—JOHN RUSKIN
No matter how great our knowledge may be, it cannot help us fulfill our life’s major purpose—our moral perfection.
September 10
The voice of conscience makes no mistakes. It wants, not the fulfillment of the animal self, but its denial or sacrifice.
A Christian who does not know where he goes (John 3:8), or what is given to him by God (John 3:34), does not know his life’s real purpose.
—FYODOR STRAKHOV
As our self-interest diminishes, our anxieties disappear, and then comes quiet and firm joy, which always diffuses us with a good spiritual disposition and a clear conscience. Every good deed helps to kindle this feeling of joy within us. The egoist feels lonely, surrounded by threatening and alien events; all his desires are sunk in his own concerns. A kind person lives in a world of beneficent events, whose goodness matches his own.
—ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER
A person who lives only for the concerns of his body may become lost in the labyrinth of an animal and sensual life, while the soul will always find truth; it will find the way.
—LUCY MALORY
The voice of your conscience can always be singled out above the noise of your other wishes, because it always wants something seemingly useless, seemingly senseless, seemingly incomprehensible, but at the same time something actually beautiful and good, which can be achieved only through effort.
September 11
The real faith attracts people to itself not because it promises goodness to those who believe, but because it is the only escape, not only from all the problems and troubles and misfortunes of our life, but also from the fear of death.
If you know that you lack faith, know also that you are in one of the most dangerous situations in this world a person can be in.
It is bad not to have something for which you are ready to die.
Look at the causes of the misfortunes from which mankind suffers. Push beyond the obvious causes to the root causes, and you will inevitably find that the most basic, the most important cause of each and every one of humanity’s problems is the weakness of faith that comes from a false attitude to the world and its origin.
Salvation lies not in rituals and not in a particular creed, but in a clear understanding of the meaning of your life.
September 12
You cannot serve both god and the devil. Merely tending to the growth of your wealth has nothing to do with the requirements of the truly spiritual life.
It seems to me that the old prejudice that wealth brings happiness has begun to be discredited.
The love of great wealth commends you, “Bring me your soul as a sacrifice,” and people will do so.
—SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
Excessive dress prevents the body from moving freely. Excessive wealth interferes with the movements of our soul.
—DEMOSTHENES
The desire for wealth can never be satisfied. Those who have it are excited by the wish to have more, and yet more.
—MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
Do not fear poverty, but beware wealth.
If only people who seek wealth could clearly see what they would lose by having it, they would put the same amount of effort into getting rid of this wealth as they now put into acquiring it.
September 13
A wise man does not wish to change his situation, because he knows that it is possible to fulfill the law of God, the law of love, in every situation.
A wise man looks for everything inside of himself; a madman seeks for everything in others.
—CONFUCIUS
I never complain about my fate. Once, I did not have shoes, and I complained to God. I went into church with a heavy heart and in the church I saw a man without both feet. So I thanked God that he had given me both feet, and that my only problem was that they were unshod.
—MUSLIH-UD-DIN SAADI
A wise man innately knows how to act without searching, because he has the divine within himself. The further you search and seek, the less you know.
—LAO-TZU
You should treat your thoughts the way you treat your self, and treat your wishes the way you treat your children.
—CHINESE WISDOM
Try to establish an inner silence in yourself, a complete silence of your lips and your heart. Then you will hear how God speaks to us, and you will know how to fulfill His will.
The more upset a person is with other people, and with circumstances, and the more satisfied he is with himself, the further he is from wisdom.
September 14
Violence is harmful because it is usually dressed in wealth, and it therefore arouses some respect for those things which should arouse disgust.
People who have power are sure that it is only violence that guides people, and so they use violence to support the existing order. But the existing order is not based on violence, but on public opinion.
A person is not created either to subdue others, or to follow the orders of others. People are corrupted by both ways of behavior. In the first they assume too much importance, in the second, too little respect. In both ways there is very little dignity.
—VICTOR CONSIDÉRANT
Our life would become wonderful if we could see all the disgusting things which exist in it.
—HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Subduing people through violence is never justice.
—BLAISE PASCAL
He who depends on violence behaves wrongly. The maker of beautiful speeches is not wise, only he who is free from hatred and fear is truly wise.
—BUDDHIST WISDOM
All violence is contrary to love: do not participate in violence.
September 15
The biggest obstacles to understanding the truth are lies disguised as truth.
In real life illusions can only transform our life for a moment, but in the domain of thoughts and the intellect, misconceptions may be accepted as truth for thousands of years, and make a laughingstock of whole nations, mute the noble wishes of mankind, make slaves from people and lie to them. These misconceptions are the enemies with which the wisest men in the history of mankind try to struggle. The force of the truth is great, but its victory is difficult. However, once you receive this victory, it can never be taken from you.
—ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER
The exposure of a lie is as valuable to a community as a clearly expressed truth.
Freeing a person from misconceptions, false truths, and lies does not take anything from him; it gives him something important.
—ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER
The progress of mankind is in revealing obstacles which are hiding from us.
September 16
Doubts do not destroy truth; they strengthen it.
Disbelief is not when a person believes or does not believe in something. It is when he prophesies those things in which he does not believe.
—HARRIET MARTINEAU
You will have moments in which you no longer believe in the existence of the spiritual dimension of life. Look at these moments as events in the development of your faith. A person who understands the spiritual nature of life may still at some point become afraid of death, usually for a short period of time, in the same way that you can see as you watch a scene at the theater and forget that you are watching a play, and become scared by what you are seeing as if it were real.