This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"It is on seldom frequented paths that one risks meeting ugly characters. The rule does not apply to the path of virtue." - Author Unknown NULL
"Self-preservation is the first law of nature; self-sacrifice the highest rule of grace." - Author Unknown NULL
"The great rule of life: Learn to forget." - Baltasar Gracián
"Religion should be the rule of life, not a casual incident of it." - Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield
"One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life, and there is nothing better." - Blaise Pascal
"One must know oneself, if this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better." - Blaise Pascal
"The worst ruler is the one who cannot rule himself." - Cato the Elder, Marcus Porius Cato, aka Censorius (the Censor), Sapiens (the Wise), Priscus (the Ancient) NULL
"The first virtue is, I think, to rule the tongue." - Cato the Elder, Marcus Porius Cato, aka Censorius (the Censor), Sapiens (the Wise), Priscus (the Ancient) NULL
"The rule of life is to be found within yourself. Ask yourself constantly, "What is the right thing to do?" Beware of ever doing that which you are likely, sooner or later, to repent of having done. It is better to live in peace than in bitterness and strife. It is better to believe in your neighbors than to fear and distrust them. The superior man does not wrangle. He is firm but not quarrelsome. He is sociable but not clannish. The superior man sets a good example to his neighbors. He is considerate of their feelings and property. Consideration for others is the basis of a good life, and a good society. Feel kindly toward everyone. Be friendly and pleasant among yourselves. Be generous and fair." - Confucius, aka Kong Qiu, Zhongni, K'ung Fu-tzu or Kong Fuzi NULL
"There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life - reciprocity." - Confucius, aka Kong Qiu, Zhongni, K'ung Fu-tzu or Kong Fuzi NULL
"Tsze-kung asked, saying, “Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?” The Master said, “Is not Reciprocity such a word? What you do not want don’t to yourself, do not to others.”" - Confucius, aka Kong Qiu, Zhongni, K'ung Fu-tzu or Kong Fuzi NULL
"No rule is so general, which admits not some exception." - Edmund Burke
"Commit the Golden Rule to memory - now commit it to life." - Edwin Markham
"We have committed the Golden Rule to memory. Let us now commit it to life." - Edwin Markham
"As a rule, the man who can do all things equally well is a very mediocre individual." - Elbert Green Hubbard
"Submit to the rule you laid down." - English Proverbs
"It could be that human nature is stubbornly resistant to drastic change. Hence the fact that they who set their hearts on realizing revolutionary changes are as a rule hostile to human nature; they become antihuman, so to speak. They will do all they can to turn men into soulless material." - Eric Hoffer
"As a rule people are afraid of truth. Each truth we discover in nature or social life destroys the crutches on which we used to lean." - Ernst Toller
"When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved. As a rule the majority are wrong, the minority is usually right." - Eugene V. Debs, fully Eugene Victor Debs
"How shall I be able to rule over others, that have not full power and command of myself?" - François Rabelais
"Humility is the wish to be great and the dread of being called great. It is the wish to help and the dread of thanks. It is the love of service and the distaste for rule. It is trying to be good and blushing when caught at it." - Frank Crane
"The Golden Rule is of no use to you whatever unless you realize that it is your move." - Frank Crane
"It’s a poor rule that won’t work both ways." - Frederick Douglass, born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey
"The golden rule is that there are no golden rules." - George Bernard Shaw
"Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it." - Henry David Thoreau, born David Henry Thoreau
"Who are the really disloyal? Those who inflame racial hatreds, who sow religious and class dissensions. those who subvert the Constitution by violating the freedom of the ballot box. Those who make a mockery of majority rule by the use of the filibuster. Those who impair democracy by denying equal educational facilities. Those who frustrate justice by lynch law or by making a farce of jury trials. Those who deny freedom of speech and of the press and of assembly. Those who demand special favors against the interest of the commonwealth. Those who regard public office as a source of private gain. Those who exalt the military over the civil. Those who for selfish and private purposes stir up national antagonisms and expose the world to the ruin of war." - Henry Steele Commager
"Chance rule men, and not men chances." - Herodotus NULL
"Always so act that the immediate motive of thy will may become a universal rule for all intelligent beings." - Immanuel Kant
"Virtue... in so far as it is based on internal freedom, contains a positive command for man, namely, that he should bring all his powers and inclinations under his rule (that of reason); and this is a positive precept of command over himself which is additional to the prohibition, namely, that he should not allow himself to be governed by his feelings and inclinations (the duty of apathy); since, unless reason takes the reins of government into its own hands, the feelings and inclinations play the master over the man." - Immanuel Kant
"If we judge objects merely according to concepts, then all representation of beauty is lost. Thus there can be no rule according to which anyone is to be forced to recognizes anything as beautiful... The beautiful is that which pleases universally without a concept... There can be no objective rule of taste which shall determine by means of concept what is beautiful." - Immanuel Kant
"All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions. The man strongly possessed of an idea is master of all who are uncertain or wavering. Clear, deep, living convictions rule the world." - James Freeman Clarke
"It is easier to rule a kingdom than to regulate a family." - Japanese Proverbs
"It is a fundamental rule of human life that, if the approach is good, the response is good." - Jawaharlal Nehru
"Philosophy will clip an angel's wings, Conquer all mysteries by rule and line, Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine- Unweave a rainbow." - John Keats
"To be still searching what we know not by what we know, still closing up truth to truth as we find it (for all her body is homogeneal and proportional), this is a golden rule in theology as well as in arithmetic, and makes up the best harmony in a Church; not the forced and outward union of cold and neutral, and inwardly divided minds." - John Milton
"What is strength without a double share of wisdom? Vast, unwieldy, burdensome; proudly secure, yet liable to fall by weakest subtleties; not made to rule, but to subserve where wisdom bears command." - John Milton
"In the human mind one-sidedness has always been the rule, and many-sidedness the exception. Hence, even in revolutions of opinion, one part of the truth usually sets while the other rises." - John Stuart Mill
"To rule one’s anger is well; to prevent it is better." - Jonathan Edwards
"The fundamental rule of the Age of Celebrity: “It doesn’t matter what you are, it only matters what people think you are.”" - Lance Morrow
"Lord, let me make this rule to think of life as school, and try my best to stand each test, and do my work and nothing shirk. Should someone else outshine this dullard head of mine, should I be sad? I will be glad. To do my best is Thy behest. Some day the bell will sound, some day my heart will bound, as that with a shout, that school is out and lessons done, I homeward run." - Maltbie Babcock, fully Maltbie Davenport Babcock
"Life’s meaning rests in the eye of the beholder and in our constant desire to approach perfection. Life is so immense and complex that there is no one truth, only the rule of destiny... We do not choose life; life chooses us. Yet we try to follow our destiny, our passion our drive. We must live every minute as if it is our first and our last... The meaning of life lies in our desire to help others... Earthly life is an eternal miracle. In a moment of grace, we can grasp eternity in the palm of our hand." - Marcel Marceau, born Marcel Mangel
"As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule, may be old in body, but can never be so in mind." - Cicero, fully Marcus Tullius Cicero, anglicized as Tully NULL
"The great affairs of life are not performed by physical strength, or activity, or nimbleness of body, but by deliberation, character, expression of opinion. Of these old age is not only not deprived, but, as a rule, has them in a greater degree." - Cicero, fully Marcus Tullius Cicero, anglicized as Tully NULL
"Bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism." - Mary McCarthy
"The Golden Rule, however, falters in situations that involve a complex network of stakeholders with conflicting interests. It provides no guidance on how to choose among them." - Michael S. Josephson
"The moral challenge is to carry out our pursuits with character, to treat ethics as a ground rule, not an option, even when the standards of ethics impede our ability to get what we want." - Michael S. Josephson
"Filial obedience is the first and greatest requisite of a state; by this we become good subjects to our emperors, capable of behaving with just subordination to our superiors, and grateful dependents on heaven; by this we become fonder of marriage, in order to be capable of exacting obedience from other sin our turn; by this we become good magistrates, for early submission is the truest lesson to those who would learn to rule. By this the whole state may be said to resemble one family." - Oliver Goldsmith
"Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law." - Oliver Goldsmith