This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Poets are the only people to whom love is not only a crucial, but an indispensable experience, which entitles them to mistake it for a universal one.
Experience | Indispensable | Love | Mistake | People |
Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't matter so much what you do in particular, so long as you're living your life. If you haven't had that, what have you had?
Josh Billings, pen name for Henry Wheeler Shaw, aka Uncle Esek
Don't mistake pleasure for happiness. They are a different breed of dogs.
The true source of cheerfulness is benevolence. The pursuits of mankind are commonly frigid and contemptible, and the mistake comes, at last, to be detected. But virtue is a charm that never fades. The soul that perceptually overflows with kindness and sympathy will always be cheerful.
Benevolence | Cheerfulness | Kindness | Mankind | Mistake | Soul | Sympathy | Virtue | Virtue | Will |
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Mistake |
Adi Shankara, aka Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya and Ādi Śaṅkarācārya
Both bondage and liberation are the fictions of our ignorance. They do not really exist in the Atman. Just as a piece of rope remains rope, whether or not we mistake it for a snake. The imagined snake does not really exist in the rope. The Atman is infinite, without parts, beyond action... There is neither birth nor death, neither bound nor aspiring soul, neither liberated soul nor seeker after liberation - this is the ultimate and absolute truth.
Absolute | Action | Birth | Death | Ignorance | Mistake | Soul | Truth |
The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.
Wang Yang-Ming or Yangming, aka Wang Shouren or Wang Shou-jen, courtesy name Bo'an
The sages do not consider that making no mistake is a blessing. They believe, rather, that the great virtue of a person lies in their ability to correct their mistakes and continually to make a new person of themselves.
B. F. Skinner, fully Burrhus Frederic "B.F." Skinner
A failure is not always a mistake; it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.
Circumstances | Failure | Mistake | Failure |
Demanding security and certainty prevents peace of mind. No human has the omniscience to foresee everything. Always realize the unexpected can occur. Plan as much as is appropriate, but realize that regardless of how much you plan there will always be difficulties that you had previously not imagined. By expecting there will always be unexpected occurrences and accepting them, you will have much greater peace of mind than if you have unrealistic expectations of complete control. A person would be making a big mistake if he felt that the way to peace of mind is to obtain complete security from all risks... Uncertainty is inevitable... The demand for success is detrimental to peace of mind... Keep your focus on trying to accomplish with the best of your ability.
Ability | Control | Focus | Inevitable | Mind | Mistake | Omniscience | Peace | Plan | Security | Success | Uncertainty | Will |
Children love and want to be loved and they very much prefer the joy of accomplishment to the triumph of hateful failure. Do not mistake a child for his symptom.
Accomplishment | Joy | Love | Mistake | Child |