Vices

"When I look back upon my life It's always with a sense of shame I've always been the one to blame For everything I long to do No matter where or when or who Has one thing in common too; It's a — it's a — it's a — it's a sin!"

"Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."

"Do not say, “I have sinned and nothing has happened!” For the Lord bides his time. Do not be so sure of pardon when you are heaping sin upon sin. Do not say, “His compassion is great! He will forgive the vast number of my sins!” For with him is mercy but also anger; his fury will be poured out on sinners."

"What is brighter than the sun? Yet it disappears. Man is no more than flesh and blood, yet he thinks of doing evil. While the sun surveys the stars in the lofty sky, human beings remain dust and ashes."

"Sin is always egocentric, while love is altruism and kinship."

"In all your actions remember your last end and you will never sin."

"It is the older generation who foster in a child an early and most unnecessary sense of guilt, of sinfulness and of wrongdoing. So much emphasis is laid upon petty little things that are not really wrong, but are annoying to the parent or teacher, that a true sense of wrong (which is the recognition of failure to preserve right relations with the group) gets overlaid and is not recognized for what it is. The many small and petty sins, imposed upon the children by the constant reiteration of "No", by the use of the word "naughty", and based largely on parental failure to understand and occupy the child, are of no real moment. If these aspects of the child's life are rightly handled, then the truly wrong things, the infringements upon the rights of others, . . . the hurting or damaging of others in order to achieve personal gain, will emerge in right perspective and at the right time."

"Do not say, “It was God who made me sin.” God does not cause what he hates. Do not say, “He made me do wrong,” for he has nothing to do with a sinner. The Lord hates all evil and those who fear him hate it as well...When he created man in the beginning, he left him free to make his own decisions. If you wish, you can keep the commandments and it is in your power to remain faithful. He has set fire and water before you; you stretch out your hand to whichever you prefer. Life and death are set before man: whichever a man prefers will be given him."

"The one who by nature is depressed – how the depressed person looks upon everything as alien and unimportant, how in a certain sense, just as the air can be too light to breathe – for him everything is too light, because his mind is heavy; but this is not sorrow over his sin. The one who year after year with dreadful zest for life piled crime upon crime, most of whose time was spent in sinning – until he stood there annihilated and everything became unimportant to him; but sorrow over his sin there was not – there were sins enough, but sorrow over his sin there was not. On the whole, there is one thing that is altogether common; you can find it in all and in everyone, in yourself just as I find it in myself: sin and sins; there is one thing that is more rare: sorrow over one’s sin. Yet I have seen, and perhaps you also, the one who unconditionally sorrowed over only one thing, over his sin."

"Misery follows sin; sin itself is misery; and the soul that sinneth dies of course, without any means taken to put that soul to death; though Divine interference would be indispensable to prevent the consequences following the cause."

"I couldn't live in peace if I put the shadow of a wilful sin between myself and God."

"On the one hand, there is the type of sinner whom, in present-day language, we would call ‘oppressor.’ Their basic sin consists in oppressing, placing intolerable burdens on others, acting unjustly and so on. On the other hand, there are those who sin ‘from weakness’ or those ‘legally considered sinners’ according to the dominant religious view.Jesus takes a very different approach to each group. He offers salvation to all, and makes demands of all, but in a very different way. He directly demands a radical conversion of the first group, an active cessation from oppressing. For these, the coming of the Kingdom is above all a radical need to stop being oppressors."

"Those who commit mortal sins seek to please not God, but the devil; and since the devil is nothing but darkness, the poor soul becomes darkness with him."

"When there is rust on the mirror, it is not possible that a man’s face be seen in the mirror; so also when there is sin in a man, such a man cannot behold God."

"Sin, without strong restraints, would pull God from His throne, make the world the minion of its lusts, and all beings bow down and worship."

"Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard."

"Esto, ut nunc multi, dives tibi pauper amicis."

"Less, less of self each day, And more, my God, of Thee!"

"Did any man at his death ever regret his conflicts with himself, his victories over appetite, his scorn of impure pleasure, or his sufferings for righteousness' sake?"

"The very heart and root of sin is in an independent spirit. We erect the idol self; and not only wish others to worship, but worship ourselves."

"Deliver me, O Lord, from that evil man, myself."

"Love took up the harp of Life, and smote on all the chords with might; Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, pass'd in music out of sight."

"Twin-sister of Religion, Selfishness! Rival in crime and falsehood, aping all The wanton horrors of her bloody play; Yet frozen, unimpassioned, spiritless, Shunning the light, and owning not its name, Compelled by its deformity to screen With flimsy veil of justice and of right Its unattractive lineaments that scare All save the brood of ignorance; at once The cause and the effect of tyranny; Unblushing, hardened, sensual and vile; Dead to all love but of its abjectness; With heart impassive by more noble powers Than unshared pleasure, sordid gain, or fame; Despising its own miserable being, Which still it longs, yet fears, to disenthrall."

"I hold, in truth, with him who sings To one clear harp in divers tones, That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things."

"What need we any spur but our own cause, To prick us to redress?"

"The behavioral foundations of capitalism do, of course, continue to engage attention, and the pursuit of self-interest still occupies a central position in theories about the workings and successes of capitalism. But in these recent theories, interests are given a rather different—and much more "positive"—role in promoting efficient allocation of resources through informational economy as well as the smooth working of incentives, rather than the negative role of blocking harmful passions."

"Thus suicidal selfishness, that blights The fairest feelings of the opening heart, Is destined to decay, whilst from the soil Shall spring all virtue, all delight, all love, And judgment cease to wage unnatural war With passion's unsubduable array."

"Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live."

"Selfishness is the most terrible scourge of humanity, the source of destruction, and, first of all, self-destruction."

"The most terrible thing is to develop in a child selfishness and stinginess, as these vices will limit the growth of a child's mind."

"All your life, you have heard yourself denounced; not for your faults, but for your greatest virtues. You have been hated, not for your mistakes, but for your achievements. You have been scorned for all those qualities of character which are your highest pride. You have been called selfish for the courage of acting on your own judgment and bearing sole responsibility for your own life. You have been called arrogant for your independent mind. You have been called cruel for your unyielding integrity. You have been called anti-social for the vision that made you venture upon undiscovered roads. You have been called ruthless for the strength and self-discipline of your drive to your purpose."

"When you're comfortable within yourself, you don't care about others' problems or the challenges they face in life. However, when you're in distress, the memories of those you've abandoned leaving in dire situations, come back to haunt you. How selfish humans are!"

"Selfishness does not mean only to do things for one's self. One may do things, affecting others, for his own pleasure and benefit. This is not immoral, but the highest of morality."

"Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonour'd and unsung."

"To reside in someone's memory, one must set aside selfishness, as selfishness and fond memories cannot coexist in the same space."

"The only reason why we are always thinking of our own ego is that we have to live with it more continuously than with anyone else's."

"And, for the largest-hearted of us, what is the word we write most often in our cheque-books? "Self.""

"Selfishness is the making a man's self his own centre, the beginning and end of all he doth."

"Since the world does not really believe in God, in the long run the God-fearing person must really love himself. The God-fearing person does not love what the world loves, but then what is left—God and himself. The world takes God away, and therefore the God-fearing person loves himself. The world regards the fear of God as self-love."

"Where all are selfish, the sage is no better than the fool, and only rather more dangerous."

"The main causes of disharmony are based on selfishness, possessiveness, intolerance, separativeness and the lack of love... The main underlying principle [of goodwill and right human relations] is that man should be taught to relinquish the purely selfish attitude, and to develop the altruistic outlook, which is a soul quality, and therefore lies dormant in each and every man, and only needs awakening."

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."

"Most people are indifferent, unless their self-interest is at stake. Then there are the chronic complainers."

"SELFISH, adj. Devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others."

"For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community. For too long as a nation, we have been lulled by the anthem of self-interest."

"There can be no Good Will. Will is always Evil; it is persecution to others or selfishness."

"The deva asked, What causes ruin in the world? What breaks off friendships? What is the most violent fever? Who is the best physician?" The Blessed One replied, Ruin in the world is caused by ignorance; friendships are broken off by envy and selfishness; the most violent fever is hatred; the best physician is the Buddha."

"Extreme self-lovers will set a man's house on fire, though it were but to roast their eggs."

"Selfishness and demagoguery take advantage of liberty. The selfish hand constantly seeks to control government, and every increase of governmental power, even to meet just needs, furnishes opportunity for abuse and stimulates the effort to bend it to improper uses."

"It is self-love and its offspring self-deception, which shut the gates of heaven, and lead men, as if in a delicious dream, to hell."