This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Earth | Events | God | Government | Mankind | Men | Nature | People | Respect | Right | Wisdom | Government | Respect | God | Truths |
Gottfried Leibniz, fully Gottfried Wilhalm von Leibniz, Baron von Leibnitz
Souls act according to the laws of final causes through appetitions, ends, and means. Bodies act according to the laws of efficient causes or motions. And the two realms, that of efficient causes and that of final causes, are in harmony with one another.
Our problem is that once we have accepted an irreducible distinction between mental and physical facts and properties, and have allowed that physical facts and properties constitute sufficient causes of actions, we seem to be forced to admit that mental facts and properties are epiphenomenal, causally idle; yet this conclusion is itself implausible.
Distinction | Wisdom |
Michel de Montaigne, fully Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
There is no passion so contagious as that of fear.
To be mistaken is a misfortune to be pitied; but to know the truth and not to conform one's actions to it is a crime which Heaven and Earth condemn.
Crime | Earth | Heaven | Misfortune | Truth | Wisdom | Misfortune |
Michel de Montaigne, fully Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
It is not the last step that causes weariness: it only declares it.
Wisdom |
Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Familiarity in one's superiors causes bitterness, fir it may not be returned.
Bitterness | Familiarity | Wisdom |
A truth which one has never heard causes the soul surprise at first, which touches it keenly; but when it is accustomed to it, it becomes very insensible there.
Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Undeserved praise causes more pangs of conscience later than undeserved blame, but probably only for this reason, that our powers of judgment are more completely exposed by being overpraised than by being unjustly underestimated.
Ramdas, fully Swami Ramdas, born Vittal Rao, aka Beloved Papa NULL
There is no greater victory in the life of a human being than victory over the mind. He who has controlled the gusts of passion that arise within him and the violent actions that proceed therefrom is the real hero.