This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
If there should be any [persons], who though ignorant in Mathematics, yet pretending a skill in those Learnings, should dare, upon the authority of some place of Scripture wrested to their purpose, to condemn and censure my Hypothesis, I value them not, but shall slight their inconsiderate judgment.
Authority | Censure | Hypothesis | Judgment | Mathematics | Purpose | Purpose | Scripture | Skill | Value |
Throughout history, individuals have solved apparently impossible problems during moments of intense inner clarity. Variously called inspiration, peak performance, creative insight, and higher creativity, such moments produce illuminated understanding, which can then be shaped, revised, and carried forward by skill alone.
Creativity | History | Insight | Inspiration | Problems | Skill | Understanding |
Few things are impossible to diligence and skill... Great works are performed, not by strength, but perseverance.
Diligence | Perseverance | Skill | Strength |
Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr., born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger
Success in administration obviously stands or falls on skill in execution. Execution means, above, all, the right people – it means having men and women capable of providing the information and carrying out the decision.
Administration | Decision | Means | Men | People | Right | Skill | Success |
Dan Millman, born Daniel Jay Millman
Discipline is the surest means to greater freedom and independence; it provides the focus to achieve the skill level and depth of knowledge that translates into more options in life... The Law of Discipline points to a paradox. While freedom is our transcendent birthright, it must be earned in this world; discipline remains the key to freedom and independence.
Discipline | Focus | Freedom | Knowledge | Law | Life | Life | Means | Paradox | Skill | World |
It is for the most part in our skill in manners, and in the observation of time and place and of decency in general that what is called taste consists; and which is in reality no other that a more refined judgment. The cause of a wrong taste is a defect of judgment.
Cause | Judgment | Manners | Observation | Reality | Skill | Taste | Time | Wrong |
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
The art of archery is not an athletic ability mastered more or less through primarily physical practice, but rather a skill with its origin in mental exercise and with its object consisting in mentally hitting the mark. Therefore, the archer is basically aiming himself. Through this, perhaps, he will succeed in hitting the target - his essential self.
Ability | Art | Object | Practice | Self | Skill | Will | Art |
Ten Success Rules: Put success before amusement. Learn something every day. Cut free from routine. Concentrate on net profits. Make your services known. Never worry over trifles. Shape your decisions quickly. Acquire skill and technique. Deserve loyalty and co-operation. Value character above all.
Character | Day | Loyalty | Loyalty | Skill | Success | Trifles | Worry | Learn | Value |
Henry Kissinger, fully Henry Alfred Kissinger
Effective policy depends not only on the skill of individual moves, but even more importantly on their relationship to each other.
Individual | Policy | Relationship | Skill |
I observe the physician with the same diligence as the disease.
It is far more difficult to be simple than to be complicated; far more difficult to sacrifice skill and cease exertion in the proper place, than to expend both indiscriminately.
Cicero, fully Marcus Tullius Cicero, anglicized as Tully NULL
Personal health is preserved by learning about one’s own constitution, by finding out what is good or bad for oneself, by continual self-control in eating habits and comforts (but just to the extent needed for self-preservation), by forgoing sensual pleasures, and lastly, by the professional skill of those to whose science these matters belong.
Control | Good | Health | Learning | Science | Self | Self-control | Self-preservation | Skill |
Menander, aka Menander of Athens NULL
All things are attained by diligence and toil.