April 15

The consequences of our nations cannot be known to us, because they ripple outward limitlessly in a limitless world.

Our efforts to penetrate the mystery of God are futile. It is enough to follow the divine law.

— The Talmud

A saint lives with his inner life; he denies outer life.

— Lao-Tzu

Our most important actions are those consequences which we will not see.

Great deeds have very remote consequences.

— John Ruskin

If you can see all of the consequences of your actions, then your actions are of no use. 

April 7

To repay evil with goodness is easier, wiser and more natural than to repay evil with evil.

Repay evil with goodness.

— The Talmud

And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

— Luke 23:33-34

Conquer rage with humility, conquer evil with goodness, conquer greed with generosity, and conquer lies with truth.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

When we treat our neighbors as they deserve to be treated, we make them even worse; when we treat them as if they were who we wish they were, we improve them.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Those who take joy in repaying an evil with goodness will always try to experience this joy again. 

March 31

To repent means to show your vices and weaknesses to all. Repentance means taking responsibility for all of the bad things you have done, purifying your soul, and preparing to accept goodness.

When a kind man does not accept his mistakes and tries always to justify himself, he becomes an unkind man.

Do you have qualities which can be criticized and improved? Try to admit that this is so, and to find these qualities out by yourself.

Nothing can make a person's soul softer than the understanding of his own blame, and nothing can make one harder than the desire always to be right.

— After the Talmud

Those who cover their old sins with present-day good deeds remind me of moonlight which illuminates this dark world on a cloudy night.

— Dhammapada, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

A man will always understand his sins as well as his limits in this limitless world.

March 28

Wisdom can be achieved by inner work, through solitary communication with yourself; it also can be achieved when you communicate with other people.

Listen and be attentive, but do not speak too much; and when you are asked a question, answer briefly. Do not be ashamed to accept that sometimes you do not know an answer to what you were asked. Do not get into an argument just for the sake of argument; and do not boast.

— Sufi Wisdom

You can view your own drawbacks only through the eyes of other people.

— Chinese Proverb

I have learned many things from my teachers; I have learned many things from my friends; and I have learned even more from my students.

— The Talmud

If you see a holy man, think how could I become like him? If you see a dissipated man, think: don't I have the same vices?

— Chinese Wisdom

Real love is not in words but in deeds, and only love can give you real wisdom.

When you are in company, do not forget what you have found out when you were thinking in solitude; and when you are meditating in solitude, think about what you found out by communicating with other people. 

March 19

The creation of the world would have been a very bad act were it right for rich people to live off the work of the poor, and yet think that they were the benefactors.

A stone falls on a pot — woe to the pot; a pot falls on a stone — woe to the pot; in every case, it is bad for the pot.

— The Talmud

The pleasures of the rich are often acquired by the tears of the poor.

Wealth is created by the concentration of human labor; usually one people produce labor, and others concentrate it. This is called "the division of labor" by contemporary wise people.

There is something wrong with the creation of this world, because the rich people think that they are the benefactors of the poor, but in fact those rich are fed and dressed by the work of these poor and live in luxury created for them by the poor. 

March 18

Blaming other people is always wrong, because no one knows what has happened and happens in the soul of another person.

We often make judgments about other people. We call one person kind, the other stupid, the third evil, the fourth clever. But we should not do so. A man changes constantly; he flows like a river, and every new day he differs from what he was before. He was stupid and became clever; he was evil and became kind at heart; and so on. You cannot judge another person. The moment you blame him, he becomes someone different.

If you want to correct your failings, you do not have the time to waste in blaming other people.

Never blame your neighbor until you have been in his place.

— The Talmud

Forgive other people for many things, but do not forgive yourself anything.

— Publicius Syrus

I know of myself that I do not wish to do evil. If I do evil, it is because I cannot restrain myself. It is the same with other people: they usually do evil because they cannot restrain themselves from evil. Therefore, why do I think badly of other people? Why should I blame them?

February 18

Personality is a mask which disguises the divine being which lives in every person. The more one rejects personality, the more this divine beginning is manifested.

You must love only God, and you must hate only yourself.

— Blaise Pascal

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father.

— John 10:17-18

Only those people who deny their own personality can understand the religious teaching.

— The Talmud

He who wants to save his soul, will lose it; and he who wants to lose his life for me and the gospel, will save it.

— Mark 8:35

Those who do not see the meaning of their life in temporary things, in their names and bodies, those people know the truth of life.

— DHAMMAPADA, a book of Buddhist Wisdom

Only when we forget about ourselves, when we get out of the thoughts of ourselves, can we fruitfully communicate with others, listen to them and influence them.

February 14

A holy spirit lives within you.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

— John 3:3

Intellect can be enlightened only in a kind person. A person can be kind only when he has an enlightened intellect. One helps the other.

— Chinese Wisdom

A merchant married a princess, and he built a palace for her, bought luxurious dresses for her, and brought her hundreds of servants to make her happy. But the princess was bored. She was missing something, and she constantly thought about her royal origin. Thus it is with a human soul: you can surround it with all the pleasures on earth, but it will still be missing its home, the beginning which is called God, the place from which it has originated.

— After the Talmud

Even if people do not know what real kindness is, they nevertheless have it within them.

— Confucius

God lives in every one of us. When a person remembers this, the thought of it can save him from evil, and help him to do good.

February 10

The higher the opinion a person has of himself, the more unstable is his position; the lower he moves in his self-esteem, the firmer he stands.

To be strong, you have to be like water: if there are no obstacles, it flows; if there is an obstacle it stops; if a dam is broken, then it flows further; if a vessel is square, then it has a square form; if a vessel is round, then it has a round form. Because it is so soft and flexible, it is the most necessary and the strongest thing.

— Lao-Tzu

The more a person analyzes his inner self, the more insignificant he seems to himself. This is the first lesson of wisdom. Let us be humble, and we will become wise. Let us know our weakness, and it will give us power.

— William Ellery Channing

Water does not stay on a mountaintop, but flows into the valley. In the same manner, real virtue does not remain with those people who want to be higher than the others; but virtue stays only with people who are humble.

— After the Talmud

Try to find out your potential. After you know it, do not be afraid to underestimate it. Be cautious not to exaggerate it.

December 31

The past does not exist. The future has not begun. The present is an infinitely small point in time in which the already nonexistent past meets the imminent future. At this point, which is timeless, a person's real life exists.

 

"Time passes by!" we say. Time does not exist; only we move.

— After the Talmud

 

Time is behind us, time is before us, but in the present
there is no time.

 

I consist of spirit and body. Time affects the body, but the life of the spirit has no meaning either in the past or in the future. All its life is concentrated in the present.

— Marcus Tullius Cecero

 

Divine spirit is eternal, it exists out of time. Limitless time and space are divided into small, limited parts to be used by limited beings.

— Henri Amiel

 

The soul is put into our body, so that it can understand the notion of date and time. It contemplates this fact and calls it "nature."

— Blaise Pascal

 

Time does not exist. There is only a small and infinite present, and it is only in this present that our life occurs. Therefore, a person should concentrate all his spiritual force only on this present.

November 30

When a humble person forgets himself, he is united with God.

 

People who try to force circumstances become their slaves. Those who use them become their masters.

— The Talmud

 

There is nothing in this world more tender and more pliable than water, yet hard and rigid things cannot resist it.

 

Weakness defeats strength, tenderness defeats rigidity. Everyone knows this law, but no one acts upon it. The weakest in the world gain victory over the strongest; therefore, there is a great ad-vantage in humility and silence. Only a few people in this world are truly humble.

— Lao-Tzu

 

The more humble a person is, the freer and stronger he is.

October 19

The meaning of life is revealed to those who are ready to accept the things which will be revealed. And it is he who has already decided that he will accept the truth as it is, and not the truth itself, which will change the way of life he has been accustomed to.

Who am I? What should I do? What should I believe in and what should I hope for? All of philosophy is in these questions, said the philosopher Lichtenberg. But among all these questions, the most important one is that which is in the middle. If a person knows what he should do, he will understand everything which he should know.

Woe to the people who look without understanding, who do not know their foundation.

— After the Talmud

Every bird always knows where to make her nest. And if she knows how and where to make her nest, this means that she knows her purpose in life. And why does man, who is the wisest among all creatures, not know that which any bird knows, that is, his purpose in life?

— Chinese Wisdom

The real meaning of life is not possible to embrace, if you are looking for the universal meaning of life. And at the same time it is so simple that it can be explained to fools and to infants when what to know is what you should do as an individual.