This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Sleep, gentle sleep, nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, that thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, and steep my senses in forgetfulness?
Death |
Sir, 'tis my occupation to be plain: I have seen better faces in my time Than stands on any shoulder that I see Before me at this instant.
Shall I abide in this dull world, which in thy absence is no better than a sty?
Death |
Slander's mark was ever yet the fair; the ornament of beauty is suspect, a crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air, so thou be good, slander doth but approve thy worth the greater.
So, of his gentleness, Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me from mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom.
Business | Cause | Day | Death | Duty | Father | God | Greatness | Guilt | Law | Life | Life | Man | Men | Peace | Purpose | Purpose | Sin | Soul | Teach | Time | War | Business | God | Guilty | Think |
I’m not laughing. I was actually crying. And please don’t laugh at me now, but I think the reason it’s so hard for me to get over this guy is because I seriously believed David was my soul mate. He probably was. Your problem is you don’t understand what that word means. People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that’s what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that’s holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you’ll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it. Your problem is, you just can’t let this one go. It’s over, Groceries. David’s purpose was to shake you up, drive you out of your marriage that you needed to leave, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light could get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you had to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master and beat it. That was his job, and he did great, but now it’s over. Problem is, you can’t accept that his relationship had a real short shelf life. You’re like a dog at the dump, baby – you’re just lickin’ at the empty tin can, trying to get more nutrition out of it. And if you’re not careful, that can’s gonna get stuck on your snout forever and make your life miserable. So drop it.But I love him. So love him. But I miss him. So miss him. Send him some love and light every time you think about him, then drop it. You’re just afraid to let go of the last bits of David because then you’ll be really alone, and Liz Gilbert is scared to death of what will happen if she’s really alone. But here’s what you gotta understand, Groceries. If you clear out all that space in your mind that you’re using right now to obsess about this guy, you’ll have a vacuum there, an open spot – a doorway. And guess what the universe will do with the doorway? It will rush in – God will rush in – and fill you with more love than you ever dreamed. So stop using David to block that door. Let it go.
Care | Death | Depression | Loneliness | Love | Need | Nothing | Will |
I'd learned enough from life's experiences to understand that destiny's interventions can sometimes be read as invitation for us to address and even surmount our biggest fears. It doesn't take a great genius to recognize that when you are pushed by circumstance to do the one thing you have always most specifically loathed and feared, this can be, at the very least, an interesting growth opportunity.
Attention | Change | Control | Death | Ego | God | Heart | Important | Life | Life | Light | Little | Love | Marriage | Mind | People | Purpose | Purpose | Reason | Relationship | Right | Soul | Space | Time | Universe | Will | God | Afraid | Think | Understand |
Elizabeth Browning, fully Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Free men freely work: whoever fears God, fears to sit at ease.
It took me a long time to decide to become a human being, and to look within my own flawed nature for salvation. It took mistakes, dark nights of the soul, hard work, and help from teachers and friends to fashion a spirituality that respected both my divinity and my humanity, my radiance and my shadow. It took my own combination of religion and psychology, meditation and physical healing, mysticism and science, to forge a path that felt genuine and effective. Instead of sacrificing a self I hardly knew or loved, I turned my attention to self-understanding and self-forgiveness. Instead of accepting a straight-and-narrow route to someone else's concept of God, I set out to make my own way, using my inner longing as a compass.
Acceptance | Death |
So when modern-day religious conservatives wax nostalgic about how marriage is a sacred tradition that reaches back into history for thousands of uninterrupted years, they are correct, but in only one respect - only if they happen to be talking about Judaism. Christianity simply does not share that deep and consistent historical reverence toward matrimony. Lately it has, yes- but not originally. For the first thousand or so years of Christian history, the church regarded monogamous marriage as marginally less wicked that flat-out whoring but only very marginally.
Care | Death | Depression | Friend | Lending | Life | Life | Loneliness | Love | Mind | Mistake | Need | Nothing | Office | Reason | Reflection | Sadness | Security | Time | Waiting | Will | Writing |
With care, and skill, and cunning art, She parried Time's malicious dart, And kept the years at bay, Till passion entered in her heart and aged her in a day!
Death |
Elizabeth II, born Elizabeth Alexandra May NULL
Though God hath raised me high, yet this I account the glory of my reign, that I have reigned with your loves.
Love lights more fires than hate extinguishes, and men grow better as the world grows old.
There is room in the halls of pleasure for a large and lordly train, but one by one we must all file on through the narrow isles of pain.
Emanuel Swedenborg, born Emanujel Swedberg
This Divine truth flows into heaven from the Lord from His Divine love.
Death | Opportunity |