This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Saint Augustine, aka Augustine of Hippo, St. Austin, Bishop of Hippo NULL
After saying all that, what have we said, my God, my life, my holy sweetness? What does anyone who speaks of you really say? Yet woe betide those who fail to speak, while the chatterboxes go on saying nothing.
Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone NULL
I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, He can work through anyone.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux NULL
It suffices me for attaining to all righteousness, to have Him alone propitious toward me against whom alone I have sinned... Not to sin is the righteousness of God: Man's righteousness is God's forgiveness.
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Saint Bernard of Clairvaux NULL
In order to merit, it is enough to know that our merits do not suffice for us.
Abstinence | Appetite | Freedom | Soul |
If, when stung by slander or ill-nature, we wax proud and swell with anger, it is a proof that our gentleness and humility are unreal, and mere artificial show.
Saint John of the Cross, born Juan de Yepes Álvarez NULL
The soul went by a very secret ladder, which is living faith. In this purgative night the desires, affections and passions of the soul are put to sleep.
Darkness | God | Love | Memory | Reason | Soul | Understanding | Will | Wisdom | God | Intellect |
Were the talents and virtues which heaven has bestowed on men given merely to make them more obedient drudges, to be sacrificed to the follies and ambition of a few? Or, were not the noble gifts so equally dispensed with a divine purpose and law, that they should as nearly as possible be equally exerted, and the blessings of Providence be equally enjoyed by all?
Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.
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Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
It is strange that there should be so little reading in the world, and so much writing. People in general do not willingly read, if they can have anything else to amuse them.
Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson
To embarrass justice by a multiplicity of laws, or to hazard it by confidence in judges, are the opposite rocks on which all civil institutions have been wrecked, and between which legislative wisdom has never yet found an open passage.
Shunryu Suzuki, also Daisetsu Teitaro or D.T. Suzuki or Suzuki-Roshi
We should not be just a fan of dragons; we should always be the dragon himself. Then we will not be afraid of any dragon.
Time | Will | Understand |
Arthur Conan Doyle, fully Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing, answered Holmes thoughtfully. It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different.
Arthur Conan Doyle, fully Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it - there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
Arthur Conan Doyle, fully Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
I was helping Uncle Sam to make dollars. Maybe mine were not as good gold as his, but they looked as well and were cheaper to make.