This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Power, instrument of the collective force, created in society to serve as mediator between capital and labor, has become inescapably enchained to capital and directed against the proletariat. No political reform can resolve this contradiction, since, according to the avowal of politicians themselves, such a reform could only end by giving more energy and expansion to power, and until it had overthrown the hierarchy and dissolved society, power would not be able to attack the prerogatives of monopoly. The problem consists, then, for the working classes, not in capturing, but in defeating both power and monopoly, which would mean to make rise from the bowels of the people, from the depths of labor, a power greater, an action more powerful which would envelop capital and the State and subjugate them.
Action | Energy | Giving | Power | Reform | Society | Society |
To name a thing is easy: the difficulty is to discern it before its appearance. In giving expression to the last stage of an idea, — an idea which permeates all minds, which to-morrow will be proclaimed by another if I fail to announce it to-day, — I can claim no merit save that of priority of utterance. Do we eulogize the man who first perceives the dawn?
Difficulty | Giving | Man | Merit | Will |
Pitirim A. Sorokin, fully Pitirim Alexandrovich (Alexander) Sorokin
Freedom will become a myth. “Inalienable rights will be alienated; Declarations of Rights either abolished or used only as beautiful screens for an unadulterated coercion. Governments will become more and more hoary, fraudulent, and tyrannical, giving bombs instead of bread; death instead of freedom; violence instead of law.” Security will fade; the population will become weary and scared. “Suicide, mental disease, and crime will grow.”
Pope John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła, aka Saint John Paul the Great NULL
Love consists of a commitment which limits one's freedom - it is a giving of the self, and to give oneself means just that: to limit one's freedom on behalf of another.
Commitment | Freedom | Giving | Means |
The last minimum wage increase was in 1996, when Congress and the president raised it to $5.15 an hour. However, the impact of the 1996-7 increase has been eroded by inflation. Adjusting for inflation, the minimum wage is at its lowest point in 50 years. While minimum wage workers have not had a single raise, Congress has given itself $31,600 in pay raises. In the Senate, I've proposed blocking Congress from giving itself another raise until it lifts wages for workers.
Giving |
Deborah Tannen, fully Deborah Frances Tannen
For most women, the language of conversation is primarily a language of rapport: a way of establishing connections and negotiating relationships. Emphasis is placed on displaying similarities and matching experiences. From childhood, girls criticize peers who try to stand out or appear better than others. People feel their closest connections at home, or in settings where they feel close to and comfortable with--in other words, during private speaking. But even the most public situations can be approached like private speaking. For most men, talk is primarily a means to preserve independence and negotiate and maintain status in a hierarchical social order. This is done by exhibiting knowledge and skill, and by holding center stage through verbal performance such as storytelling, joking, or imparting information. From childhood, men learn to use talking as a way to get and keep attention. So they are more comfortable speaking in larger groups made up of people they know less well--in the broadest sense, public speaking. But even the most private situations can be approached like public speaking, more like giving a report than establishing rapport.
Better | Conversation | Giving | Knowledge | Language | Means | Men | People | Public | Talking | Learn |
Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.
Experience has taught us that we have only one enduring weapon in our struggle against mental illness: the emotional discovery and emotional acceptance of the truth in the individual and unique history of our childhood. Is it possible then, with the help of psychoanalysis, to free ourselves altogether from illusions? History demonstrates that they sneak in everywhere, that every life is full of them-perhaps because the truth often would be unbearable. And yet for many people the truth is so essential that they must pay dearly for its loss with grave illness. On the path of analysis we try, in a long process, to discover our own personal truth. This truth always causes much pain before giving us a new sphere of freedom-unless we content ourselves with already conceptualized, intellectual wisdom based on other people's painful experiences, for example that of Sigmund Freud. But then we shall remain in the sphere of illusion and self-deception.
Acceptance | Discovery | Example | Giving | Grave | History | Illusion | Individual | Life | Life | Pain | People | Struggle | Truth | Unique | Wisdom | Discovery | Loss |
I was one who supported giving President Bush the authority, if necessary, to use force against Saddam Hussein. I believe that that was the right vote. I have had many disputes and disagreements with the administration over how that authority has been used, but I stand by the vote to provide the authority because I think it was a necessary step in order to maximize the outcome that did occur in the Security Council with the unanimous vote to send in inspectors.
Administration | Authority | Force | Giving | Order | Right | Security | Think |
I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.
Birth | Giving | Imagination | Important | Intuition | Knowledge |
Buckminster Fuller, fully Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller
The physical is inherently entropic, giving off energy in ever more disorderly ways. The metaphysical is antientropic, methodically marshalling energy. Life is antientropic. It is spontaneously inquisitive. It sorts out and endeavors to understand.
Rabbi Akiva, fully Rebbe Akiva ben Yosef NULL
Like a twisted olive tree in its 500th year, giving then its finest fruit, is man. How can he give forth wisdom until he has been crushed and turned in the Hand of God.
R. G. Collingwood, fully Robert George Collingwood
Asking questions is, you know, one day no answer in science is a fundamental sin, like giving orders that you think would be ignored in the political field, or request something you do not think is it Lord granted in religion.
R. H. Blyth, fully Reginald Horace Blyth
Thus we see that the all important thing is not killing or giving life, drinking or not drinking, living in the town or the country, being unlucky or lucky, winning or losing. It is how we win, how we lose, how we live or die, finally, how we choose.
Raúl Juliá, aka Raul Rafael Carlos Julia y Arceley
It was a very profound experience, getting in touch with that part of us, in all of us human beings, that is committed beyond yourself to the point of giving everything you have, including your life, for other people, for your fellow man.
Giving |
Raimon Panikkar, fully Raimon Panikkar-Alemany
Without purity of heart, not only can one not “see” God, but it is equally impossible to have any idea of what is involved in doing so. Without the silence of the intellect and the will, without the silence of the senses, without the openness of what some call “the third eye” (spoken of not only by Tibetans but also by the disciples of Richard of Saint Victor), it is not possible to approach the sphere in which the word God can have a meaning. According to Richard of Saint Victor, there exist three eyes: the occulus carnis, the occulus rationis, and the occulus fidei (the eye of the body, the eye of reason, and the eye of faith). The “third eye” is the organ of the faculty that distinguishes us from other living beings by giving us access to a reality that transcends, without denying, that which captures the intelligence and the senses.
Giving | God | Intelligence | Openness | Purity | Reality | Silence | God | Intellect |
Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav or Breslov, aka Reb Nachman Breslover or Nachman from Uman NULL
When a person is experiencing a crisis of faith, or even passing doubts, it is very beneficial to say aloud: "I believe!" Simply giving expression to your faith in words is itself an act of faith and this can bring you to true faith.
Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav or Breslov, aka Reb Nachman Breslover or Nachman from Uman NULL
Criticizing others, giving them an unwelcome feeling, can be done by anyone. Uplifting them and giving them a good feeling - that takes a special gift and spending effort.
Rainer Maria Rilke, full name René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke
We make our way through everything like thread passing through fabric, giving shape to images that we ourselves do not know.
Giving |