April 5

It is difficult to avoid working in life without either sinning, committing violence, being a party to violence, or by flattering and pleasing the agents of violence.

Being poor is better than living in luxury and serving the rich. Do not stand at the door of a rich man asking for favors if you hope to lead a good life.

— Indian Proverb

A dress presented to you as a gift by the king may be beautiful, but your own simple dress is better. Different meals from the tables of the rich may be good, but a loaf of simple bread from your own table always tastes much better.

Muslih-Ud-Din Saadi

To those people who do not work the land, the soil says: if you do not work me, by applying physical labor with both of your hands, then you will stand in front of the doors of others asking for help; you will always be fated to use the leftovers of the rich.

— Zoroaster

You will find that people unwilling to work will either take advantage of others or be humiliated by them. 

March 15

Be filled with love for other people, including those who are unpleasant or hostile to you. A real trial to one's love is to love your enemies.

If you love your enemies, you will have no enemies.

The most perfect among men is he who loves his neighbor without thinking about whether the person is good or bad.

— Mohammed

Be humble and oppose dissipation. Even a thin sword cannot cut soft silk. Using tender words and kindness, you can lead an elephant with a hair.

— Muslih-Ud-Din Saadi

Every time you are abused by someone and feel animosity toward him, remember that all people are children of God. Regardless of whether this person is unpleasant to you, you should not stop loving him as your brother, because, as much as you are, he is God's son. 

March 5

Just as it's folly to try to lift yourself into the air, you should not praise yourself too much. When you praise yourself, you produce the opposite effect in others, and appear lower in their eyes.

If you want other people to speak well of you, do not speak well of yourself.

— Blaise Pascal

A man who praises himself does not see anything except himself around him. It is better to be a blind man than to see only yourself and nobody else.

— Muslih-Ud-Din Saadi

He who always listens to what other people say about him will never find inner peace.

A flatterer speaks his flattery because he has a low opinion of himself and of others.

— Jean De La Bruyere

If you want to preserve your good name, do not praise yourself and do not so much as allow others to praise you. 

March 3

What reward should a good deed bring you? Only the joy you receive by performing it. And any other reward lessens the feeling of this joy.

He who does good to others makes the biggest gift to himself.

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A saint prayed to God in the following way: "0 God, please be kind to evil people as much as you are to kind people. Kind people already feel good, because they are kind."

— Muslih-Ud-Din Saadi

If you do good and ask for a reward, you weaken the force of your goodness.

— From the Book Of Divine Thoughts

Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

— Matthew 6:3

What a joy it is to do a good deed! And this joy is strongest if no one knows that you have done it. 

February 26

After a long conversation, stop and try to remember what you have just discussed. Don’t be surprised if many things, sometimes even everything you have discussed, were meaningless, empty and trivial, and sometimes even bad.  

A stupid person should keep silent. But if he knew this, he would not be a stupid person.

— Muslih-Ud-Din Saadi

Only speak when your words are better than your silence.

— Arabic Proverb

For every time you regret that you did not say something, you will regret a hundred times that you did not keep your silence.

Kind people are never involved in arguments, and those who like to argue are never kind. Truthful words are not always pleasant, and pleasant words are not necessarily truthful.

— Lao-Tzu

If you want to be a clever person, you have to learn how to ask cleverly, how to listen attentively, how to respond quietly, and how to stop talking when there is nothing more to say.

Many stupid things are uttered by people whose
only motivation is to say something original.

— Voltaire

If you have time to think before you start talking, think, Is it necessary to speak? Will what I have to say harm anyone?

January 4

Even if we don't want to, we can't help but feel our connection to the rest of mankind: we are connected by industry, by trade, by art, by knowledge, and most importantly, by our common mortality.

 

Kind people help each other even without noticing that they are doing so, and evil people act against each other on purpose.

— Chinese Proverb

 

Every person has his burden. One cannot live without the support of other people, therefore we have to support each other with consolation, advice, and mutual warnings.

— From the Book of Divine Thoughts

 

All the children of Adam are members of the same body. When one member suffers, all the others suffer as well. If you are indifferent to the sufferings of others, you do not deserve to be called a man.

— Muslih-Ud-Din Saadi

The history of mankind is the movement of humanity toward greater and greater unification.

October 25

A person can understand his purpose in the same way as he understands his dignity. Only a religious person can understand his purpose in life.

A king asked a holy man, “Do you remember about me?” The holy man answered, “Yes, I think about you, when I forget about God.”

— Muslih-Ud-Din Saadi

We fulfill the law of God when we feel the lives of others as our own life.

— Giuseppe Mazzini

The freedom of a person is a great thing, and even the freedom of a whole nation begins from the freedom of a single individual.

You should respect freedom in yourself, and in your neighbor, and in all people.

Only he who understands himself as a spiritual being can understand the spiritual dignity of other people. Such a person will not lower himself with any act which is not worthy of a spiritual person.

September 13

A wise man does not wish to change his situation, because he knows that it is possible to fulfill the law of God – the law of love – in every situation.

A wise man looks for everything inside of himself; a madman seeks for everything in others.

— Confucius

I never complain about my fate. Once, I did not have shoes, and I complained to God. I went into church with a heavy heart and in the church I saw a man without both feet. So I thanked God that he had given me both feet, and that my only problem was that they were unshod. — Muslih-Ud-Din Saadi

A wise man innately knows how to act without searching, because he has the divine within himself. The further you search and seek, the less you know.

— Lao-Tzu

You should treat your thoughts the way you treat your self, and treat your wishes the way you treat your children.

— Chinese Wisdom

Try to establish an inner silence in yourself, a complete silence of your lips and your heart. Then you will hear how God speaks to us, and you will know how to fulfill His will.

The more upset a person is with other people, and with circumstances, and the more satisfied he is with himself, the further he is from wisdom.

April 5

It is difficult to avoid working in life without either sinning, committing violence, being a party to violence, or by flattering and pleasing the agents of violence.

Being poor is better than living in luxury and serving the rich. Do not stand at the door of a rich man asking for favors if you hope to lead a good life.

— INDIAN PROVERB

A dress presented to you as a gift by the king may be beautiful, but your own simple dress is better. Different meals from the tables of the rich may be good, but a loaf of simple bread from your own table always tastes much better.

— MUSLIH-UD-DIN SAADI

To those people who do not work the land, the soil says: if you do not work me, by applying physical labor with both of your hands, then you will stand in front of the doors of others asking for help; you will always be fated to use the leftovers of the rich.

— ZOROASTER

You will find that people unwilling to work will either take advantage of others or be humiliated by them.

July 30

Only those who know their weaknesses can be tolerant of the weaknesses of their neighbors.

My children, if someone abuses you with words; do not pay much attention; be quiet at your prayer; and ask your friends to settle the dispute and find peace between you and those who have abused you. 

— The Talmud

The man who cannot forgive destroys a bridge which he will have to cross; because every person needs forgiveness. 

— Edward Herbert

Almost always; when we look deep into our souls; we  can find there the same sins which we blame in others. If we do not find a particular sin in our soul, then we should look more closely, and we will find worse sins there.

A deep river is not if you throw a stone into it. If a religious person is hurt by criticism, then he is not a river but a shallow pool. Forgive others, and then you will receive forgiveness.

 — Muslih-Ud-Din Saadi

If we can put ourselves into the place of other people, we lessen our pride.

July 16

Nothing can support idleness better than empty chatter. People would be better to keep silent and not speak the boring, empty things they routinely say to entertain themselves. How can they endure it?

The person who speaks much will seldom fulfill all his words in his actions. A wise person is always wary lest his words surpass his actions.

— Chinese Wisdom

First think, then speak. Stop when told “enough.” 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.

— Muslih-Ud-Din Saadi

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

If you want to stop a person from an action, ask him to speak more on the topic. The more people speak, the less desire they have to act.

— Thomas Carlyle

The less you speak, the more you will work.