Virtues

"Education leads to enlightenment. Enlightenment opens the way to empathy. Empathy foreshadows reform."

"Empathy is the fifth component of emotional intelligence… Respect is a stepping stone to Empathy."

"The home is the first and most effective place to learn the lessons of life: truth, honor, virtue, self control, the value of education, honest work, and the purpose and privilege of life. Nothing can take the place of home in rearing and teaching children, and no other success can compensate for failure in the home."

"The only abuse of drugs is the control of drugs by other people. ...The only control is self-control."

"Trees continue to vegetate, and so do live on beasts and birds; he alone lives whose mind lives not in consequence of taking on a variety of forms. All holy writ is so much burden to him who has not acquired self-control, the body is so much burden to him who knows only the anatman (no-self.)"

"There can be no self-government without self-discipline. There can be no self-government without self-control. There can be no liberty unless it is grounded in moral discipline and the ability to do what is right."

"Hitler was undoubtedly a genius but he lacked self-control. He recognized no limits. Otherwise the thousand-year Reich would have lasted more than twelve years."

"Whatever God gives, he “gives not the spirit of cowardliness but the spirit of power and self-control". (2 Timothy 1.7) Just as it is required of the expectant person, if his expectancy is noble and worthy of a human being, that he seeks this spirit of power and self-control, and that, just as his expectancy is laudable, he must also be one who is properly expectant, so in turn will the object of expectancy, the more glorious and precious it is, form the expectant person in its own likeness, because a person resembles what he loves with his whole soul."

"When one intends to move or when one intends to speak, one should first examine one’s own mind and then act appropriately with composure. When one sees one’s mind to be attached or repulsed, then one should neither act nor speak, but remain still like a piece of wood. When my mind is haughty, sarcastic, full of conceit and arrogance, ridiculing, evasive and deceitful, when it is inclined to boast, or when it is contemptuous of others, abusive, and irritable, then I should remain still like a piece of wood. When my mind is averse to the interests of others and seeks my own self-interest, or when it wishes to speak out of a desire for an audience, then I will remain still like a piece of wood. When it is impatient, indolent, timid, impudent, garrulous, or biased in my own favor, then I will remain still like a piece of wood."

"The fool worries, thinking, "I have sons, I have wealth." Indeed, when he himself is not his own, whence are sons, whence is wealth?"

"It is not worth asking how to define consciousness, how to explain it, how it evolved, what its function is, etc., because there's no one thing for which all the answers would be the same. Instead, we have many sub-capabilities, for which the answers are different: e.g., different kinds of perception, learning, knowledge, attention control, self-monitoring, self-control, etc."

"Are you polluting the world or cleaning up the mess? You are responsible for your inner space; nobody else is... p. 53"

"In order that a "self" may exist there must be some continuity of mental experiences and, particularly, continuity bridging gaps of unconsciousness. For example, the continuity of our "self" is resumed after sleep, anaesthesia, and the temporary amnesias of concussion and convulsions."

"The concept of substance leads to a materialist aspect of the mind. I speak instead of the spiritual existence of the self without mentioning any 'substance' properties. The great problem is 'how the self controls its brain'. This is dualistic, but not in terms of two substances. Instead it relates to the two worlds of Popper."

"Whoso chastens his servants, does so that he may possess them; the good God chastens His servants that they may possess themselves."

"What do I mean by a professional soldier? I mean one who has been thoroughly trained in the school of military discipline. And what is military discipline? In its essence I must repeat that it is the organized abnegation of self, the organized sacrifice of the individual for the corporate welfare. Its object is to make hundreds of thousands act under the guidance of a single will; its leading principle is immediate and unquestioning obedience to superior command. In a way it is hard, for it enjoins that it is better for injustice to be done to the individual than that an order should be disobeyed. In a way it is narrowing, and may undoubtedly be injurious to character; for it treats the formula 'Orders must be obeyed' as a sufficient answer to any reasoning. It may be turned to evil account, for, as the Prayer Book teaches us, there was never any thing by the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established, which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted.' On the other hand it it may be both strengthening and ennobling; for self-sacrifice is no mean ideal to set before a man; and, if the drill-sergeant cannot always impart self-reverence and self-knowledge, he can at least enforce self-control. And the outstanding mark of a man who has been educated, not merely in intellect but in character, is self-control."

"Just as a fletcher straightens an arrow shaft, even so the discerning man straightens his mind — so fickle and unsteady, so difficult to guard."

"Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought."

"Self-control is something for which I do not strive. Self-control means wanting to be effective at some random point in the infinite radiations of my spiritual existence."

"Let every one of us cultivate, in every word that issues from our mouth, absolute truth. I say cultivate, because to very few people — as may be noticed of most young children — does truth, this rigid, literal veracity, come by nature. To many, even who love it and prize it dearly in others, it comes only after the self-control, watchfulness, and bitter experience of years."

"Conquer thyself, till thou hast done this, thou art but a slave; for it is almost as well to be subjected to another's appetite as to thine own."

"Benjamin Franklin, tactless in his youth, became so diplomatic, so adroit at handling people that he was made American Ambassador to France. The secret of his success? "I will speak ill of no man," he said, ... "and speak all the good I know of everybody." Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving. "A great man shows his greatness," says Carlyle, "by the way he treats little men.""

"Constantly wrestle with your thought, and whenever it wanders call it back to you."

"The generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of the punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness."

"Reverence the gods, save men. Life is brief; there is but one harvest of earthly existence, a holy disposition and neighborly acts - Reverence the gods, and help men. Short is life."

"They have a traditionary reverence for the name of their countrymen Ovid, but, like the poor Neapolitans who believe that Virgil was a great magician..."

"How can I, when the battle rages, send an arrow through Bheeshma and Drona, who should receive my reverence?"

"It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knew how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme."

"The reverence and obedience due to the Reformed Church here, and to the bishops and pastors therein, was cast off, and every Man became a Judge of Religion, and interpretor of Scriptures for himself."

"REVERENCE, n. The spiritual attitude of a man to a god and a dog to a man."

"Reverence does not die with mortals, nor does it perish whether they live or die."

"Reverence is an emotion that we can nurture in our very young children, respect is an attitude that we instill in our children as they become school-agers, and responsibility is an act that we inspire in our children as they grow through the middle years and become adolescents."

"Many will think they may reasonably blame me by alleging that my proofs are opposed to the authority of certain men held in the highest reverence by their inexperienced judgments; not considering that my works are the issue of pure and simple experience, who is the one true mistress."

"Respect the masterpiece. It is true reverence to man. There is no quality so great, none so much needed now."

"Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence."

"Reverence does not die with mortals, nor does it perish whether they live or die."

"The most common trait of all primitive peoples is a reverence for the life-giving earth, and the Native American shared this elemental ethic: The land was alive to his loving touch, and he, its son, was brother to all creatures."

"It is incumbent upon us to leave no stone unturned in order to promote loyalty and bravery on the home front as well, and to replenish and demonstrate our nation's powers, for which are required the inculcation of the spirit of reverence for deities and respect for ancestors, the renovation of national education and the improvement of the people's physical strength."

"Man's only true happiness is to live in hope of something to be won by him. Reverence something to be worshipped by him, and love something to be cherished by him, forever."

"Reverence thy preceptors: shun the conversation of those whom thou desirest not to resemble, and receive not in vain the graces which God has bestowed upon thee."

"By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world By practicing reverence for life we become good, deep, and alive."

"The happiness of the individual is interwoven with that of his contemporaries: by the power of filial reverence and parental affection, individual existence is extended beyond the limits of individual love, and the happiness of every age is chained in mutual dependence upon that of every other."

"Let parents then bequeath to their children not riches but the spirit of reverence."

"In general, people are more easily swayed by fear than inspired by reverence."

"With reverence be it spoken... The only thing bad is their excuse…"

"Above the cloud with its shadow is the star with its light. Above all things reverence thyself."

"Where there is reverence there is fear, but there is not reverence everywhere that there is fear, because fear presumably has a wider extension than reverence."

"Advertising treats all products with the reverence and the seriousness due to sacraments."

"One man received a thought and accepted it without examination. Another received a thought and tested its truth. Which of them acted with greater reverence?"

"Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world."