Opening the book…
Opening the book…
Explore how different traditions approach the same question, from the oldest texts to the screen and the present day. Connections suggest similarities in meaning, not proven influence. Dates describe broad periods of a tradition, rather than the age of each passage.
“Tell me about a stranger who changed something for you. What did they do, and why did it stick?”
Meeting people beyond our familiar circle, with curiosity and care.
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, the Sermon on the Mount, and the parables. Foundational to Western moral language.
“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.”
In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, a man from a despised people stops to help a stranger left for dead after others had passed by.
“Let thy house be wide open, and let the poor be members of thy household.”
Pirkei Avot, 1:5, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
“Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”
Jesus closes the Parable of the Good Samaritan by pressing the lawyer to define neighborliness by action, not identity.
“Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practises it will have neighbors.”
Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads — dialogues on duty, action, and self.
“Being of equal grace to comrades, friends, Chance-comers, strangers, lovers, enemies, Aliens and kinsmen; loving all alike, Evil or good.”
Krishna describes how a perfected yogi relates to all beings without distinction.
“Titikshâ, forbearance, bearing all miseries without murmuring, without complaining. When an injury comes, do not mind it.”
“Who troubleth not his kind, And is not troubled by them; clear of wrath, Living too high for gladness, grief, or fear, That man I love!”
Krishna continues his portrait of the beloved soul: one who neither harms others nor is disturbed by them.
“I may love you one day, I may cease to love you the next. My love increases one day, decreases the next, because it is only a limited manifestation. The first thing therefore that we find against Kapila is that he concei…”
Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, Limited Love vs. Bliss Absolute, 1907 ↗
Tao Te Ching, attributed to Laozi — terse, paradoxical aphorisms on living with the grain of things.
“To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those who are not good (to me), I am also good;--and thus (all) get to be good. To those who are sincere (with me), I am sincere; and to those who are not sincere (with me), I am also sincere;--and thus (all) get to be sincere.”
Laozi describes the sage's unconditional goodness as the means by which virtue spreads to all people.
“Now the man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others.”
“He will blunt his sharp points and unravel the complications of things; he will attemper his brightness, and bring himself into agreement with the obscurity (of others). This is called 'the Mysterious Agreement.'”
Laozi describes the sage's practice of softening his own brilliance and edges in order to harmonize with ordinary people.
“He does not tread in the footsteps of others, but moreover, he does not enter the chamber of the sage.”
Dhammapada and selected sutras — terse, principle-rich verses on suffering, attachment, and right action.
“As the bee collects nectar and departs without injuring the flower, or its colour or scent, so let a sage dwell in his village.”
The Buddha instructs how a wise person should live among others — taking what is needed without causing harm.
“All men tremble at punishment, all men fear death; remember that you are like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.”
The Buddha teaches empathy as the foundation of non-violence.
“Whensoever any man doth trespass against other, presently consider with thyself what it was that he did suppose to be good, what to be evil, when he did trespass. For this when thou knowest, thou wilt pity him, thou wilt…”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.XIX, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Analects of Confucius — sayings on conduct, governance, and moral cultivation.
“When you go abroad, to behave to every one as if you were receiving a great guest; to employ the people as if you were assisting at a great sacrifice; not to do to others as you would not wish done to yourself.”
Confucius describes perfect virtue in social conduct to Chung-kung.
“"You who govern public affairs, what need have you to employ punishments? Love virtue, and the people will be virtuous. The virtues of a superior man are like the wind; the virtues of a common man are like the grass; the…”
“The superior man honours the talented and virtuous, and bears with all. He praises the good, and pities the incompetent. Am I possessed of great talents and virtue?-- who is there among men whom I will not bear with? Am I devoid of talents and virtue?-- men will put me away from them. What have we to do with the puttin…”
Tsze-chang contrasts his own broader principle of human fellowship with Tsze-hsia's more utilitarian advice to associate only with those who can benefit you.
Greco-Roman school of practical philosophy on virtue, agency, and acceptance. Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca.
“Betimes in the morning say to thyself, This day I shalt have to do with an idle curious man, with an unthankful man, a railer, a crafty, false, or an envious man; an unsociable uncharitable man. All these ill qualities have happened unto them, through ignorance of that which is truly good and truly bad. But I that unde…”
Aurelius instructs himself to prepare each morning for difficult people by remembering their ignorance and his kinship with them.
“To what end do we so arm ourselves with this harness of science? Let us look down upon the poor people that we see scattered upon the face of the earth, prone and intent upon their business, that neither know Aristotle n…”
Michel de Montaigne, Essays, middle section, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
“All men are made one for another: either then teach them better, or bear with them.”
“Let men take their choice, man and woman were made for each other, though not to become one being; and if they will not improve women, they will deprave them!”
Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) — concise principles for living, distilled from the early rabbinic period.
“Let thy house be wide open, and let the poor be members of thy household.”
Yose ben Yochanan of Jerusalem teaches hospitality and care for the poor as household duties.
“And let not thy hand be tied up to thy neck; nor yet open it with all openness, lest thou sit thee down in rebuke, in beggary.”
“Do not despise any man, and do not discriminate against anything, for there is no man that has not his hour, and there is no thing that has not its place.”
Central scripture of Islam. Ethical teachings, parables, and prophetic narratives.
“As to the orphan therefore wrong him not; And as to him that asketh of thee, chide him not away; And as for the favours of thy Lord tell them abroad.”
Having recalled God's generosity to him, Muhammad is instructed how to treat the vulnerable and to speak of gratitude openly.
“The magnanimous know very well that they who give time, or money, or shelter, to the stranger--so it be done for love, and not for ostentation--do, as it were, put God under obligation to them, so perfect are the compens…”
“He FROWNED, and he turned his back, Because the blind man came to him! But what assured thee that he would not be cleansed by the Faith, Or be warned, and the warning profit him? As to him who is wealthy — To him thou wast all attention: Yet is it not thy concern if he be not cleansed: But as to him who cometh to thee…”
God rebukes the Prophet for giving attention to a wealthy man while dismissing a poor blind man who came seeking guidance.
“if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune: for though she be blind, yet she is not invisible.”
Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Fortune, 1625 ↗
Montaigne and Bacon turning the essay into a way of thinking in public — sceptical, personal, unwilling to settle a question it has not tested.
“let his travel appear rather in his discourse, than his apparel or gesture; and in his discourse, let him be rather advised in his answers, than forward to tell stories; and let it appear that he doth not change his country manners, for those of foreign parts; but only prick in some flowers, of that he hath learned abr…”
Bacon advises the returning traveller to integrate what he has learned quietly and wisely, rather than showing off.
“'Tis an excellent way to gain the heart and will of another, to submit and intrust one's self to him, provided it appear to be freely done, and without the constraint of necessity, and in such a condition, that a man manifestly does it out of a pure and entire confidence in the party, at least, with a countenance clear…”
Montaigne reflects on how genuine, voluntary vulnerability is the most effective way to earn another person's loyalty and goodwill.
“Our trust in other people often consists in great measure of pure laziness, selfishness and vanity on our own part: I say laziness, because, instead of making inquiries ourselves, and exercising an active care, we prefer…”
Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section 35, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
Hume, Smith, Kant and Wollstonecraft asking what we owe each other once reason, rather than revelation, is asked to supply the answer.
“In solitude, we are apt to feel too strongly whatever relates to ourselves: we are apt to over-rate the good offices we may have done, and the injuries we may have suffered: we are apt to be too much elated by our own good, and too much dejected by our own bad fortune. The conversation of a friend brings us to a better…”
Smith explains why social engagement — especially with those outside our circle — corrects our distorted self-perception.
“People are rendered sociable by their inability to endure solitude, that is to say, their own society. They become sick of themselves. It is this vacuity of soul which drives them to intercourse with others.”
Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, § on vacuity of soul, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
“Are you in adversity? Do not mourn in the darkness of solitude, do not regulate your sorrow according to the indulgent sympathy of your intimate friends; return, as soon as possible, to the daylight of the world and of society. Live with strangers, with those who know nothing, or care nothing about your misfortune; do…”
Smith offers direct practical counsel on how to recover composure after misfortune.
“There are few ways by which you can make more certain of putting people into a good humor than by telling them of some trouble that has recently befallen you, or by unreservedly disclosing some personal weakness of yours…”
Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section 33, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
Emerson, Thoreau and Douglass in New England and beyond — self-reliance, conscience against the state, and the moral weight of a life lived deliberately.
“The magnanimous know very well that they who give time, or money, or shelter, to the stranger--so it be done for love, and not for ostentation--do, as it were, put God under obligation to them, so perfect are the compensations of the universe. In some way the time they seem to lose is redeemed, and the pains they seem…”
“Hospitality must be for service, and not for show, or it pulls down the host. The brave soul rates itself too high to value itself by the splendor of its table and draperies. It gives what it hath, and all it hath, but its own majesty can lend a better grace to bannocks and fair water than belong to city feasts.”
Mill, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, each pressing on what an individual owes to the crowd, to suffering, and to their own honesty.
“I am not aware that any community has a right to force another to be civilised. So long as the sufferers by the bad law do not invoke assistance from other communities, I cannot admit that persons entirely unconnected with them ought to step in and require that a condition of things with which all who are directly inte…”
Mill is discussing the case of the Mormon community and the calls in Britain for a forcible 'civilizade' against their practices.
James, Du Bois, Vivekananda and Tagore — psychology, pragmatism and the first modern accounts of living inside more than one world at once.
“This was the gift of New England to the freed Negro: not alms, but a friend; not cash, but character. It was not and is not money these seething millions want, but love and sympathy, the pulse of hearts beating with red blood.”
Du Bois describes what the Northern teachers who came South after the Civil War actually offered Black students.
“Our highest joy is in the losing of our egoistic self and in the uniting with others. This love gives us a new power and insight and beauty of mind to the extent of the limits we set around it, but ceases to do so if those limits lose their elasticity, and militate against the spirit of love altogether; then our friend…”
The century in which the question was most often put to a wide audience by film. Each line belongs to a larger story, and is quoted with its character, film, and writing credits where available.
“I'll be right here.”
A goodbye between a child and an alien, which locates what they had somewhere it cannot be taken from.
Written by Melissa Mathison.
“You don't have bones of glass. You can take life's knocks.”
A housebound painter tells the young woman arranging other people's happiness that she is using it to avoid her own.
Written by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant.
“No. He's changing mine.”
A woman who took in a stranger's child rejects the account of it in which she is the one who gave something.
Written by John Lee Hancock.
“If we're kind and polite, the world will be right.”
A bear's inherited rule for dealing with people, which the film treats as a serious proposition rather than a joke.
Written by Paul King and Simon Farnaby.
“When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.”
A teacher's precept on the board, borrowed from the writer Wayne Dyer, offered to a class that includes a boy they have all been avoiding.
Written by Stephen Chbosky, Steve Conrad and Jack Thorne.
“It takes courage to change people's hearts.”
Asked why a pianist who could fill northern halls insists on the segregated South, a member of his trio answers for him.
Written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie and Peter Farrelly.
The same question, answered by people who are still working it out.
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