require a very accurate judgment and a very elaborate inquiry to determine on which side the balance turns.
Balance | Censure | Character | Evil | Good | Inquiry | Judgment | Mankind | Praise |
To be loved, we should merit but little esteem; all superiority attracts awe and aversion.
He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper; but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to any circumstances.
Character | Circumstances | Happy | Temper |
There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.
A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.