April 26

The understanding of the existence of God is accessible to everybody; the complete understanding of the essence of God is not accessible to any person.

All the nations of the world name and respect God. Different people give him different names, and put different clothes on him; but there is only one God under all these different manifestations.  

— Jean Jacques Rousseau

Faith in God is as natural to men as their ability to walk on two feet. This faith can be modified, and it can even disappear in some individuals; but as a rule, it is necessary for intellectual life in society.

— After George Lichtenberg

There are some statements which cannot he fathomed: God exists or he does not exist; the soul exists in the body, or we do not have a soul; the world was created or the world was not created.

— Blaise Pascal

Live in God, live together with God, by understanding Him in you, and do not try to define Him with words.

December 27

All that we see and know does not exist in reality, because it is the product of our limited ability to understand reality.

 

Instead of saying that the world is reflected in our intellect, better to say that our intellect is reflected in the world.

— George Lichtenberg

 

Old fortresses are destroyed, monuments to kings are demolished, old age ravages our bodies. Only the teachings of kindness are never ruined or affected by age.

 

As soon as a person truly looks at himself as only a physical body, then he sees an unsolved puzzle, a contradiction that cannot be unraveled.

 

In order to understand the true essence of a thing we must transform the physical into the spiritual.

November 8

We come to a right understanding of our life in relation to God in the same way we understand our relation to the world and to its things. Without conscience, we would never know anything about God.

The question is whether the intellectual one, without the heart, can understand God. The truth is that if our heart understands God our intellect will then start to seek Him.

— George Lichtenberg

The basic foundation of the understanding of God is inside of us. — William Ellery Channing

A good worker probably does not know the details of the life of his master. Only a lazy worker tries to do nothing except find out more about his master's way of life, tastes, and preferences in order to please him. The same is true of a person's attitude to God. It is important to accept Him as your master and to know what He wants you to do. I may never know the answers to the questions "What is he?" and “How does I le live?” I will never find out because I am not equal to Him. I am His worker, not His master.

Every person understands God in different ways, but people should fulfill His will in the same way. 

November 7

You can look at life as death, and death as an awakening.

I cannot stop thinking that I was dead before I was born, and at my death I will return to the same state.

— George Lichtenberg

I do not regret that I was born here and that I lived part of my life here, because I lived in a way that I think was useful. When the end comes, I will leave my life in the same way, as if I leave an inn and not my home, because I think that my stay in this life is temporary and that death is only a transfer to another state.

— Marcus Tullius Cicero

Even if I err in saying that the soul is eternal, nevertheless I am happy that I made this mistake. And while I am alive, not a single person can take away this assurance which gives me complete calmness and great satisfaction.

— Marcus Tullius Cicero

We ask the wrong question when we say, “What shall happen after death?” When we speak about the future, we speak of time, but when we die, we leave time behind. 

April 18

What is important is not the quantity of your knowledge, but its quality. You can know many things without knowing that which is most important.

Ignorance in itself is neither shameful nor harmful. Nobody can know everything. But pretending that you know what you actually do not know is both shameful and harmful.

There are two types of ignorance: the pure, natural ignorance into which all people are born, and the ignorance of the so-called wise. You will see that many among those who call themselves scholars do not know real life, and they despise simple people and simple things.

— BLAISE PASCAL

The truth should often overcome thousands of obstacles, until it is accepted.

— GEORGE LICHTENBERG

The scholar who thinks but does not create is like the cloud which does not give rain.

— EASTERN WISDOM

Vague and complex terminology was created by false scholars. Real, truthful knowledge does not need vague terms.

July 27

Knowledge is a tool, not a purpose.

People know little, because they try to understand those things which are not open to them for understanding: God, eternity, spirit; or those which are not worth thinking about: how 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.

People who think that the most important thing in life is knowledge remind me of a butterfly who flies into the flame of a candle, and in so doing burns, and extinguishes the light.

The title "scholar" suggests that a person has  gone to school, and that he studied, but it does not mean that he has acquired any truly important knowledge. 

— George Lichtenberg  

The purpose of life is the fulfillment of the law of God, not the acquisition of ever more knowledge. 

July 9

People mistakenly think that virtue lies in the knowledge of many things. What is important is not the quantity but the quality of knowledge.

Socrates thought that stupidity was incompatible, with wisdom, but he never said that ignorance was stupidity.

— Xenophon

We live in the age of philosophy, science, and intellect. Huge libraries are open for everyone. Everywhere we have schools, colleges, and universities which give us the wisdom of the people from many previous millennia. And what then? Have we become wiser for all this? Do we better understand our life, or the meaning of our existence? Do we know what is good for our life?

— Jean Jacques Rousseau

Reading too much is harmful to your independence of thought. The greatest thinkers I’ve met among scholars are people who do not read too much.

— George Lichtenberg

Do not fear the lack of knowledge, fear false knowledge. All evil in this world comes from false knowledge.

Knowledge born in argument and discussion is to be doubted.

May 5

Religious teaching, that is, the explanation of the purpose and meaning of life, should be the basis of any education.

People think that it is no crime to lie to children, and that to lie to children is not really very wrong, but even sometimes necessary. But it is clear that with children you should be especially careful and honest about what you say to them.

You should always be truthful, especially with a child. You should always do what you have promised him, otherwise you will teach him to lie.

— After the Talmud

Man, whose teacher is nature, should not be a

piece of wax on which an elevated image of some

professor is to be carved.

— George Lichtenberg

Do not say to a child whom you teach that there is a final truth, if you do not believe in something completely, or if you have some doubts. To do such a thing is a great crime.