This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
The priest, realistically considered, is the most immoral of men, for he is always willing to sacrifice every other sort of good to the one good of his arcanum - the vague body of mysteries that he calls the truth.
Clich‚s, stock phrases, adherence to conventional, standardized codes of expression and conduct have the socially recognized function of protecting us against reality.
Power corrupts... when the weak band together in order to ruin the strong, but not before. The will to power... far from being a characteristic of the strong, is, like envy and greed, among the vices of the weak, and possibly even their most dangerous one.
Substance is not enough, accident is also required.
When rogues go in procession the devil carries the cross.
Important | Self-knowledge | Truths |
When the danger is past God is cheated.
Absence | Atheism | Awareness | Awe | Cause | Fortune | Good | Gratitude | Ideas | Important | Insight | Language | Life | Life | Majority | Man | Myth | Need | Nothing | Object | Power | Prosperity | Question | Reality | Religion | Reputation | Reverence | Right | Sacred | Sense | Truth | Understanding | World | Awareness | Understand |
J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. And he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire within; and the evening meal was ready, and he was expected. And Rose drew him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap.
J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly
But some of us are beginning to pull well away, in our irritation, from... the exquisite tasters, the vintage snobs, the three-star Michelin gourmets. There is, we feel, a decent area somewhere between boiled carrots and Beluga caviar, sour plonk and Chateau Lafitte, where we can take care of our gullets and bellies without worshipping them.
Absolute | Compassion | Equity | Heart | Honor | Suffering | Work | World |