A Calendar of Wisdom

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

"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."

"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."

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

"You should not be upset by the sight of wisdom being criticized. Wisdom would not be wisdom if it did not reveal the stupidity of a bad life, and people would not be people if they endured this revelation without criticism."

"The way to fame goes thorough the palaces, the way to happiness does through the markets, the way to virtue goes through the deserts."

"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."

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

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

"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."

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

"If you suffer misfortunes in your life, look for their cause, not in your actions, but in the thoughts which inspired them, and try to improve these thoughts."

"Justice is achieved not in striving for justice, but with love."

"When you feel the desire for power, you should stay in solitude for some time."

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

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

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

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

"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."

"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."

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

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

"Repentance always precedes perfection."

"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."

"One hour of honest, serious thinking is more precious than weeks spent in empty talk."

"Mysterious language is not a sign of wisdom. The wiser a person is, the simpler the language he uses to express his thoughts."

"In order to be just, you should make a self-sacrifice, be unjust to yourself."

"A person who knows all sciences but does not know himself is a poor and ignorant person."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The creation and sale of most art today is pure prostitution."