This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"My unhealthy affection for my second daughter has waned. Now I despise all my seven children equally." - Evelyn Waugh, fully Evelyn Arthur St. John Waugh
"The langor of Youth - how unique and quintessential it is! How quickly, how irrecoverably, lost! The zest, the generous affections, the illusions, the despair, all the traditional attributes of Youth - all save this come and go with us through life...These things are a part of life itself; but languor - the relaxation of yet unwearied sinews, the mind sequestered and self-regarding, the sun standing still in the heavens and the earth throbbing to our own pulse - that belongs to Youth alone and dies with it." - Evelyn Waugh, fully Evelyn Arthur St. John Waugh
"What is youth except a man or woman before it is ready or fit to be seen?" - Evelyn Waugh, fully Evelyn Arthur St. John Waugh
"The only thing one can give an artist is leisure in which to work. To give an artist leisure is actually to take part in his creation." - Ezra Pound, fully Ezra Weston Loomis Pound
"An optimist is a person who sees only the lights in the picture, whereas a pessimist sees only the shadows. An idealist, however, is one who sees the light and the shadows, but in addition sees something else: the possibility of changing the picture, of making the lights prevail over the shadows." - Felix Adler
"All the same, I should like it all plain and clear, said he obstinately, putting on his business manner (usually reserved for people who tried to borrow money off him), and doing his best to appear wise and prudent and professional and live up to Gandalf's recommendation. Also I should like to know about risks, out-of-pocket expenses, time required and remuneration, and so forth--by which he meant: What am I going to get out of it ? and am I going to come back alive?" - J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
"Bilbo almost stopped breathing, and went stiff himself. He was desperate. He must get away, out of this horrible darkness, while he had any strength left. He must fight. He must stab the foul thing, put its eyes out, kill it. It meant to kill him. No, not a fair fight. He was invisible now. Gollum had no sword. Gollum had not actually threatened to kill him, or tried yet. And he was miserable, alone, lost. A sudden understanding, a pity mixed with horror, welled up in Bilbo?s heart: a glimpse of endless unmarked days without light or hope of betterment, hard stone, cold fish, sneaking and whispering." - J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
"But it is the way of my people to use light words at such times and say less than they mean. We fear to say too much. It robs us of the right words when a jest is out of place." - J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien