This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"We must admit that he had eyes like drenched violets, so large that the water seemed to have brimmed in them and widened them; and a brow like the swelling of a marble dome pressed between the two blank medallions which were his temples." - Virginia Woolf, nee Stephen, fully Adeline Virginia Woolf
"I fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts." - Virgil, also Vergil, fully Publius Vergilius Maro NULL
"There are two gates of Sleep: the one is said to be of horn, through it an easy exit is given to true Shades; the other is made of polished ivory, perfect glittering, but through that way the Spirits send false dreams into the world above. And here Anchises, when he is done with words, accompanies the Sibyl and his son together; and he sends them through the gate of ivory." - Virgil, also Vergil, fully Publius Vergilius Maro NULL
"An awakened man has no enemies; even if he has enemies." - Vernon Howard, fully Vernon Linwood Howard
"I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the streets and frighten the horses." - Victor Hugo
"The brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over we realize this: that the human race has been roughly handled, but that it has advanced." - Victor Hugo
"Pete (Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky) was born in Votkinsk, May 7 1840. When he was a little boy he never played out in the streets of Votkinsk like the other little children of Votkinsk because when Tchaikovsky was one month old his parents moved to St. Petersburg." - Victor Borge, born Børge Rosenbaum
"Says Nanak, meditate on the One Lord; behold Him in each and every heart." - Atharva Veda, or Atharvaveda
"The music that can take them is the singing aloud the Name of God. And when they are too intoxicated to move and harm, catch them by the neck and pull out their fangs as the charmer does. Thereafter they can be your play things; you can handle them as you please." - Atharva Veda, or Atharvaveda
"The Principle of Appearance that deludes as multiple manifestation is Maya. It is not external to God; it is inherent in God, just as all Powers are inherent in Him." - Atharva Veda, or Atharvaveda
"Socrates said, “The misuse of language induces evil in the soul.” He wasn’t talking about grammar. To misuse language is to use it the way politicians and advertisers do, for profit, without taking responsibility for what the words mean. Language used as a means to get power or make money goes wrong: it lies. Language used as an end in itself, to sing a poem or tell a story, goes right, goes towards the truth." - Ursula Le Guin, fully Ursula Kroeber Le Guin
"Just as people are afraid of serpents they are afraid of persons who utter lies." - Valmiki NULL
"One’s innermost thoughts and emotions reflect on one’s physical appearance which it is difficult to cover up however one may try to do it. Such changes in one’s physical appearance forcefully expose such innermost emotions and thoughts." - Valmiki NULL
"Not since Manhattan Island was sold for $24 has there been so much dirt available for so little money as now." - Vance Havner
"A stupid friend is a greater plague than a wise enemy." - Turkish Proverbs
"The father gave his son a vineyard, the son didn't give the father even a grape." - Turkish Proverbs
"The toughest thing about the power of trust is that it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy. The essence of trust building is to emphasize the similarities between you and the customer." - Thomas J. Watson, Jr., fully Thomas John Watson, Jr.
"The only thing I am certain of is that in the wake of this election, Iraq will be what Iraqis make of it — and the next six months will tell us a lot. I remain guardedly hopeful." - Thomas L. Friedman, fully Thomas Lauren Friedman
"Some men come into holy obedience through the gateway of profound mystical experience. It is an overwhelming experience to fall into the hands of the living God, to be invaded to the depths of one's being by His presence, to be, without warning, wholly uprooted from all earth-born securities and assurances, and to be blown by a tempest of unbelievable power which leaves one's old proud self utterly, utterly defenseless, until one cries, "All Thy waves and thy billows are gone over me" Then is the soul swept into a Loving Center of ineffable sweetness, where calm and unspeakable peace and ravishing joy steal over one." - Thomas R. Kelly, fully Thomas Raymond Kelly
"The question of armaments, whether on land or sea, is the most immediately and intensely practical question connected with the future fortunes of nations and of mankind." - Woodrow Wilson, fully Thomas Woodrow Wilson
"The goat sends the kid, the kid sends its tail. (Everyone wants to boss someone else; and each tries to pass the job on down to one of lower rank.)" - Tibetan Proverbs
"The young magpie that pulls feathers out of his mother thinks that he is showing gratitude in that way." - Tibetan Proverbs
"Fear not to swear; the winds carry the perjuries of lovers without effect over land and sea, thanks to Jupiter. The father of the gods himself has denied effect to what foolish lovers in their eagerness have sworn." - Tibullus, fully Albius Tibullus NULL
"Nature and wisdom are not, but should be, companions." - Tobias Smollett, fully Tobias George Smollett
"Human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another." - Tom Robbins, fully Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins
"In times of widespread chaos and confusion, it has been the duty of more advanced human beings--artists, scientists, clowns and philosophers--to create order. In times such as ours, however, when there is too much order, too much management, too much programming and control, it becomes the duty of superior men and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relive the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption." - Tom Robbins, fully Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins
"Advantage is a better soldier than rashness." - William Shakespeare
"All swol'n with chafing, down Adonis sits, banning his boist'rous and unruly beast; and now the happy season once more fits that lovesick Love by pleading may be blest; for lovers say the heart hath treble wrong when it is barred the aidance of the tongue. Venus and Adonis, Scene i" - William Shakespeare
"And he that doth the ravens feed, yea, providently caters for the sparrow, be comfort to my age! As You Like It. Act ii. Sc. 3." - William Shakespeare
"As sweet and musical As bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair; And when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony. Love's Labour 's Lost. Act iv. Sc. 3." - William Shakespeare
"At your return visit our house; let our old acquaintance be renewed." - William Shakespeare
"Ay, gentle Thurio, for you know that love Wilt creep in service where it cannot go." - William Shakespeare
"Cesario, by the roses of the spring, by maidhood, honor, truth, and everything, I love thee so, that maugre all thy pride, nor wit nor reason can my passion hide." - William Shakespeare
"Crabbed age and youth cannot live together; Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care; Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather; Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare. Youth is full of sport, age's breadth is short; Youth is nimble, age is lame; Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, and age is tame. Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee. The Passionate Pilgrim" - William Shakespeare
"Deep malice makes too deep incision. Forget, forgive, conclude and be agreed." - William Shakespeare
"Desire of having is the sin of covetousness. Twelfth Night, Act v, Scene 1" - William Shakespeare
"Die for adultery! No: The wren goes to't, and the small gilded fly does lecher in my sight. King Lear, Act iv, Scene 6" - William Shakespeare
"Do not give dalliance too much the rein; the strongest oaths are straw to the fire in the blood. The Tempest, Act iv, Scene 1" - William Shakespeare
"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak." - Bible or The Bible or Holy Bible NULL
"Liberty is one of the best of all sublunary advantages. I would willingly therefore communicate knowledge, without infringing, or with as little possible violence to, the volition and individual judgment of the person to be instructed." - William Godwin
"Once annihilate the quackery of government, and the most homebred understanding might be strong enough to detect the artifices of the state juggler that would mislead him." - William Godwin
"O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies In the small orb of one particular tear!" - William Shakespeare
"O place, O form, How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit, Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls To thy false seeming!" - William Shakespeare
"O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead! That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds which too untimely here did scorn the earth." - William Shakespeare
"O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; no more of that." - William Shakespeare
"O, what a world of vile ill-favored faults Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year. The Merry Wives of Windsor (Anne Page at III, iv)" - William Shakespeare
"Old fools are babes again, and must be used with checks as flatteries." - William Shakespeare
"PISTOL: And tidings do I bring and lucky joys and golden times and happy news of price. FALSTAFF: I pray thee now, deliver them like a man of this world." - William Shakespeare
"On the third day after the birth of a girl the ancients observed three customs: first to place the baby below the bed; second to give her a potsherd [a piece of broken pottery] with which to play; and third to announce her birth to her ancestors by an offering. Now to lay the baby below the bed plainly indicated that she is lowly and weak, and should regard it as her primary duty to humble herself before others. To give her potsherds with which to play indubitably signified that she should practice labor and consider it her primary duty to be industrious. To announce her birth before her ancestors clearly meant that she ought to esteem as her primary duty the continuation of the observance of worship in the home." - Ban Zhao, courtesy name Huiban