Not a single person can be completely just in all his deeds, but a just person can be completely different from an unjust one with his efforts, in the same way as a truthful man is different from a liar, with his efforts to speak only truth.
There is only one law of life which is really precious: though you meet all the time with injustice, remain humble.
—MARCUS AURELIUS
You cannot be completely just. One time you do too little, the other time you do too much. There is only one way not to sin against justice; always to change things, to improve things, to make them better.
August 27
The best and the most important object for every person is his inner self, his spiritual being.
A person who knows all sciences but does not know himself is a poor and ignorant person. He who does not know anything except for his inner spiritual self is an enlightened person.
When you feel the desire for power, you should stay in solitude for some time.
—HENRY DAVID THOREAU
The way to fame goes through the palaces, the way to happiness goes through the markets, the way to virtue goes through the deserts.
—CHINESE PROVERB
A person always has a place to be safe from all of his misfortunes, and this place is his soul.
If you could only know who you are, all your troubles would seem utterly unnecessary and trivial.
August 28
Faith is the foundation on which all else rests; it is the root of all knowledge.
There are two types of faith in this world. The first is faith in things other people say, faith in people; there are many varieties of this type of faith. The second is faith in God; this type of faith is unvarying, and it is necessary for all people.
Faith is the necessary property of the soul. Feel the essential meaninglessness of those things which are well-known to you, and the greatness of things which are unknown but important.
Cleave to the teachings of Christ completely, and let go of other teachings, just as a sailor reads his compass, though other signs around him might contradict it.
People who believe they do not have faith are wrong; they simply don’t realize it, or don’t want it, or cannot express it.
August 29
If, in his soul, a person understands God, he understands his connection to all the world’s people.
Do not be proud, no matter what high position you occupy in life. In you and in me and in every other person lives the same God, the same life force; you look down on me in vain; we are all equal beings.
—INDIAN WISDOM
I am filled with a great thought: that of the greatness of my soul, its unity with God. My soul is not united with God in submission, but through its ability to understand Him, and through Him, to be eternal.
—HENRI AMIEL
We are all children of the same father, and it is unnatural not to love our brothers.
August 30
Those who are on top of the mountain can see the sunrise sooner than those who live in the valley. So, too, with those who achieve spiritual heights: they can see the heavenly sunrise sooner than those who live a material life. But the time will come when the sun will rise so high in the sky that everyone will see it.
We should hope that the day will come when all people perceive that the life of a man is great only in its service to his brothers, for he is united with them by God.
—EDWARD BROWN
Powerful forces are at work in this world. No one can stop them. We see their signs in a new understanding of religion, a new respect for people, a new feeling of brotherhood.
—WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING
As soon as the higher ideal is put before us, all false ideals will fade away as the stars fade away when they meet the sun.
August 31
Any work of false art praised by critics is a door through which “hypocrites of art” enter our minds.
The creation and sale of most art today is pure prostitution. The comparison is true in every detail. Real art can only rarely be created even by a real artist; like a child in a mother’s womb, it is the ripened fruit of his prior life. False art, though, can be ceaselessly produced by craftsmen, according to the dictates of a market. Like a faithful wife who loves her husband, real art does not need any excess decoration; like a prostitute, false art demands to be decorated. True art comes out of an artist’s urgent need to express the feelings that have formed inside him, just as a mother needs to give birth to her baby. False art answers only to profit. Real art brings new feelings into our life, as a woman brings a new person into the world. False art corrupts: it makes a person dissipated, distracts him, weakens his spiritual power. Everyone must understand this, in order that they shun the terrible proliferation of this dirty, dissipated type of art which is, on its face, prostitution.
You cannot sell your talent, your genius; as soon as you do, you are a prostitute. You can sell your work, but not your soul.
—JOHN RUSKIN
Until they throw the money changers out of the temple of art, it will never be a real temple. But the time will come when these salesmen will be sent away from the temple of art.
September 1
Soldiers who stand idle in a shelter during a battle as reinforcements will try to involve themselves in almost any activity in order to distract themselves from the impending danger. It seems to me that people who want to save themselves from life behave like these soldiers: some distract themselves with vanity, some with cards, politics, laws, women, gambling, horses, hunting, wine, or state affairs.
It is difficult to imagine what wonderful changes would occur to human lives if people would stop poisoning themselves with brandy, wine, tobacco, and drugs.
They say that there is one religious sect that at the end of their gatherings they turn down the lights and have an orgy. In our society, people who participate in constant dissipations turn down the light of the intellect with addictive things such as drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
Making yourself addicted is not a crime, but it is a preparation for crime.
Some people say, “It is not important if you drink or smoke.” If it is of no importance, then why not just stop, if you know that you harm yourself and, with your example, others?
September 2
The closer people are to the truth, the more tolerant they are of the mistakes of others.
Those who don’t believe in the spiritual foundations of their faith, who only pay lip service to the outer shell of their religious rituals, cannot be tolerant of others.
There is one hard and fast rule we must always remember: if a good end can be achieved only through bad means, either it is not good after all, or its time has not yet come.
Intolerant and power-hungry priests and pastors bring about the negation of religion.
—WILLIAM WARBURTON
Unbelievers can be equally intolerant as those who believe with crude, primitive understanding.
—JEAN FRANCE DUCLOS
A real truth, a real faith, needs neither worldly support nor an outer glamour, nor does it need to be forcefully introduced to others. God has time; for Him thousands of years pass as one. Those who feel the need to spread their faith through violence and force either lack faith in God, or in themselves.