This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Wilferd Peterson, fully Wilferd Arlan Peterson
The art of humility begins with a recognition of our dependence on others and an appreciation of God’s gift of life... He discovers that those of a gentle spirit do have the earth for their possession; that humility opens the gates of the mind and heart so greatness can flow through.
Appreciation | Art | Dependence | Earth | God | Greatness | Heart | Humility | Life | Life | Mind | Spirit | Appreciation | Art |
Despair over loneliness will increase the suffering. Looking at the time available as a precious gift will decrease it.
Despair | Loneliness | Suffering | Time | Will |
W. Somerset Maugham, fully William Somerset Maugham
She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit.
Wit |
Even on the path to God, All is God. You are freed from your own desires only when God frees you. This is not effected by your own exertion, but by the grace of God... Then you entirely recognize that you do not have the right to say “I” or “mine.” At this stage you behold your helplessness; desires fall away from you and you become free and calm. You desire what God desires; your own desires are gone, you are emancipated from your wants, and I have gained peace and joy in both worlds. First, action is necessary, then knowledge, in order that you may know that you know nothing and are no one. This is not easy to know. It is a thing that cannot be rightly learned by instruction, nor sewed on with needle nor tied on with thread. It is the gift of God.
Action | Desire | God | Grace | Joy | Knowledge | Nothing | Order | Peace | Right | Wants | God |
One single gift acknowledged in gratefulness has the power to dissolve the ties of our alienation
Alienation | Power |
Felix Mendelssohn, fully Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing, and carries us so far away from town, country, earth, and all worldly things, that it is truly a blessed gift of God.
Erma Bombeck, fully Erma Louise Bombeck, born Erma Fiste
Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving.
Frank Herbert, formally Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr.
The gift of words is the gift of deception and illusion.
Words |
Fred Rogers, "Mister Rogers," born Frederick McFeely Rogers
The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self.
The greatest error of all the rest is the mistaking or misplacing of the last or farthest end of knowledge: for men have entered into a desire of learning and knowledge, sometimes upon a natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite; sometimes to entertain their minds with variety and delight; sometimes for ornament and reputation; and sometimes to enable them to victory of wit and contradiction; and most times for lucre and profession; and seldom sincerely to give a true account of their gift of reason, to the benefit and use of men: as if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a tarrasse, for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; or a tower of state, for a proud mind to raise itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground, for strife and contention; or a shop, for profit or sale; and not a rich storehouse, for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate.
Curiosity | Desire | Error | Glory | Knowledge | Learning | Men | Mind | Rest | Wit |
There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go.
The more you test him, the slower he will learn and the less he'll want to do. The less you test him, the quicker he will learn and the more he'll want to learn. Knowledge is the most precious gift you can give your child. Give it as generously as you give him food.
Gilda Radner, fully Gilda Susan Radner
While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity or our glorious uniqueness.
Creativity | Tragedy |
What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.
Helen Keller. aka Helen Adams Keller
Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession. Could they win some visible goal which they have set on the horizon, how happy they could be! Lacking this gift or that circumstance, they would be miserable. If happiness is to be so measured, I who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and weep. If I am happy in spite of my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith, so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life, — if, in short, I am an optimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing.
Creed | Happy | Optimism | People | Philosophy | Pleasure | Reason | Worth | Happiness |
Hubert Humphrey, fully Hubert Horatio Humphrey
The greatest gift of life is friendship...