Tolstoy's thoughts for every day. Thoughts for every day. Tolstoy Lev NikolaevichThoughts of wise people for every day

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich

Thoughts of wise people for every day

“During the serious illness of L. N. Tolstoy in January 1903, when his life hung in the balance and he could not devote himself to his usual work, he still found the strength to read the Gospel and out of habit, daily tearing off the calendar in his bedroom, read the collected there are sayings of various great men. But last year's calendar came to an end, and Lev Nikolayevich, in the absence of another at hand, wanted to compose for himself excerpts from various thinkers for each day. Every day, while in bed, as far as his strength allowed, he made these extractions, and the result of this work was the book offered to readers.

This includes selected thoughts of the following writers and sages: Epictetus, Diogenes, Marcus Aurelius, Socrates, Confucius, Buddha, Lao-Tse, Aristotle, Plato, St. Augustine and more modern: Pascal, Rousseau, Spinoza, Luther, Vauvenargue, Kant, Schiller, Bentham, Schopenhauer, Voltaire, Klinger, Thackeray, Dostoevsky, Vilmen, Ruskin, etc..».

"Mediator", 1903

One winter, Francis was walking with his brother Leo from Perusa to Portionkul; it was so cold that they were trembling with cold, Francis called Brother Leo, who was walking in front, and said to him: “Oh, brother Leo, God grant that our brothers set an example of holy living throughout the earth; “Write down, however, that this is not the perfect joy.”

“And write down again, brother Leo, that if our brothers heal the sick, cast out demons, make the blind see, or resurrect those who died for four days, write down that there will be no perfect joy in this either.”

And, going even further, Francis said to Leo: “Write down again, brother Leo, that if our brothers knew all languages, all sciences and all scriptures, if they prophesied not only about the future, but would know all the secrets of conscience and soul, “Write down that there is no perfect joy in this either.”

Going even further, Francis again called the Lion and said: “And also write down, brother Leo, the sheep of God, that if we learned to speak in angelic languages, if we knew the course of the stars, and if all the treasures of the earth were opened to us, and we knew if all the secrets of the lives of birds, fish, all animals, people, trees, stones and waters - write down that this would not be a perfect joy.

And, having walked a little more, Francis again called Brother Leo and said to him: “Write down again that if we were such preachers that we would convert all the pagans to the faith of Christ, write down that there would not be perfect joy in this either.”

Then Brother Leo said to Francis: “In what, brother Francis, is joy perfect?”

And Francis answered: “Here is what. That if, when we arrive at Portionkül, dirty, wet, stiff with cold and hungry, and ask to be let in, and the gatekeeper tells us: “What are you, vagabonds, wandering around the world, seducing the people, stealing the alms of poor people, get out of here !" and will not open to us. And if we then do not take offense and with humility and love think that the gatekeeper is right, that God Himself inspired him to do this with us, and we will stay wet, cold and hungry in the snow and in the water until the morning without grumbling at the gatekeeper, then, Brother Leo only then will there be complete joy.”

On the contrary, a person who is occupied with what depends on himself, and who devotes his life to the work of self-perfection, will not disturb himself so much. If he had begun to worry about whether he would be able to hold on to the truth and avoid falsehood, then I would say: calm down - what worries you is in your own hands; look only at your thoughts and actions and try to correct yourself in every possible way. So don’t say: “Something will happen?” Everything that happens, you turn to yourself for teaching and benefit.

“What if I die fighting misfortune?”

- Well, what? In that case, you will die the death of an honest man, doing what you have to do. You need to die anyway, and death must catch you doing something. I would be pleased if death found me doing a deed worthy of a man, a deed good and useful to all people; or for her to catch me while I am trying to correct myself. Then I could raise my hands to God and say to Him, “Lord! You know Yourself how I used what You gave me to understand Your laws. Did I rebuke you? Did you resent what happened to me? Did he shirk his duty? I thank You for the fact that I was born, for all Your gifts. I have used them enough: take them back and dispose of them as You please, because they are Yours!”

Can there be a better death? In order to live to such a death, you do not need to lose much, although, it is true, you will gain much by doing so. If you want to keep what is not yours, then you will certainly lose what is yours.

Whoever wants to be successful in worldly affairs does not sleep all night long, constantly busying himself and fussing, imitating strong people and generally acting like a vile person. And in the end, what did he achieve with all this? He has achieved that he is surrounded by some honors, that he is feared, and that he, having become the head, disposes of some actions. Wouldn't you really want to do some work to free yourself from all such worries and sleep peacefully, fearing nothing and suffering nothing? Know that such peace of mind does not come for nothing.

(Epictetus)

Whether our life ends with carnal death is a question of the greatest importance, and a rare person does not think about it. Depending on whether we believe or not in eternal life and our actions will be reasonable or senseless. Every rational act is necessarily based on the certainty of the immortality of true life.

Therefore, our first concern should be to sort out and understand what exactly in life is immortal. Some people work hard to understand this. They recognize that their whole life must depend on it.

Other people, although they doubt immortality, are sincerely tormented by their doubt and consider it their greatest misfortune. They spare nothing to learn the truth, tirelessly seek it and consider it the most important thing in their life.

But there are also people who don't think about it at all. Their negligence, when it comes to themselves, surprises, revolts and frightens me.

(Vlas Pascal)

Judge not lest ye be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with what measure you use, it will be measured to you again. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not feel the beam in your eye? Or, as you say to your brother: let me take the speck out of your eye, but there is a log in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see how to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

(Mm. VII, 1–5)

It is easy to notice the delusions of others, but it is difficult to notice one's own; they like to understand the mistakes of their loved ones, but hide their own, as a rogue tries to hide his fake dice.

A man is apt to constantly blame others: he looks only at their mistakes, but his own passions grow more and more, removing him from improvement.

(Buddhist wisdom)

Do not judge your neighbor until you are in his place.

(Talmud)

One thing we know, or can know if we will, namely, that the heart and conscience of man are divine, that in denying evil and acknowledging good, man himself is divinity incarnate; that his joy in love, his suffering in anger, his indignation at the sight of injustice, his glory in self-sacrifice, are eternal, undeniable proofs of his unity with the supreme Sovereign; that in this, and not in bodily advantages and not in a greater variety of instincts, he himself is the master of the lower animated world. Insofar as he denies or violates the dictates of the heart and conscience, to the extent that he dishonors the name of the heavenly Father, and does not hallow His name on earth; in so far as he follows them, he sanctifies His name and receives from the fullness of His power.

(John Ruskin)

He whose faith is weak cannot arouse faith in others.

(Lao-Tse)

The sin of the whole world is, in essence, the sin of Judas. People do not disbelieve in their Christ, but sell Him.

AUGUST

He who seeks learning grows daily in the eyes of the world.

He who seeks reason diminishes every day.

He diminishes more and more until he reaches complete humility. When he has reached complete humility, there is no thing that he could not do.

Lao-Tse.

True words are not pleasant. Nice words are never true.

Good people are not quarrelsome, quarrelsome people are not kind.

The wise are not learned. Scientists are not wise.

A holy man collects nothing, and the more he does for others, the more he gains.

The heavenly mind does good, but does no harm. The mind of a holy man makes him act, but not argue.

Lao Tse.

On the bath of King Ching-Chang the following words were carved: “Every day renew thyself perfectly; do it over and over and over again.”

The virtue of the sages is reminiscent of a journey to a distant land and an ascent to a height: those who go to a distant land begin their walking from the first step; ascending on high begin at the foot of the mountain.

Confucius.

How good it is for a person when he is exhausted in vain search for good in worldly life and, tired, stretches out his hands to Christ.

Vlas Pascal.

In order not to spill a full vessel, you need to carefully hold it straight.

To keep the blade sharp, you need to constantly sharpen it.

If gold and precious stones fill the house, it is difficult to keep them.

The rich, noble and proud bring misfortune upon themselves.

In order to do worthy and gain glory, it is best to retire to solitude.

This is the true way of holiness.

Lao Tse.

We do not have enough knowledge to even understand even just the life of the human body. See what you need to know for this: the body needs space, time, movement, heat, light, food, water, air, and more. In nature, everything is so closely connected with each other that it is impossible to know one without studying the other. You cannot know the parts without knowing the whole. We will understand the life of our body only when we study everything that it needs; and for this it is necessary to study the whole universe. But the universe is infinite and knowledge of it is unattainable for man. Consequently, we cannot fully understand the life of our body.

Vlas Pascal.

A person is in prison and does not know what sentence has been passed on him. He has only an hour left to find out about this, and if he finds out that he is sentenced to death, then this hour is enough to get him to cancel this sentence. Will he really use this hour not to find out what the sentence is, but to play cards? It would be inconsistent with anything. And meanwhile, people who do not think about God and about eternity do exactly that.

Vlas Pascal.

Every bird knows where to make its home. Knowing where her home is, she shows that she knows her destination. Can't man, the smartest of all creatures, know the same thing as a bird?

Chinese wisdom ("Ta-Hio").

Which of you, having a servant plow or shepherd, upon his return from the field, will say to him: go quickly, sit down at the table?

On the contrary, will he not say to him: prepare me supper, and, having girded yourself, serve me while I eat and drink, and then eat and drink yourself?

Will he thank this servant for having carried out the order? I do not think.

So you too, when you have fulfilled everything commanded to you, say: we are slaves, worthless, because we have done what we had to do.

OK. XVII, 7-10.

Take a seat lower than you should.

It is better to be told to ascend higher than to descend downward.

Whoever exalts himself, God humiliates him, and who humbles himself, God exalts him.

Talmud.

Wise consumption is much more difficult than wise production. What twenty people produce with difficulty, one can easily consume, and the question of life, as for everyone individual, and for the whole people, does not consist in how much it produces, but in what these products are spent on.

John Ruskin.

People usually maintain that personal practical activity is powerless to change or delay the vast system of modern industry or methods of production and trade.

But I, pondering over that mass of smart conversations that enters one long ear of the world and exits the other, without making the slightest impression on his mind, I sometimes feel an irresistible desire to try to use the rest of my life to silently do the thing that I think it's wise to never talk about anything else.

John Ruskin.

Some people are so afraid of that ignorance in which a person by nature has to live, they are so afraid of death and all kinds of misfortunes that they try not to think about these things at all. They are constantly looking for new entertainment and pleasures, thinking that this will drown out their anxiety and find happiness. But in this way they cannot be satisfied, since a person who seeks his own pleasure is never satisfied: having received what he wanted, he does not calm down, but immediately experiences new desires that are not yet satisfied.

Vlas Pascal.

It is generally thought that the life of a king is the most better life. However, if the king is left without entertainment and has time to think about what he himself is, then he will see his unfortunate situation, remembering all that threatens him: disobedience, disorder, illness, death. And therefore the king, if he does not amuse himself, is more unfortunate than his last subject, who can play cards and amuse himself.

Vlas Pascal.

The heavenly mind acts like a man stringing a bow. He brings down what was above and lifts up what was below. He takes away from those who have abundance and adds to those who are in need. Such is the mind of heaven. But the human mind is not like that. He takes away from the poor in order to add to the abundant. Therefore, a holy man, having an abundance, gives it to the whole world.

Lao Tse.

It is just as unnatural for a wise man to talk much about the nature of beings above him, as about the nature of beings below him. It is too immodest to suppose that a man can comprehend the former, just as it is too humiliating to suppose that he can concentrate his attention entirely on the latter. To recognize one’s eternal relative greatness and insignificance, to know oneself and one’s place in nature, to be content with one’s subordination to God, being unable to comprehend him, and to control the lower creatures with love and kindness, not sharing their animal passions and not imitating them - this is what it means to be humble towards God, kind towards his creatures, and wise towards oneself.

John Ruskin.

One of the definite conditions of human labor is that fullness is in correspondence between the time of sowing and the harvest, and therefore the more distant the goal of our strivings in general, the less we desire to see the fruits of our labors ourselves, the greater and more extensive will be the measure of our success.

John Ruskin.

The one who does evil prospers until the fruit of his evil deeds ripens; but when this fruit ripens, then the one who creates lawlessness will see all his evil in reality.

Evil days are seen by the virtuous - the fruits of his good deeds are still not ripe; but he will be blessed when his works bear good fruit.

Dhammapada.

Do not seek glory in the dishonor of others.

It is fitting for a developed person to hide the shame of others, even those who harmed him.

Do not remind the penitent of his past sins.

Talmud.

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you.

Matt. V, 44.

A wonderful property of a person is the ability to love even those who are at enmity against him. This love is awakened in him by the understanding, the understanding that all people are brothers, that they sin against their will, that the same end awaits the offender and the victim, and most importantly, that offense cannot harm a person, for only he himself can harm his soul.

Marcus Aurelius.

“Here I will dwell during the rains, there I will settle in the summer,” the madman dreams and does not think about death, but it suddenly comes and takes away a preoccupied, mercenary, absent-minded person, like a flood washes away a sleeping village.

Neither son, nor father, nor relatives and friends, no one will help us when death strikes us; the good and wise, having clearly realized the meaning of this, will quickly clear the path leading to peace.

Dhammapada.

Are you afraid of change? After all, nothing in the world is done without change. The very essence of universal nature is change. It is impossible to warm water without a transformation with firewood; nutrition is impossible without changing the food. All world life is nothing but change. Understand that the transformation that awaits you has exactly the same meaning, that it is only necessary by the very nature of things. We must take care of one thing, how not to do something contrary to the true nature of man, to act in everything, as and when it indicates.

Marcus Aurelius.

All true science begins with love, and not with the analysis of its fellows, and ends with love, and not with the analysis of God.

John Ruskin.

The wise man said: my teaching is simple, and its meaning is easy to penetrate. It is all about loving your neighbor as yourself.

It has already been said more than once, and it is quite true, that the whole difference between a genius and other people lies in the fact that a genius, for the most part, remains a child, looking at the world with wide eyes, full of endless surprise, conscious not of his great significance, but of his boundless ignorance and at the same time his power.

John Ruskin.

When people study for themselves, the study is useful for them, but when people do it for others in order to appear scientists, this learning is useless.

Chinese wisdom ("Le-Lun-Yu").

Son of man! do not heed the whispering of the tempter who will tell you: “Am I made of stone, is my flesh made of copper, that you are heaping on me this heavy burden – the fulfillment of the commandments. After all, all my days and my nights will not be enough for the fulfillment of all this. Know that such thoughts are the whisperings of the evil tempter, who presents you with the fulfillment of the commandments as a very difficult matter, so that you completely deviate from the truth and fall into a trap. Know also that most of the commandments are prohibitions, speaking to a person just don't do it. Again, most of the remaining half are the commandments about the unity of God and constant love for him and that you do not harm your neighbor, move away from robbery, etc. Thus, the commandments are very easy to fulfill, since most of them are passive, that is, requiring only refraining from action, and a very small part are active, and the fulfillment of these is not something permanent, but accidental, periodic, such as giving alms, protecting the oppressed from his oppressor, which does not occur every day, but sometimes.

Talmud.

Consider all your gifts and knowledge as the means you need to help others.

The strong and wise are given his gifts not to oppress, but to guide and support the weak.

John Ruskin.

You heard what was said: love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you.

Matt. V, 43-44.

Who is the hero? - Turning his enemy into a friend.

Talmud.

True, absolute justice is just as unattainable as absolute truth, but a just person differs from an unjust person in his desire for justice and the hope of achieving it, just as a truthful person differs from a deceitful person in his thirst for truth and faith in it.

John Ruskin.

Honest enthusiastic mistakes are never harmful, because they are always made in the right direction and fall in front of the road, not in the ditch behind, and therefore can always be corrected by the person following him.

John Ruskin.

The mistakes of a wise man are like eclipses of the sun and moon. When he makes a mistake, all people see it and see how he corrects himself.

Chinese wisdom ("Le-Lun-Yu").

Self-satisfied and gross ignorance will produce imperfect but harmless. Ignorance, however, discontented and cunning, studying what it is not able to understand and imitating what it cannot enjoy, produces all the most disgusting, humiliating and corrupting humanity.

John Ruskin.

Scatter nuts and gingerbread on the street - the children will immediately come running, they will pick them up, they will fight among themselves. Adults don't fight over this. And empty shells and children will not pick up.

For me, money, positions, honors, fame are the same shells and children's sweets. Let the children pick them up, let them beat them and chase them because of this, let them kiss the hands of the rich, dignitaries and their servants, for me these are all shells. If by chance a nut falls into my hands, why not eat it? But bending down to pick it up, fighting over it, knocking someone off your feet, or falling over yourself is not worth it because of such trifles.

Epictetus.

A wise man constantly rises in reason and insight, while an insignificant person constantly descends into ignorance and vice.

Chinese wisdom ("Le-Lun-Yu").

The older people who live a spiritual life become, the more their mental outlook expands, the more clear their consciousness becomes; ignoramuses become even more stupid with age.

Talmud.

The weakest in the world conquers the strongest, therefore great is the advantage of humility and the advantage of silence. Only a few in the world can be humble.

Lao Tse.

Man, when he lives, is gentle and flexible. When he dies, he becomes hard and dry.

All things, grass, as well as trees, are tender and flexible while they live. When they die, they become callous and dry. Therefore, hard and strong are the companions of death. Soft and gentle are companions of life. Therefore, the one who is strong with his hands will not win. When a tree has become strong, it is doomed to die. Strong and large are at the bottom, tender and soft at the top of them.

Lao Tse.

Retribution for the fulfillment of a commandment is a commandment, that is, if someone fulfills one of the commandments, then the Lord opens up the opportunity for him to fulfill the other, which is an important reward, for this leads to his own benefit.

Talmud.

No virtue is ever alone. She always has neighbors.

Chinese wisdom ("Le-Lun-Yu").

Therefore I say to you: do not worry about your soul what you will eat and what you will drink, nor about your body what you will wear. Is not the soul more than food and the body more than clothes?

Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into a barn; and your heavenly father feeds them. Are you much better than them?

And who among you, by taking care, can add even one cubit to his stature?

So don't worry and don't say: what shall we eat? or what to drink? Or what to wear?

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all this will be added to you.

So, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of its own: enough for each day of its own care.

Matt. VI, 25-27, 31, 33-34.

Who, having bread in a basket, asks what I will eat tomorrow? belongs to the unbelievers.

Talmud.

From pleasure arises sadness, from pleasure arises fear; whoever is free from pleasures, there is neither sorrow nor fear for him.

Dhammapada.

People are looking for pleasure, rushing from side to side only because they feel the emptiness of their lives, but do not yet feel the emptiness of the new fun that attracts them.

Vlas Pascal.

He who fears God is not afraid of people. And whoever is afraid of people is not afraid of God.

You will not surprise people, but you will kill yourself.

To obey people is to carry water with a sieve.

Proverbs.

People who think that it's all about knowledge are like those butterflies that fly to candles - they themselves die and dim the light.

Great thoughts come from the heart.

Vovenarg.

Don't be afraid of ignorance, be afraid of false knowledge. From him all the evil of the world.

It is bad that people do not know God, but the worst thing is that people recognize as God that which is not God.

From publishers

During the serious illness of L. N. Tolstoy in January 1903, when his life hung in the balance and he could not devote himself to his usual work, he still found the strength to read the Gospel and out of habit, daily tearing off the calendar that was in his bedroom, read the sayings of various great people. But last year's calendar came to an end, and Lev Nikolayevich, in the absence of another at hand, wanted to compose for himself excerpts from various thinkers for each day. Every day, while in bed, as far as his strength allowed, he made these extractions, and the result of this work was the book offered to readers.

This includes selected thoughts of the following writers and sages: Epictetus, Diogenes, Marcus Aurelius, Socrates, Confucius, Buddha, Lao-Tse, Aristotle, Plato, St. Augustine and more modern ones - Pascal, Rousseau, Spinoza, Luther, Bovenarg, Kant, Schiller, Bentham, Schopenhauer, Voltaire, Klinger, Thackeray, Dostoevsky, Bilmen, Ruskin and others.

1st of January

One winter, Francis was walking with his brother Leo from Perusa to Portionkul; it was so cold that they were shivering. Francis called Brother Leo, who was walking ahead, and said to him: “O brother Leo, God grant that our brothers set an example of holy living throughout the earth – write down, however, that this is not the perfect joy.”

“Write down again, brother Leo, that if our brothers knew all languages, all sciences and all scriptures, if they prophesied not only about the future, but knew all the secrets of the conscience and soul, write down that there is no perfect joy in this either” .

Going even further, Francis again called Leo and said: “And also write down, brother Leo, the sheep of God, that if we learned to speak in angelic languages, if we knew the course of the stars and if all the treasures of the earth were opened to us and we would know everything the secrets of the lives of birds, fish, all animals, people, trees, stones and waters - write down that this would not be a perfect joy.

Then Brother Leo said to Francis: “In what, brother Francis, is joy perfect?”

And Francis answered: “Here is what. That if, when we arrive at Portionkül, dirty, wet, stiff with cold and hungry, and ask to be let in, and the gatekeeper tells us: “Why are you vagabonds, wandering around the world, seducing the people, stealing the alms of poor people, get out of here !” and will not open to us. And if we then do not take offense and with humility and love think that the gatekeeper is right, that God Himself inspired him to do this with us, and we will stay wet, cold and hungry in the snow and in the water until the morning without grumbling at the gatekeeper, then, Brother Leo only then will there be complete joy.”

January 2

People become embarrassed, worried and agitated only when they are busy with external affairs that do not depend on them. In these cases, they anxiously ask themselves: “What am I going to do? something will happen? what will come of it? How could this or that not happen? This is the case with those who constantly care about what does not belong to them. On the contrary, a person who is occupied with what depends on himself, and who devotes his life to the work of self-perfection, will not disturb himself so much. If he had not worried about whether he would be able to hold on to the truth and avoid falsehood, then I would say: calm down - what worries you is in your own hands; look only at your thoughts and actions and try to correct yourself in every possible way. So don’t say: “Something will happen?” Everything that happens, you will turn to your own teaching and benefit.

“What if I die fighting misfortune?”

- Well, what? In that case, you will die the death of an honest man, doing what you have to do. You need to die anyway, and death must catch you doing something. I would be pleased if death found me doing a deed worthy of a man, a deed that is good and useful to all people; or for her to catch me while I am trying to correct myself. Then I could raise my hands to God and say to Him, “Lord! You know Yourself how I used what You gave me to understand Your laws. Did I rebuke you? Did you resent what happened to me? Did he shirk his duty? I thank You for the fact that I was born, for all Your gifts. I have used them enough: take them back and dispose of them as You please, because they are Yours!”

Whoever wants to be successful in worldly affairs does not sleep all night long, constantly busying himself and fussing, imitating strong people and generally acting like a vile person. And, in the end, what did he achieve with all this? He has achieved that he is surrounded by some honors, that he is feared, and that he, having become the head, disposes of some actions. Wouldn't you really want to do some work to free yourself from all such worries and sleep peacefully, fearing nothing and suffering nothing? Know that such peace of mind does not come for nothing.

Epictetus

January 3

Whether our life ends with carnal death is a question of the greatest importance, and a rare person does not think about it. It depends on whether we believe or not in eternal life, and our actions will be reasonable or meaningless. Every rational act is necessarily based on the certainty of the immortality of true life.

Therefore, our first concern should be to sort out and understand what exactly in life is immortal. Some people work hard to figure this out for themselves. They recognize that their whole life must depend on it.

But there are also people who don't think about it at all. Their negligence, when it comes to themselves, surprises, revolts and confuses me.

Blaise Pascal

4 January

Judge not lest ye be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with what measure you use, it will be measured to you again. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not feel the beam in your eye? Or, as you say to your brother: let me take the speck out of your eye; but in your eye a log? Hypocrite! first take the log out of your eye, and then you will see how to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Matt. VII. 1–5

A man is apt to constantly blame others: he looks only at their mistakes, but his own passions grow more and more, removing him from improvement.

Buddhist wisdom

5 January

Do not judge your neighbor until you are in his place.

Talmud

One thing we know, or we can know if we like, namely, that the heart and conscience of man are divine, that in denying evil and recognizing good, man himself is an incarnate divinity; that his joy in love, his suffering in anger, his indignation at the sight of injustice, his glory in self-sacrifice, are eternal, undeniable proofs of his unity with the Supreme Ruler; that in this, and not in bodily advantages and not in a greater variety of instincts, he himself is the master of the lower animated world. Because he denies or violates the dictates of the heart and conscience, because he dishonors the name of the Heavenly Father, and does not hallow His name on earth; in so far as he follows them, he sanctifies His name and receives from the fullness of His power.

John Ruskin

6th January

He whose faith is weak cannot arouse faith in others.

Lao Tse

The sin of the whole world is, in essence, the sin of Judas. People do not believe in their Christ, but sell Him.

John Ruskin

Jan. 7

Whoever puts his life in the light of understanding and serves him, for that there can be no desperate situations in life, he does not know the torments of conscience, is not afraid of loneliness and does not seek a noisy society - such has a higher life, does not run away from people and does not chase after them. He is not embarrassed by thoughts about how long his spirit is imprisoned in a carnal shell; the actions of such a person will always be the same, even in view of the imminent death. For him, one concern is to live intelligently in peaceful communication with people.

Marcus Aurelius

January 8

The pious, the people of action, say: the glory of our youth, which has not disgraced our old age.

The penitents say: Glory to our old age, redeeming our youth.

But both say: it is good for the one who is sinless, who has sinned - repent, correct yourself, and you will be forgiven.

Talmud

January 9

A person who stands on tiptoe cannot stand for long. A person who exhibits himself cannot shine. He who is satisfied with himself cannot become famous. He who boasts cannot have merit. He who is proud cannot rise. Before the judgment of the mind, such people are like the waste of food and disgust everyone. Therefore, one who has intelligence does not rely on himself.

Lao Tse

January 10

He who hates his neighbor, as it were, sheds human blood.

Talmud

The one whose malice has no limits, the one who is wrapped around it like dodder, will soon lead himself to where only his worst enemy would like to push him.

Fresh strained milk does not sour, an evil deed does not immediately bear fruit, but, like a fire buried in warmth, it gradually burns and torments the madman.

Buddhist wisdom

Wise thoughts from L.N. Tolstoy

The need for happiness is embedded in man; so it became legal.

Knowledge without a moral basis means nothing.

All thoughts that have huge consequences are always simple.

All people of the world have the same rights to enjoy the natural benefits of the world and the same rights to respect.

In order to make it easy to live with each person, think about what connects you, and not about what separates you.

The shortest expression of the meaning of life is this: the world is moving, improving; the task of man is to participate in this movement, and to obey and contribute to it.

A person who has stopped drinking and smoking acquires that mental clarity and calmness of a look that illuminates for him all the phenomena of life from a new, true side.

One girl was asked what is the most important person, what is the most important time and what is the most necessary thing? And she answered, thinking that the most important person is the one with whom you are communicating at this moment, the most important time is the one in which you are now living, and the most necessary thing is to do good to the person with whom you are dealing at every given moment.

Never bother another with what you can do yourself.

There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.

The power of one person over another destroys, first of all, the one who rules.

A person can serve to improve social life only to the extent that he fulfills the requirements of his conscience in his life.

Pride is not at all the same as consciousness of human dignity. Pride increases with external success, the consciousness of one's human dignity, on the contrary, increases with external humiliation.

Judgment for good is the only test of the sincerity of serving the good.

To believe in good, one must begin to do it.

Do not believe the words of your own or those of others, believe only in the deeds of your own and those of others.

The good that you do from the heart, you always do to yourself.

When you do good, be thankful for it.

Do good in secret and regret when it is known, and you will learn the joy of doing good. The consciousness of a good life, without the approval of people for it, is the best reward of a good life.

Beware of the thought that you have virtues that others do not.

Goodness is to the soul what health is to the body: it is invisible when you own it.

Pretense of kindness repels more than outright malice.

The smarter and kinder a person is, the more he notices goodness in people.

Destroy one vice and ten will disappear.

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Most men demand virtues from their wives, which they themselves are not worth.

It is bad if a person does not have something for which he is ready to die.

If life is good, then good and death, which is necessary condition life.

Act in such a way that you still want to eat when you get up from dinner.

Physical labor improves health and encourages mental activity.

Unity is only good for a person when it is the unity of all mankind in the name of a foundation common to all mankind, but not the unity of small or large parts of humanity in the name of limited, private goals.

Isn't there union with dozens - separation with thousands and millions?

Unity is possible only in the truth, and in order to achieve the truth, one thing is necessary: to seek it with a constant, unceasing spiritual effort... Gathering together will not help the cognition of the truth.

Evaluation of the dignity of art depends on people's understanding of the meaning of life, on what they see as good and what is evil in life.

Art is one of the means of distinguishing good from evil.

Aesthetics is an expression of ethics: art expresses the feelings experienced by the artist. If feelings are good, high, then art will be good, high, and vice versa. If the artist is a moral person, then his art will be moral.

There is no greater support for a selfish, quiet life than art for art's sake. A despot, a villain must certainly love art.

Every art has two deviations from the path: vulgarity and artificiality.

It seems strange and immoral that an artist, seeing the suffering of people, not so much sympathizes as observes in order to reproduce these sufferings. And this is not immoral. The suffering of one person is an insignificant matter in comparison with the spiritual—if it is good—impact that a work of art will produce.

In an immoral society, all inventions that increase man's power over nature are not only not good, but an undeniable and obvious evil.

An undoubted sign of true science is the consciousness of the insignificance of what you know, in comparison with what is revealed.

The task of science should be to know what should be, not what is.

Two exact sciences: mathematics and moral teaching. These sciences are exact and undoubted because all people have the same mind, which perceives mathematics, and the same spiritual nature, which perceives (the doctrine of life) moral doctrine.

In order to be heard by people, one must speak from Golgotha, imprint the truth with suffering, and even better, with death.

Truth cannot force a person to be unkind or self-confident. The manifestations of truth are always meek, humble and simple.

True compassion begins only when, by imagining yourself in the place of the sufferer, you actually experience suffering.

Mercy consists not so much in material help as in the spiritual support of one's neighbor. Spiritual support is primarily in non-judgment of the neighbor and respect for his human dignity.

Material mercy is good only when it is a sacrifice. Only then does the recipient of a material gift also receive a spiritual gift.

Mercy begins at home. If one has to go somewhere to show mercy, then this is hardly mercy.

What could be more insane and painful than the situation in which the European peoples now live, spending most of their wealth in preparation for the extermination of their neighbors ...

The property of a wise man consists in three things: the first is to do for himself what he advises others to do, the second is to never act against justice, and the third is to patiently endure the weaknesses of the people around him.

Reasonable and moral always coincide.

In order to know what is moral, one must know what is immoral; in order to know what to do, one must know what not to do.

The root of evil deeds is in bad thoughts.

Think well and thoughts will ripen into good deeds.

If the truth does not tell us what we should do, it will always tell us what we should not do or stop doing.

Lying to others only confuses the matter and delays the decision; but a lie to oneself, presented as truth, ruins a person's whole life.

The most common and widespread reason for lying is the desire to deceive not people, but ourselves.

A flatterer flatters only because he has a low opinion of himself and of others.

The concept of beauty not only does not coincide with good, but rather is opposed to it, since good for the most part coincides with victory over addictions, while beauty is the basis of all our addictions.

The tenderness and delight that we experience from the contemplation of nature is a memory of the time when we were animals, trees, flowers, earth. More precisely: it is the consciousness of unity with everything, hidden from us by time.

Beauty, joy, only as joy, regardless of goodness, is disgusting.

We must seize every opportunity to bring joy to people, but people must also try to make them happy not with trifles, but with important things.

Life cannot have any other purpose than goodness, joy. Only this goal - joy - is quite worthy of life.

You must always be joyful. If joy ends, look for what was wrong.

Church. The whole word is the name of a deceit by means of which some people want to rule over others.

Least of all are people who want to appear simple.

All people engaged in a truly important business are always simple, because they do not have time to invent something superfluous.

Nothing brings people together like simplicity.

Vanity is a kind of immature love of fame, a kind of self-love transferred to the opinions of others - he loves himself not as he is, but as he is shown to others.

One must be careful in inciting vanity in oneself with praise. Terribly increased vulnerability, soreness.

Conscience is that highest law of all living things, which everyone recognizes in himself not only by recognizing the rights of all living things, but by love for him.

Conscience is the memory of society, assimilated by the individual.

The instructions of conscience are infallible when they require us not to assert our animal personality, but to sacrifice it.

The voice of conscience can always be distinguished from all other spiritual impulses by the fact that it always demands something useless, intangible, but beautiful and achievable by our one effort. This distinguishes the voice of conscience from the voice of love of glory, which is often mixed with it.

If life is not accounted for according to conscience, then conscience is bent through life through stupefaction.

Often people take pride in the purity of their conscience just because they have a short memory.

The more guilty one is before one's own, even hidden, conscience, the more willingly and involuntarily one seeks the guilt of others, and especially those before whom one is guilty.

Justice is the ultimate measure of virtue, to which everyone is bound. Above it are steps to perfection, below it is vice.

Nothing more truly than what a person is ashamed of and what he is not ashamed of shows the degree of moral perfection at which he is.

Shame in front of people is a good feeling, but the best thing is shame in front of yourself.

There are two kinds of happiness: the happiness of virtuous people and the happiness of vainglorious people. The first comes from virtue, the second from fate.
Happiness based on vanity is destroyed by it: glory - by slander, wealth - by deceit. Happiness based on virtue is nothing.

Happiness is pleasure without remorse.

Happiness is not in always doing what you want, but in always wanting what you do.

There are two desires, the fulfillment of which can constitute the true happiness of a person - to be useful and to have a calm conscience.

And what we call happiness and what we call unhappiness are equally useful to us if we look at both as a test.

Labor is not a virtue, but an inevitable condition of a virtuous life.

Nothing ennobles a person like work. Without labor, a person cannot maintain his human dignity.

The undoubted condition of happiness is labor: firstly, beloved and free labor; secondly, bodily labor, giving appetite and sound, soothing sleep.

Nothing encourages idleness like empty talk. If people were silent and did not say those trifles with which they drive away the boredom of idleness from themselves, they could not endure it.

It's better to do nothing than to do nothing.

It always seems that we are loved for being good. And we do not guess that they love us because those who love us are good.

We do not love people not because they are evil, but we consider them evil because we do not love them.

To love is to live the life of the one you love.

To love means to do good.

Love is the power of life. Love is the rule for the fulfillment of all rules.

True love is not love for one person, but a spiritual state of readiness to love all.

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich

Thoughts of wise people for every day

"Mediator", 1903

Then Brother Leo said to Francis: “In what, brother Francis, is joy perfect?”

“What if I die fighting misfortune?”

(Epictetus)

Therefore, our first concern should be to sort out and understand what exactly in life is immortal. Some people work hard to understand this. They recognize that their whole life must depend on it.

But there are also people who don't think about it at all. Their negligence, when it comes to themselves, surprises, revolts and frightens me.

(Vlas Pascal)

(Mm. VII, 1–5)

A man is apt to constantly blame others: he looks only at their mistakes, but his own passions grow more and more, removing him from improvement.

(Buddhist wisdom)

Do not judge your neighbor until you are in his place.

(Talmud)

(John Ruskin)

He whose faith is weak cannot arouse faith in others.

(Lao-Tse)

The sin of the whole world is, in essence, the sin of Judas. People do not disbelieve in their Christ, but sell Him.

It might be useful to read: