A Calendar of Wisdom

"People who try to force circumstances become their slaves."

"Emerson said that music helps people to find the greatness in their souls. The same can be said about any form of art."

"Religion and law try to escape from criticism, religion by saying that it is divine and law by showing that it is powerful."

"Ignorance cannot lead to evil, misconceptions lead to evil. It is not what people do know, it’s what they pretend they do."

"Every misconception is a poison: there are no harmless misconceptions."

"To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the ill in the hospital—these are acts of mercy, but there is one charitable deed which cannot be compared to them: to free your brother from misconception."

"One of the major obstacles impeding any positive future change in our lives is that we are too busy with our current work or activity."

"False shame ... is even worse than false pride. Pride can support evil, but false shame stops goodness."

"Only misconceptions need to be supported by elaborate arguments. Truth can always stand alone."

"All goodness is as nothing compared to the goodness of truth; all sweets are an nothing compared to the sweetness of truth. The bliss of truth surpasses all other joys in the world."

"They who have decided to dedicate their lives to spiritual perfection will never be dissatisfied or unhappy, because all that they want is in their power."

"A person who has spoiled his stomach will criticize his meal saying that the food is bad; the same thing happens with people who are not satisfied with their lives."

"If it seems to us that we are not satisfied with life, we should see this as a reason to be unsatisfied with ourselves."

"Cruel people are busy all the time, as if to find justification for the cruelty of their dealings."

"He who is looking for wisdom is already wise; and he who thinks that he has found wisdom is a stupid man."

"The more respect that objects, customs, or laws are given, the more attentively you must question the right these things have to this respect."

"All material changes in our everyday life are small in comparison with those in our spiritual life."

"We regret losing a purse full of money, but a good thought which has come to us, which we’ve heard or read, a thought which we should have remembered and applied to our life, which could have improved the world—we lose this thought and promptly forget about it, and we do not regret it, although it is more precious than millions."

"The more strictly and mercilessly you judge yourself, the more just and kind you will be in the judgment of others."

"A person who understands the law but who is far from the love of God is like a bank official who has the keys for the inside of the building but not the key for the front door."

"The commandments of God should be followed because of love of God, not because of fear of God."

"If you love a person without loving God, which is the goodness inside of him, then you plant the seeds for future disappointments and sufferings with this love."

"In order to feel complete love, we can either delude ourselves that some imperfect object of our love is “perfection” or we can love perfection, which is God."

"When you suffer, think not on how you can escape suffering, but concentrate your efforts on what kind of inner moral and spiritual perfection this suffering requires."

"I praise Christianity because it develops, strengthens, and elevates my intellectual nature."

"In order not to pour out a vessel full of water, you should hold it evenly. In order to have a razor sharp, you should sharpen it. The same should happen with your soul if you are looking for real goodness."

"If there is something great in you, it will not appear on your first call. It will not appear and come to you easily, without any work and effort."

"When everything you see appears in dark, gloomy shades, and seems baleful, and you want to tell others only bad and unpleasant things, do not trust your perceptions. Treat yourself as though you were drunk. Take no steps and actions until this state has disappeared."

"Instead of saving humanity, every person should save himself."

"Every truth has its origin in God. When it is manifested in a man, this in not because it comes from him, but because he has such a quantity of transparency that he can reveal it."

"Life is gives to us in the same way as a child is given to a nanny, so that is can be raised to maturity."

"A work of art makes a great impression on us only when it gives us something which, even with all the efforts of our intellect, we cannot understand completely."

"You cannot do anything wonderful driven by competition; you cannot do anything noble from pride."

"Real science studies and makes accessible that knowledge which people at that period of history think important, and real art transfers this truth from the domain of knowledge to the domain of feelings."

"When you have no freedom, then your life becomes the life of an animal."

"A person has done evil, so another person, or a group of people, in order to fight this evil, cannot think of anything better than to create another evil, which they call punishment."

"Every punishment is based, not on logic or the feeling of justice, but on the desire to wish evil on those who have done evil to you or to another person."

"Everything about our present system of punishments and about all criminal law will be thought of by future generations in the same way that we think of cannibalism or human sacrifice to the pagan gods. “How did they not see the uselessness and cruelty of those things which they did?” our descendents will say about us."

"Follow the best way of life you possibly can, and habit will make this way suitable and pleasant to you."

"Pay bad people with you goodness; fight their hatred with you kindness. Even if you do not achieve victory over other people, you will conquer yourself."

"Do not fear the lack of knowledge, fear false knowledge."

"In the world today, real faith has in most case been re-placed by public opinion."

"Wise consumption is much more complicated than wise production."

"A person is higher than an animal because of his ability to speak, but he is lower than an animal if he cannot properly use this ability."

"Those people speak most who do not have much to say."

"People know little, because they try to understand those things which are not open to them for understanding: God, eternity, spirit; or those things which are not worth thinking about: how hot water becomes frozen, or a new theory of numbers, or how viruses can transmit illnesses. How to live your life is the only real knowledge."

"Repentance always precedes perfection."

"As rules go, “You should behave just as other people behave” is among the most dangerous; it almost always results in your behaving badly."

"For the majority of mankind, religion is a habit, or, more precisely, tradition is their religion. Though it seems strange, I think that the first step to moral perfection is your liberation from the religion in which you were raised. Not a single person has come to perfection except by following this way."

"If we think every word in every holy book is true, then we have created an idol."