—CONFUCIUS
The merit of a man is not in the knowledge he possesses, but in the effort he made to achieve it.
—GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING
If you want to study yourself—look into the hearts of other people. If you want to study other people—look into your own heart.
—FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER
Your soul is both your judge and your place of sanctuary. Your own soul is your highest judge.
—MANU
There is nothing in which real wisdom cannot be displayed.
January 30
When Socrates was asked where he came from, he said that he was a citizen of the world. He regarded himself as a citizen of the universe.
—MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
When people wanted to kill a bear in the ancient times, they hung a heavy log over a bowl of honey. The bear would push the log away in order to eat the honey. The log would swing back and hit the bear. The bear would become irritated and push the log even harder, and it would return and hit him harder in return. This would continue until the log killed the bear. People behave in the same way when they return evil for the evil they receive from other people. Can’t people be wiser than bears?
You should respond with kindness toward evil done to you, and you will destroy in an evil person that pleasure which he derives from evil.
The true teaching of love is strong; it kills evil before evil can grow and become powerful.
January 31
Only greatly insolent people establish a religious law which is to be taken for granted by others, which should be accepted by everyone on faith, without any discussion or doubts.
Why must people do this?
What a strange thing! Many scoundrels try to disguise their dirty deeds by their dedication to the interests of religion, or by their high morals, or by love for their motherland.
—HEINRICH HEINE
But be not yet called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
—MATTHEW 23:8-10
The essence of the teaching of Christ is to follow his commandments. Those who just repeat, “My God, My Lord” will not get to heaven; only those who fulfill God’s will.
February 1
It is not possible to explain the origin of the spiritual from the material.
A man consists of body and soul. Thus often, especially in his youth, he is interested only in his body, but nevertheless, the most essential part of every man is not his body, but his soul. It is your soul that you must take care of, not your body. You must learn this over time, and remember that your real life is in your spirit, that is, in your soul. Save it from everyday dirt and do not let your flesh guide it; subdue your body to your soul, and then you will fulfill your destiny and live a happy life.
—After MARCUS AURELIUS
The heart of the matter is whether we believe or disbelieve in the existence of a spiritual realm. All people are divided into two groups, those who are alive and those who are dead; in other words, those who believe and those who don’t. An unbeliever says: “What is spirit! … What I ate and what I enjoyed, this is what I possess, this is material and real!” And such a person, without thinking much, takes care only of the outer things, arranging in order only his own mean, dirty affairs; he becomes a liar, a snob, a slave, and does not feel any higher needs: freedom, truth, and love. Such a person keeps away from the light of the intellect, because in fact he is dead, and this light gives life only to living things, and hardens and rots the dead things.
—ALEXANDR ARKHANGELSKY
The difference between the spiritual realm and the material is equally clear and obvious, both for a child and a wise man; further speculations are not necessary.
February 2
There are two different states of human existence: first, to live without thinking of death; second, to live with the thought that you approach death with every hour of your life.
The more you transform your life from the material to the spiritual domain, the less you become afraid of death. A person who lives a truly spiritual life has no fear of death.
When you have doubts about what to do, just imagine that you might die at the end of that same day, and then all your doubts will disappear, and you will see clearly what your conscience tells you, and what is your true personal wish.
A man condemned to immediate execution will not think about the growth of his estate, or about achieving glory, or about the victory of one group over another, or about the discovery of a new planet. But one minute before his death a man may wish to console an abused person, or help an old person to stand up, or to put a bandage on someone’s injury, or to repair a toy for a child.
February 3
Kindness is for your soul as health is for your body: you do not notice it when you have it.
A person becomes happy to the same extent to which he or she gives happiness to other people.
—JEREMY BENTHAM
The will of God for us is to live in happiness and to take an interest in the lives of others.
—JOHN RUSKIN
Love is real only when a person can sacrifice himself for another person. Only when a person forgets himself for the sake of another, and lives for another creature, only this kind of love can be called true love, and only in this love do we see the blessing and reward of life. This is the foundation of the world.
Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness.
February 4
A man is free only when he lives in truth, and the truth may be perceived only by the intellect.
If you throw some nuts and cookies on a road, you will eventually see children come, pick them up, and start to argue and fight for them. Adults would not fight for such things. And even children would not pick up the nuts’ empty shells.
For a wise man, the wealth, the glory, and the rewards of this world are like sweets or empty shells on a road. Let the children pick them up and fight for them. Let them kiss the hands of the rich men, the rulers, and their servants. For the wise one, all these are but empty shells.
—EPICTETUS
A distinctive feature of a thinking person is submission to his fate, as opposed to the shameful struggle with it that is a characteristic feature of animals.
—MARCUS AURELIUS
We are not free in this world, subdued by our passions and by the emotions of other people to the degree that we forget the requirements of our intellects. If we really want to become free, we can be so only through our intellect.
February 5
All events, whether in the lives of human individuals, or human societies, have their beginnings in thought. Therefore, to fully understand other people and other societies, we must look beyond previous events to the thoughts which gave rise to them.