February 28 and February 29

February 28

Art is a means of unifying people.

If beautiful art does not express moral ideas which unite people, then it is not art, but only entertainment. People need to be entertained in order to distance themselves from disappointment in their lives.

— Immanuel Kant

It is possible to imagine that art could die, but it is not possible to imagine that real art could live if it became a slave of wealth that laughed at the poor.

Art is one of the most powerful means of convincing people of anything, both good and bad; therefore, you must be very careful in its use.

An artist is one of two things: he is either a high priest, or a more or less smart entertainer.

— Giuseppi Mazzini

Meditations or discussions about art are the most useless pastimes known. Those who really know art know that art can speak well with its own language, and that to speak about art with words is useless. Most people who speak about art do not understand or feel real art.

February 29

To move, you must know where to go, in terms both of everyday motion and of your whole life. In order to live a good life, you must know where life leads.

Perfection is of God. To wish for perfection is of man.

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Life is not given to us that we might live idly without work. No, our life is a struggle and a journey. Good should struggle with evil; truth should struggle with falsehood; freedom should struggle with slavery; love should struggle with hatred. Life is movement, a walk along the way of life to the fulfillment of those ideas which illuminate us, both in our intellect and in our hearts, with divine light.

— After Giuseppe Mazzini

The ideal is within you, and the obstacle to reaching this ideal is also within you. You already possess all the material from which to create your ideal self.

— Thomas Caryle

We should believe that the goodness which exists in us and in this world will be fulfilled. This is the major condition to make it happen.

January 2

One of the worst prejudices known is held by the majority of the so-called scholars of our time, who claim that a person can live without faith.

Throughout the centuries, in every age, people have wanted to know or at least have a vague idea about the source, the beginning, and the final purpose of their existence. Religion satisfies this requirement, and makes clear those connections which unite all people as brothers, revealing to them that they have the same source of origin, the same task for their lives, and the same general final goal.

— Giuseppi Mazzini

The essential meaning of every religion is to answer the question "Why do I live, and what is my attitude to the limitless world which surrounds me?" There is not a single religion, from the most sophisticated to the most primitive, which does not have as its basis the definition of this attitude of a person to the world.

At the heart of all religions lies a single unifying truth. Let Persians bear their taovids, Jews wear their caps, Christians bear their cross, Muslims bear their sickle moon, but we have to remember that these are all only outer signs. The general essence of all religions is love to your neighbor, and that this is requested by Manuf, Zoroaster, Buddha, Moses, Socrates, Jesus, Saint Paul, and Mohammed alike.

— Edward Flūgel

The life of a person without faith is the life of an animal.

December 22

Nothing seems to check the notion that the way to improve civilization is affected by changing its outer forms. This notion is false, and draws the activity of too many people away from effort that truly can improve our lives.

 

Civilization is first of all a moral thing. Without truth, respect for duty, love of neighbor, virtue, everything is destroyed. The morality of a society is alone the basis of civilization.

— Henri Amiel

 

The proper direction of man's thought is not toward the creation of new laws for government, but toward the acceptance of every person's moral dignity.

— Edmund Yates

 

Socialism, when compared with Christianity, is a rather minor, secondary question about the material needs of the working class. It stands outside the basic questions of human life.

— Fyodor Strakhov

 

We should, first of all, understand that we are all children of the same father, and we should fulfill the same general law: live not for ourselves, but to help others be happy.

— Giuseppi Mazzini

 

When we accept false and violent laws and submit to them, we can neither establish truth nor combat lies in this world.

December 20

The real purpose of Christianity is obvious to all, and it is stronger than the lies which try to pervert it.

 

We should separate the religion that was taught by Jesus from the religion whose subject is Jesus. Then we will understand the real meaning, of the New Testament and follow it.

— Henri Amiel

 

I see a new religion based on mutual trust, which appeals to our deepest selves, and which teaches that a person should love goodness without reward, and that the divine exists in everyone.

 

In different ways and in different tongues, all humanity repeats the words of the Lord's prayer, "Let thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven."

— Giuseppi Mazzini

 

Do not think that you will personally see the coming of the kingdom of God. But have no doubt that it will come soon: it is coming closer and closer, without hesitation.

December 18

Mankind moves ceaselessly toward perfection, not of every person's accord, but through the efforts that some particular individuals make toward their personal perfection. The kingdom of God will be created by these individual efforts.

 

Do not be embarrassed by all your bad deeds, by all your misfortunes. Do not be embarrassed, but fight ceaselessly, bravely, and without hesitation, because the kingdom of God will come.

— F. Robert De Lamennais

 

We hear often that there is no use in working to improve our life, to fight evil, or to establish justice, because progress will occur by itself. Imagine that a boat floats along a river. Imagine that those who have sat by the oars and rowed tirelessly have stopped and gone ashore; and that the travelers who remain in the boat do not bother to take up the oars and push the boat further, but think that it will travel by itself, as before, into the future.

 

Life has no meaning without purpose. To lack purpose is to deny the existence of God and to admit that our life is an evil, stupid joke.

— Giuseppi Mazzini

 

All our history proves that God may be understood, not by reasoning, but by submission to Him and observance to His laws. Only by doing this can we understand His will on earth.

— John Ruskin

 

Every person should make a small effort, even the smallest effort, to improve the general well-being of humanity.

November 16

Faith answers those questions to which the intellect cannot find answers, but which must be asked.

There is only one true religion, though there are many different faiths.

— Immanuel Kant

It is only faith which creates the powerful convictions, the energy, and the unity which can cure society.

Giuseppi Mazzini

We have only one sinless guide, a universal spirit which gets into all of us though we are all individuals, and which gives us all the urge to do all that is necessary. The same spirit which exists in a tree and pushes it to grow straight and to produce seeds exists in us, urges us to be closer to God, and brings us closer to each other.

When a person is alive, he believes; the closer his faith is to the truth, the happier his life. The further from the truth his faith is, the more unhappy he is. Without faith he does not live; he dies a premature death or else kills himself. 

August 24

People move, inconspicuously but ceaselessly, toward the kingdom of God, which will be achieved by unification in love.

Every single individual person, as well as all mankind together will change, and will go on to higher stages without stopping in their development, the limit of which is God himself. And this time is coming.

— F. Robert De Lamennais

No, the word of all-powerful God has not been told completely. And his thought has not been understood completely in all its depth. He created and he creates, and he will create, for many eternal centuries after us; this the human mind cannot embrace.

— Giuseppi Mazzini

I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.

— Luke 12:49 and 51

The constant struggle between flesh and spirit will never be finished. This struggle is eternal and the essence of life. The purpose of life is loving, the penetration of everything with love. It is the slow and gradual change from evil to good, it is the creation of the real life, the life filled with love.

The human world is always on the way to perfection, and the understanding of this process of perfection is one of mankind’s biggest joys, and this joy is accessible to every person.

August 16

We are spiritually connected on all sides, not only with people but with all living creatures.

Someone told me once that every person has an element of good and an element of bad within him, and that either the good or the bad can be manifested according to the person’s mood. We possess within us two different ways of understanding this world. One is the feeling of being divided, distanced, and alienated from each other; in this state, all things seem gloomy to us. We feel nothing except jealousy, indifference, and hatred. I would like to call the opposite way of understanding the understanding of universal unification. In this state, all people seem very close to us, and all are equal among themselves. This state, therefore, arouses compassion and love in us.

— Arthur Schopenhauer

All people have the same origin, are bound by the same law, and were created for the same purpose. Therefore, we should have one faith, one purpose to our actions, one banner under which we live and fight.

— Giuseppi Mazzini

We should always try to find those things which do not separate us from other people but which unite us. To work against each other, to be angry and turn your back on each other is to work against nature.

— Marcus Aurelius

Try to understand the unity of all living things. Try to serve and suffer with all living beings.

August 14

People have become too accustomed to the use of force. Life without violence seems impossible for them to imagine.

Two ways exist to guide human activity. One is to force a person to act against his wishes; the other is to guide a person’s wishes, to persuade him with reasoning. One is the way of violence: it is used by ignorant people, and it leads to complete disappointment. The other is supported by experience, and is always successful.

—Abraham Comb

Without faith in God, you can force people to act, but you cannot convince them. You can become a tyrant, but not a teacher.

—Giuseppi Mazzini

People are wise beings; they possess the ability to live according to the dictates of their intellect, and sooner or later, they will evolve from a state of violence to a state of complete harmony and understanding. And every act of violence makes this time more distant from today.

June 19

Your conscience is your understanding of your spiritual origins; only when you possess such awareness will it be a real guide in your life.

There are two different beings within you, one which is blind and sensual, and another which can see and is spiritual.

This spiritual being is called conscience and can be compared with the needle of a compass which points at goodness at one end, and at the other, evil. We cannot perceive this compass until we stray from goodness, but as soon as we do something bad, then we feel this pull away from the direction of goodness in life.

God gave us the consciousness of mankind as a whole, as well as our own consciousness as individuals; with the help of these two things, as with two wings we can fly higher and come closer to God and to understand the truth.

—Giuseppi Mazzini

Oh, conscience: you are the deathless voice of heaven, and a true guide and judge of goodness. You make a person resemble God.

—Jean Jacques Rousseau

Youth is the time of passions and infatuations, and yet listen now to the voice of your conscience and accept it as the greatest authority. Always ask yourself, do my actions coincide with my conscience? And do not be afraid to arrive at meanings different from other people’s.

—Theodore Parker

Fear all that is not accepted by your conscience.