Opening the book…
Opening the book…
Recognising our limits without losing our self-respect.
“When have you been humbled — by another person, by a failure, by something larger? What did it leave you with?”
Related passages from different traditions. Read them together, or follow a question that interests you.
Honest self-examination—noticing your own faults before judging others, and knowing the limits of your knowledge.
35 passages · 9 traditions
When thou art offended with any man's transgression, presently reflect upon thyself; and consider what thou thyself art guilty of in the same kind. For this if thou shalt call to mind, thou shalt soon forget thine anger; especially when at the same time this also shall concur in thy thoughts, that he was constrained by his error and ignorance so to do: for how can he choose as long as he is of that opinion?
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 10.XXX, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is difficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour's faults like chaff, but his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the gambler.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 18.v.252, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
If now we attend to ourselves on occasion of any transgression of duty, we shall find that we in fact do not will that our maxim should be a universal law, for that is impossible for us; on the contrary, we will that the opposite should remain a universal law, only we assume the liberty of making an exception in our own favour or (just for this time only) in favour of our inclination.
— The Enlightenment · Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Section II (self-exception passage), tr. Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, 1873 ↗
Let each man direct himself first to what is proper, then let him teach others; thus a wise man will not suffer.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 12.v.158, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
To know and yet (think) we do not know is the highest (attainment); not to know (and yet think) we do know is a disease.
In ancient times, men learned with a view to their own improvement. Now-a-days, men learn with a view to the approbation of others.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 14.25, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
Refusing to puff oneself up—withdrawing from self-display, boasting, and the hunger for recognition.
47 passages · 9 traditions
When its work is accomplished, it does not claim the name of having done it. It clothes all things as with a garment, and makes no assumption of being their lord. Hence the sage is able (in the same way) to accomplish his great achievements. It is through his not making himself great that he can accomplish them.
Therefore the sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in the foremost place; he treats his person as if it were foreign to him, and yet that person is preserved. Is it not because he has no personal and private ends, that therefore such ends are realised?
— Taoism · Tao Te Ching, 1-8.7, tr. James Legge, 1891 ↗
When wealth and honours lead to arrogancy, this brings its evil on itself. When the work is done, and one's name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.
True worth comes from acting rightly in private, not from the approval or admiration of others.
34 passages · 7 traditions
Whatever it be, whether art or nature, that imprints in us the condition of living by reference to others, it does us much more harm than good; we deprive ourselves of our own utilities, to accommodate appearances to the common opinion: we care not so much what our being is, as to us and in reality, as what it is to the public observation.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Essay III (On Vanity, approx.), tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
But, though a wise man feels little pleasure from praise where he knows there is no praise-worthiness, he often feels the highest in doing what he knows to be praise-worthy, though he knows equally well that no praise is ever to be bestowed upon it. To obtain the approbation of mankind, where no approbation is due, can never be an object of any importance to him. To obtain that approbation where it is really due, may sometimes be an object of no great importance to him. But to be that thing which deserves approbation, must always be an object of the highest.
— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part III (p. 105), 1759 ↗
there is no such flatterer as is a man's self; and there is no such remedy against flattery of a man's self, as the liberty of a friend.
Recognizing that human life is brief, finite, and dependent on powers far greater than the self.
49 passages · 8 traditions
Only by fullest service, perfect faith, And uttermost surrender am I known And seen, and entered into, Indian Prince!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 11, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Whenever the part, spurning the whole, tries to run a separate course of its own, the great pull of the all gives it a violent wrench, stops it suddenly, and brings it to the dust. However powerful a king may be, he cannot raise his standard of rebellion against the infinite source of strength, which is unity, and yet remain powerful.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, IV, 1913 ↗
Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Ecclesiastes 5:2, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Staying open to correction, teachers, and opposing views rather than clinging to one's own certainty.
38 passages · 9 traditions
Whoever occupies himself with the Torah for its own sake, merits many things; not only that but he is worth the whole world. He is called beloved friend; one that loves God; one that loves humankind; one that gladdens God; one that gladdens humankind. And the Torah clothes him in humility and reverence, and equips him to be righteous, pious, upright and trustworthy; it keeps him far from sin, and brings him near to merit.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 6:1, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
Let no man think lightly of good, saying in his heart, It will not come nigh unto me. Even by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is filled; the wise man becomes full of good, even if he gather it little by little.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 9.v.122, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
However unwillingly a person who has a strong opinion may admit the possibility that his opinion may be false, he ought to be moved by the consideration that however true it may be, if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II (excerpt 3, para. 3), 1859 ↗
The self finds its fullness only by surrendering self-centeredness and opening to others or the whole.
42 passages · 4 traditions
There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water, and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong there is nothing that can take precedence of it. Every one in the world knows that the soft overcomes the hard, and the weak the strong, but no one is able to carry it out in practice.
Which--quit of fear and hope--subduing self-- Rejecting outward impulse--yielding up To body's need nothing save body, dwells Sinless amid all sin, with equal calm Taking what may befall, by grief unmoved, Unmoved by joy, unenvyingly; the same In good and evil fortunes; nowise bound By bond of deeds.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 4, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Let each man raise The Self by Soul, not trample down his Self, Since Soul that is Self's friend may grow Self's foe.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 6, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Finding dignity in accepting your actual condition rather than craving status, wealth, or others' esteem.
29 passages · 8 traditions
'Tis an absolute and, as it were, a divine perfection, for a man to know how loyally to enjoy his being.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Book III (final chapter), tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is.
— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Conclusion, 1854 ↗
The greatest genius is the most indebted man. A poet is no rattlebrain, saying what comes uppermost and, because he says everything, saying, at last, something good; but a heart in unison with his time and country.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Shakspeare; or, The Poet (section 1), 1844 ↗
What the superior man seeks, is in himself. What the mean man seeks, is in others.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 15.20, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
Who is wise? He who learns from every man. Who is mighty? He who subdues his [evil] inclination. Who is rich? He who rejoices in his lot. Who is he that is honored? He who honors his fellow human beings.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:1, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
Your friends will tell you that they are sincere; your enemies are really so. Let your enemies' censure be like a bitter medicine, to be used as a means of self-knowledge.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section 33, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Psalms 139:23-24, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
When we see men of worth, we should think of equalling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 4.17, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
Yea, a man shall be the eye witness against himself.
If anybody shall reprove me, and shall make it apparent unto me, that in any either opinion or action of mine I do err, I will most gladly retract. For it is the truth that I seek after, by which I am sure that never any man was hurt; and as sure, that he is hurt that continueth in any error, or ignorance whatsoever.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.XX, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Saith he, 'Of this day didst thou live in heedlessness: but we have taken off thy veil from thee, and thy sight is becoming sharp this day.'
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 50:22, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
He who requires much from himself and little from others, will keep himself from being the object of resentment.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 15.14, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
A wise man does not speak before one who is greater than he in wisdom, And does not break into his fellow's speech; And is not hasty to answer; He asks what is relevant, and he answers to the point; And he speaks of the first [point] first, and of the last [point] last; And concerning that which he has not heard, he says: I have not heard; And he acknowledges the truth.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 5:7, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
Not the perversities of others, not their sins of commission or omission, but his own misdeeds and negligences should a sage take notice of.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 4.v.50, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
To those who avoid great crimes and scandals but commit only lighter faults, verily, thy Lord will be diffuse of mercy. He well knew you when he produced you out of the earth, and when ye were embryos in your mother's womb. Assert not then your own purity. He best knoweth who feareth him.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 56.53:32, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
And every man's fate have we fastened about his neck: and on the day of resurrection will we bring forth to him a book which shall be proffered to him wide open: 'Read thy Book: there needeth none but thyself to make out an account against thee this day.'
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 17:13-14, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Proverbs 28:13, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Do not separate yourself from the community. Do not trust in yourself until the day of your death. Do not judge your fellow man until you have reached his place. Say not: 'when I shall have leisure I shall study;' perhaps you will not have leisure.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 2:4, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified. Purity and impurity belong to oneself, no one can purify another.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 12.v.165, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
anyone whose fear of sin precedes his wisdom, his wisdom is enduring, but anyone whose wisdom precedes his fear of sin, his wisdom is not enduring. He [also] used to say: anyone whose deeds exceed his wisdom, his wisdom is enduring, but anyone whose wisdom exceeds his deeds, his wisdom is not enduring.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 3:9, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it;-- this is knowledge.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 2.17, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
When internal examination discovers nothing wrong, what is there to be anxious about, what is there to fear?
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 12.4, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
The fool who knows his foolishness, is wise at least so far. But a fool who thinks himself wise, he is called a fool indeed.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 5.v.63, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Matthew 7:3-5, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
If a man make himself as he teaches others to be, then, being himself well subdued, he may subdue (others); one's own self is indeed difficult to subdue.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 12.v.159, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 7.21, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
I will not be concerned at men's not knowing me; I will be concerned at my own want of ability.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 14.32, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, 1 John 1:8, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side; if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II (excerpt 3, para. 5), 1859 ↗
Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Have no friends not equal to yourself. When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 1.8, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Luke 15:17-19, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
mark well three things and you will not come into the power of sin: know from where you come, and where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning. From where do you come? From a putrid drop. Where are you going? To a place of dust, of worm and of maggot. Before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning? Before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 3:1, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Matthew 6:3-4, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Who is content needs fear no shame. Who knows to stop incurs no blame. From danger free long live shall he.
They who preserve this method of the Tao do not wish to be full (of themselves). It is through their not being full of themselves that they can afford to seem worn and not appear new and complete.
When thou hast done well, and another is benefited by thy action, must thou like a very fool look for a third thing besides, as that it may appear unto others also that thou hast done well, or that thou mayest in time, receive one good turn for another? No man useth to be weary of that which is beneficial unto him. But every action according to nature, is beneficial. Be not weary then of doing that which is beneficial unto thee, whilst it is so unto others.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.XLIII, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
He who is only a good man that men may know it, and that he may be the better esteemed when 'tis known; who will not do well but upon condition that his virtue may be known to men: is one from whom much service is not to be expected.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Chapter XVI, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
A skilful (commander) strikes a decisive blow, and stops. He does not dare (by continuing his operations) to assert and complete his mastery. He will strike the blow, but will be on his guard against being vain or boastful or arrogant in consequence of it. He strikes it as a matter of necessity; he strikes it, but not from a wish for mastery.
Do not seek greatness for yourself, and do not covet honor. Practice more than you learn. Do not yearn for the table of kings, for your table is greater than their table, and your crown is greater than their crown, and faithful is your employer to pay you the reward of your labor.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 6:5, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
They blame him who sits silent, they blame him who speaks much, they also blame him who says little; there is no one on earth who is not blamed.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 17.v.227, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
But there never was any opinion so irregular, as to excuse treachery, disloyalty, tyranny, and cruelty, which are our familiar vices. We may then call these people barbarous, in respect to the rules of reason: but not in respect to ourselves, who in all sorts of barbarity exceed them.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Of Cannibals, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
He is free from self-display, and therefore he shines; from self-assertion, and therefore he is distinguished; from self-boasting, and therefore his merit is acknowledged; from self-complacency, and therefore he acquires superiority. It is because he is thus free from striving that therefore no one in the world is able to strive with him.
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Proverbs 16:18, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Riches and honours are what men desire. If it cannot be obtained in the proper way, they should not be held. Poverty and meanness are what men dislike. If it cannot be avoided in the proper way, they should not be avoided.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 4.5, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
I ask of you no reward for this, for my reward is of the Lord of the Worlds alone.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 26:109, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
If you have learned much Torah, do not claim credit for yourself, because for such a purpose were you created.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 2:8, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
Envy, which is the canker of honor, is best extinguished by declaring a man's self in his ends, rather to seek merit than fame; and by attributing a man's successes, rather to divine Providence and felicity, than to his own virtue or policy.
— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Honor And Reputation, 1625 ↗
Heaven is long-enduring and earth continues long. The reason why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue thus long is because they do not live of, or for, themselves. This is how they are able to continue and endure.
— Taoism · Tao Te Ching, 1-8.7, tr. James Legge, 1891 ↗
Glorious men are the scorn of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of parasites, and the slaves of their own vaunts.
— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Vain-glory, 1625 ↗
There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity greater than to be discontented with one's lot; no fault greater than the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.
A good eye, a humble spirit and a moderate appetite — he is of the disciples of Abraham, our father. An evil eye, a haughty spirit and a limitless appetite — he is of the disciples of Balaam, the wicked.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 5:19, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
love work, hate acting the superior, and do not attempt to draw near to the ruling authority.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 1:10, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
'Tis to much purpose to go upon stilts, for, when upon stilts, we must yet walk with our legs; and when seated upon the most elevated throne in the world, we are but seated upon our breech.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Book III (final chapter), tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
Truly, Man is to his Lord ungrateful. And of this he is himself a witness; and truly, he is vehement in the love of this world's good.
Envy, lust and [the desire for] honor put a man out of the world.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:21, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
He who stands on his tiptoes does not stand firm; he who stretches his legs does not walk (easily). (So), he who displays himself does not shine; he who asserts his own views is not distinguished; he who vaunts himself does not find his merit acknowledged; he who is self-conceited has no superiority allowed to him.
An evil eye, the evil inclination, and hatred for humankind put a person out of the world.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 2:11, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
The highest price you can pay for a thing is to ask for it.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, GIFTS, 1844 ↗
It is the Way of Heaven to diminish superabundance, and to supplement deficiency. It is not so with the way of man. He takes away from those who have not enough to add to his own superabundance.
To be poor without murmuring is difficult. To be rich without being proud is easy.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 14.11, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
He who knows other men is discerning; he who knows himself is intelligent. He who overcomes others is strong; he who overcomes himself is mighty. He who is satisfied with his lot is rich; he who goes on acting with energy has a (firm) will.
With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow;-- I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honours acquired by unrighteousness, are to me as a floating cloud.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 7.15, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
I have three precious things which I prize and hold fast. The first is gentleness; the second is economy; and the third is shrinking from taking precedence of others. With that gentleness I can be bold; with that economy I can be liberal; shrinking from taking precedence of others, I can become a vessel of the highest honour.
The partial becomes complete; the crooked, straight; the empty, full; the worn out, new. He whose (desires) are few gets them; he whose (desires) are many goes astray.
Therefore the (ruling) sage acts without claiming the results as his; he achieves his merit and does not rest (arrogantly) in it:--he does not wish to display his superiority.
one who makes his name great causes his name to be destroyed; one who does not add [to his knowledge] causes [it] to cease; one who does not study [the Torah] deserves death; one who makes [unworthy] use of the crown [of learning] shall pass away.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 1:13, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere. Those who are skilled (in the Tao) do not dispute (about it); the disputatious are not skilled in it. Those who know (the Tao) are not extensively learned; the extensively learned do not know it.
Let us, in God's name, satisfy ourselves with what our fathers were contented with, with what we are. We are great enough, if we rightly understand how to maintain it. Let us not disown the fortune and condition of our ancestors, and let us lay aside these ridiculous pretences, that can never be wanting to any one that has the impudence to allege them.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Chapter XLVI, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
And walk not proudly on the earth, for thou canst not cleave the earth, neither shalt thou reach to the mountains in height.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 17:37, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
That whereby the rivers and seas are able to receive the homage and tribute of all the valley streams, is their skill in being lower than they;--it is thus that they are the kings of them all. So it is that the sage (ruler), wishing to be above men, puts himself by his words below them, and, wishing to be before them, places his person behind them.
He who knows (the Tao) does not (care to) speak (about it); he who is (ever ready to) speak about it does not know it.
The fairest lives, in my opinion, are those which regularly accommodate themselves to the common and human model without miracle, without extravagance.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Book III (final chapter), tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to carry it when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness.
Virtue is a very vain and frivolous thing if it derive its recommendation from glory; and 'tis to no purpose that we endeavour to give it a station by itself, and separate it from fortune; for what is more accidental than reputation?
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Chapter XVI, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
The highest excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving (to the contrary), the low place which all men dislike. Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Tao.
— Taoism · Tao Te Ching, 1-8.8, tr. James Legge, 1891 ↗
Certainly fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swoln, and drowns things weighty and solid.
— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Praise, 1625 ↗
— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Friendship, 1625 ↗
I will not be afflicted at men's not knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know men.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 1.16, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
The essence of things is not altered by their external relations, and that which, abstracting from these, alone constitutes the absolute worth of man, is also that by which he must be judged, whoever the judge may be, and even by the Supreme Being.
— The Enlightenment · Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Kingdom of Ends, tr. Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, 1873 ↗
Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 1.3, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrian stanza;--read it forward, backward, or across, it still spells the same thing. We pass for what we are. Character teaches above our wills. Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions, and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Self-Reliance, 1844 ↗
At first, my way with men was to hear their words, and give them credit for their conduct. Now my way is to hear their words, and look at their conduct.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 5.9, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
In ancient times, men learned with a view to their own improvement. Now-a-days, men learn with a view to the approbation of others.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 14.25, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
Whatsoever any man either doth or saith, thou must be good; not for any man's sake, but for thine own nature's sake; as if either gold, or the emerald, or purple, should ever be saying to themselves, Whatsoever any man either doth or saith, I must still be an emerald, and I must keep my colour.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.XII, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
If he would act so as that the impartial spectator may enter into the principles of his conduct, which is what of all things he has the greatest desire to do, he must, upon this, as upon all other occasions, humble the arrogance of his self-love, and bring it down to something which other men can go along with.
— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Sect. II, Chap. II, 1759 ↗
Make it not any longer a matter of dispute or discourse, what are the signs and proprieties of a good man, but really and actually to be such.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 10.XVIII, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
The propriety of our moral sentiments is never so apt to be corrupted, as when the indulgent and partial spectator is at hand, while the indifferent and impartial one is at a great distance.
— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part III, Ch. 3 (tenth paragraph), 1759 ↗
As ignorant and groundless praise can give no solid joy, no satisfaction that will bear any serious examination, so, on the contrary, it often gives real comfort to reflect, that though no praise should actually be bestowed upon us, our conduct, however, has been such as to deserve it, and has been in every respect suitable to those measures and rules by which praise and approbation are naturally and commonly bestowed. We are pleased, not only with praise, but with having done what is praise-worthy.
— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part III (p. 104), 1759 ↗
Nature, accordingly, has endowed him, not only with a desire of being approved of, but with a desire of being what ought to be approved of; or of being what he himself approves of in other men. The first desire could only have made him wish to appear to be fit for society. The second was necessary in order to render him anxious to be really fit. The first could only have prompted him to the affectation of virtue, and to the concealment of vice. The second was necessary in order to inspire him with the real love of virtue, and with the real abhorrence of vice.
— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part III (p. 105), 1759 ↗
The desire of the esteem and admiration of other people, when for qualities and talents which are the natural and proper objects of esteem and admiration, is the real love of true glory; a passion which, if not the very best passion of human nature, is certainly one of the best. Vanity is very frequently no more than an attempt prematurely to usurp that glory before it is due.
— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part VI, Section III (Vanity vs. True Glory), 1759 ↗
The man who applauds us either for actions which we did not perform, or for motives which had no sort of influence upon our conduct, applauds not us, but another person. We can derive no sort of satisfaction from his praises. To us they should be more mortifying than any censure, and should perpetually call to our minds, the most humbling of all reflections, the reflection of what we ought to be, but what we are not.
— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part III (p. 103), 1759 ↗
The ambitious supposeth another man's act, praise and applause, to be his own happiness; the voluptuous his own sense and feeling; but he that is wise, his own action.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.XLVI, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
He acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 2.13, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
The estimate and value of a man consist in the heart and in the will: there his true honour lies. Valour is stability, not of legs and arms, but of the courage and the soul; it does not lie in the goodness of our horse or our arms but in our own.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Of Cannibals, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
Such there be, who when they have done a good turn to any, are ready to set them on the score for it, and to require retaliation... Others again there be, who when they have done any such thing, do not so much as know what they have done; but are like unto the vine, which beareth her grapes, and when once she hath borne her own proper fruit, is contented and seeks for no further recompense. As a horse after a race, and a hunting dog when he hath hunted, and a bee when she hath made her honey, look not for applause and commendation; so neither doth that man that rightly doth understand his own nature when he hath done a good turn: but from one doth proceed to do another.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.VI, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of royalty, but the crown of a good name supersedes them all.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:13, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
I am sure that there is greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to have a sound conscience.
— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗
Every man's happiness depends from himself, but behold thy life is almost at an end, whiles affording thyself no respect, thou dost make thy happiness to consist in the souls, and conceits of other men.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.III, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Proverbs 22:1, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Philosophy doth consist in this, for a man to preserve that spirit which is within him, from all manner of contumelies and injuries, and above all pains or pleasures; never to do anything either rashly, or feignedly, or hypocritically: wholly to depend from himself and his own proper actions: all things that happen unto him to embrace contentedly, as coming from Him from whom he himself also came; and above all things, with all meekness and a calm cheerfulness, to expect death, as being nothing else but the resolution of those elements, of which every creature is composed.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.XV, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
To desire, or even to accept of praise, where no praise is due, can be the effect only of the most contemptible vanity. To desire it where it is really due is to desire no more than that a most essential act of justice should be done to us. The love of just fame, of true glory, even for its own sake, and independent of any advantage which he can derive from it, is not unworthy even of a wise man.
— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part III (p. 105–106), 1759 ↗
A man should say, I am not concerned that I have no place, I am concerned how I may fit myself for one. I am not concerned that I am not known, I seek to be worthy to be known.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 4.14, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
The most sincere praise can give little pleasure when it cannot be considered as some sort of proof of praise-worthiness. It is by no means sufficient that, from ignorance or mistake, esteem and admiration should, in some way or other, be bestowed upon us. If we are conscious that we do not deserve to be so favourably thought of, and that if the truth were known, we should be regarded with very different sentiments, our satisfaction is far from being complete.
— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part III (p. 103), 1759 ↗
And, true enough, in proportion as he appeared to humble himself was he exalted. It seemed that from such a basis of truth and frankness as the poor weak-headed pauper had laid, our intercourse might go forward to something better than the intercourse of sages.
— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Visitors, 1854 ↗
All such sentiments suppose the idea of some other being, who is the natural judge of the person that feels them; and it is only by sympathy with the decisions of this arbiter of his conduct, that he can conceive, either the triumph of self-applause, or the shame of self-condemnation.
— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part IV (preceding Part V), 1759 ↗
Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with virtue.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 17.17, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
Virtue is a very vain and frivolous thing if it derive its recommendation from glory; and 'tis to no purpose that we endeavour to give it a station by itself, and separate it from fortune; for what is more accidental than reputation?
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Chapter XVI, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
'Do you desire,' said Socrates, 'the reputation of a good musician? The only sure way of obtaining it, is to become a good musician... And in the same manner if you would be reckoned sober, temperate, just, and equitable, the best way of acquiring this reputation is to become sober, temperate, just, and equitable.'
— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Ch. II (Socrates quotation), 1759 ↗
Our daily worship of God is not really the process of gradual acquisition of him, but the daily process of surrendering ourselves, removing all obstacles to union and extending our consciousness of him in devotion and service, in goodness and in love.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, VIII, 1913 ↗
Against your will were you formed, against your will were you born, against your will you live, against your will you will die, and against your will you will give an account and reckoning before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:22, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
If thou shouldst live three thousand, or as many as ten thousands of years, yet remember this, that man can part with no life properly, save with that little part of life, which he now lives: and that which he lives, is no other, than that which at every instant he parts with.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.XII, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
When you know that whatever there is is filled by him and whatever you have is his gift, then you realise the infinite in the finite, and the giver in the gifts. Then you know that all the facts of the reality have their only meaning in the manifestation of the one truth, and all your possessions have their only significance for you, not in themselves but in the relation they establish with the infinite.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, VIII, 1913 ↗
All our egoistic impulses, our selfish desires, obscure our true vision of the soul. For they only indicate our own narrow self. When we are conscious of our soul, we perceive the inner being that transcends our ego and has its deeper affinity with the All.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, II, 1913 ↗
Our soul when detached and imprisoned within the narrow limits of a self loses its significance. For its very essence is unity. It can only find out its truth by unifying itself with others, and only then it has its joy.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, II, 1913 ↗
Man has found out the great paradox that what is limited is not imprisoned within its limits; it is ever moving, and therewith shedding its finitude every moment. In fact, imperfection is not a negation of perfectness; finitude is not contradictory to infinity: they are but completeness manifested in parts, infinity revealed within bounds.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, III — The Problem of Evil, 1913 ↗
Thou needest not raise thy voice: for He knoweth the secret whisper, and the yet more hidden.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 20:7, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
It is our ignorance which makes us think that our self, as self, is real, that it has its complete meaning in itself. When we take that wrong view of self then we try to live in such a manner as to make self the ultimate object of our life. Then we are doomed to disappointment like the man who tries to reach his destination by firmly clutching the dust of the road.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, Chapter 4 (The Problem of Self), 1913 ↗
(The Tao) produces (all things) and nourishes them; it produces them and does not claim them as its own; it does all, and yet does not boast of it; it presides over all, and yet does not control them.
We have not created the Heavens and the Earth and whatever is between them in sport: We have not created them but for a serious end: but the greater part of them understand it not.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 44:38-39, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion. For while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them, confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity.
— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Atheism, 1625 ↗
Remember withal that no man properly can be said to live more than that which is now present, which is but a moment of time. Whatsoever is besides either is already past, or uncertain. The time therefore that any man doth live, is but a little, and the place where he liveth, is but a very little corner of the earth, and the greatest fame that can remain of a man after his death, even that is but little.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3.X, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Job 1:21, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Avidyā is the ignorance that darkens our consciousness, and tends to limit it within the boundaries of our personal self. It is this Avidyā, this ignorance, this limiting of consciousness that creates the hard separateness of the ego, and thus becomes the source of all pride and greed and cruelty incidental to self-seeking.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, II, 1913 ↗
The end of birth is death; the end of death Is birth: this is ordained! and mournest thou, Chief of the stalwart arm! for what befalls Which could not otherwise befall?
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 2, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
It is the end of our self to seek that union. It must bend its head low in love and meekness and take its stand where great and small all meet. It has to gain by its loss and rise by its surrender.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, IV (close), 1913 ↗
We created man: and we know what his soul whispereth to him, and we are closer to him than his neck-vein.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 50:16, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Proverbs 27:1, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
It is He who hath implanted in you hearing, and sight, and heart; how few of you give thanks!
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 23:78, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
Thy Lord hath ordained that ye worship none but him; and, kindness to your parents, whether one or both of them attain to old age with thee: and say not to them, 'Fie!' neither reproach them; but speak to them both with respectful speech; And defer humbly to them out of tenderness; and say, 'Lord, have compassion on them both, even as they reared me when I was little.'
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 17:23-24, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Ecclesiastes 9:11, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Psalms 90:4, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
And when he saw it set before him, he said, 'This is of the favour of my Lord, to try me whether I will be thankful or unthankful. And he who is thankful is thankful to his own behoof; and as for him who is unthankful—truly my Lord is self-sufficient, bounteous!'
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 27:40, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
Beloved is man for he was created in the image [of God]. Especially beloved is he for it was made known to him that he had been created in the image [of God].
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 3:14, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
And strain not thine eye after what We have bestowed on divers of them-the braveries of this world-that we may thereby prove them. The portion which thy Lord will give, is better and more lasting.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 20:131, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
A violent wind does not last for a whole morning; a sudden rain does not last for the whole day. To whom is it that these (two) things are owing? To Heaven and Earth. If Heaven and Earth cannot make such (spasmodic) actings last long, how much less can man!
For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, James 4:14, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
give to Him of that which is His, for you and that which is yours is His; and thus it says with regards to David: 'for everything comes from You, and from Your own hand have we given you.'
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 3:7, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Job 11:7-8, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
They will say, 'We tarried a day, or part of a day.' God will say, 'Short indeed was the time ye tarried, if that ye knew it.'
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Psalms 51:17, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Psalms 90:10, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
All on the earth shall pass away, But the face of thy Lord shall abide resplendent with majesty and glory.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 55:26-27, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Job 5:7, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Psalms 90:12, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
"Nought of myself I do!" Thus will he think-who holds the truth of truths--In seeing, hearing, touching, smelling; when He eats, or goes, or breathes; slumbers or talks, Holds fast or loosens, opes his eyes or shuts;
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 5, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
It is not that you become this Brahman. You are already that. It is not that you are going to become God or perfect; you are already perfect, and whenever you think you are not, it is a delusion.
— The turn of the century · Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, Section IV, 1907 ↗
As soon as it is able to say, 'All my work is thine,' everything remains the same, only it is taken across.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, The Relation of the Individual to the Universe, 1913 ↗
Who though longing for it themselves, bestowed their food on the poor and the orphan and the captive: 'We feed you for the sake of God: we seek from you neither recompense nor thanks.'
They that deny a God, destroy man's nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts, by his body; and, if he be not of kin to God, by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature.
— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Atheism, 1625 ↗
As to man, when his Lord trieth him and honoureth him and is bounteous to him, Then saith he, 'My Lord honoureth me:' But when he proveth him and limiteth his gifts to him, He saith, 'My Lord despiseth me.'
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 78-75.89:15-16, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
Even in the most voluntarily built‐up sort of regeneration there are passages of partial self‐surrender interposed; and in the great majority of all cases, when the will has done its uttermost towards bringing one close to the complete unification aspired after, it seems that the very last step must be left to other forces and performed without the help of its activity. In other words, self‐surrender becomes then indispensable.
— The turn of the century · William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture 9, 1902 ↗
On that day ye shall be brought before Him: none of your hidden deeds shall remain hidden.
The day when neither wealth nor children shall avail, Save to him who shall come to God with a sound heart.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 26:88-89, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Proverbs 3:5-6, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Truth, in the great practical concerns of life, is so much a question of the reconciling and combining of opposites, that very few have minds sufficiently capacious and impartial to make the adjustment with an approach to correctness, and it has to be made by the rough process of a struggle between combatants fighting under hostile banners.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II, 1859 ↗
Popular opinions, on subjects not palpable to sense, are often true, but seldom or never the whole truth. They are a part of the truth; sometimes a greater, sometimes a smaller part, but exaggerated, distorted, and disjoined from the truths by which they ought to be accompanied and limited. Heretical opinions, on the other hand, are generally some of these suppressed and neglected truths, bursting the bonds which kept them down, and either seeking reconciliation with the truth contained in the common opinion, or fronting it as enemies, and setting themselves up, with similar exclusiveness, as the whole truth.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II, 1859 ↗
I do not open up the truth to one who is not eager to get knowledge, nor help out any one who is not anxious to explain himself. When I have presented one corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 7.8, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
If there are any persons who contest a received opinion, or who will do so if law or opinion will let them, let us thank them for it, open our minds to listen to them, and rejoice that there is some one to do for us what we otherwise ought, if we have any regard for either the certainty or the vitality of our convictions, to do with much greater labour for ourselves.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II, 1859 ↗
Be careful with a light commandment as with a grave one, for you did know not the reward for the fulfillment of the commandments. Also, reckon the loss [that may be sustained through the fulfillment] of a commandment against the reward [accruing] thereby, and the gain [that may be obtained through the committing] of a transgression against the loss [entailed] thereby.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 2:1, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
Truth, thus held, is but one superstition the more, accidentally clinging to the words which enunciate a truth.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II (excerpt 3, para. 4), 1859 ↗
The sacredness which attaches to the act of creation, the act of thought, is instantly transferred to the record. The poet chanting was felt to be a divine man. Henceforth the chant is divine also. The writer was a just and wise spirit. Henceforward it is settled the book is perfect; as love of the hero corrupts into worship of his statue. Instantly the book becomes noxious. The guide is a tyrant.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, The American Scholar, 1844 ↗
There are four types among those who sit before the sages: a sponge, a funnel, a strainer and a sieve. A sponge, soaks up everything; A funnel, takes in at one end and lets out at the other; A strainer, which lets out the wine and retains the lees; A sieve, which lets out the coarse meal and retains the choice flour.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 5:15, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
Be not therefore ashamed, whensoever thou must use the help of others. For whatsoever it be that lieth upon thee to effect, thou must propose it unto thyself, as the scaling of walls is unto a soldier. And what if thou through either lameness or some other impediment art not able to reach unto the top of the battlements alone, which with the help of another thou mayst; wilt thou therefore give it over, or go about it with less courage and alacrity, because thou canst not effect it all alone?
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.V, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
What the wise choose The unwise people take; what best men do The multitude will follow.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 3, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
the light that a man receiveth by counsel from another, is drier and purer, than that which cometh from his own understanding and judgment; which is ever infused, and drenched, in his affections and customs.
— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Friendship, 1625 ↗
Exalted then be God, the King, the Truth! Be not hasty in its recital while the revelation of it to thee is incomplete. Say rather, 'O my Lord, increase knowledge unto me.'
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 20:114, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them; who defend them in earnest, and do their very utmost for them. He must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form; he must feel the whole force of the difficulty which the true view of the subject has to encounter and dispose of; else he will never really possess himself of the portion of truth which meets and removes that difficulty.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II (excerpt 3, para. 5), 1859 ↗
No one can be a great thinker who does not recognise, that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead. Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II (excerpt 3, para. 2), 1859 ↗
A person who derives all his instruction from teachers or books, even if he escape the besetting temptation of contenting himself with cram, is under no compulsion to hear both sides; accordingly it is far from a frequent accomplishment, even among thinkers, to know both sides; and the weakest part of what everybody says in defence of his opinion, is what he intends as a reply to antagonists.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II, 1859 ↗
One who learns from his fellow one chapter, or one halakhah, or one verse, or one word, or even one letter, is obligated to treat him with honor.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 6:3, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
He that questioneth much, shall learn much, and content much; but especially, if he apply his questions to the skill of the persons whom he asketh; for he shall give them occasion, to please themselves in speaking, and himself shall continually gather knowledge.
— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Discourse, 1625 ↗
So essential is this discipline to a real understanding of moral and human subjects, that if opponents of all important truths do not exist, it is indispensable to imagine them, and supply them with the strongest arguments which the most skilful devil's advocate can conjure up.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II (excerpt 3, para. 5), 1859 ↗
When there are persons to be found, who form an exception to the apparent unanimity of the world on any subject, even if the world is in the right, it is always probable that dissentients have something worth hearing to say for themselves, and that truth would lose something by their silence.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II, 1859 ↗
Great genial power, one would almost say, consists in not being original at all; in being altogether receptive; in letting the world do all, and suffering the spirit of the hour to pass unobstructed through the mind.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Shakspeare; or, The Poet (section 2), 1844 ↗
Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Have no friends not equal to yourself. When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 9.24, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who is tolerant with the intolerant, mild with fault-finders, and free from passion among the passionate.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 26.v.406, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, wise people falter not amidst blame and praise.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 6.v.81, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
On any other subject no one's opinions deserve the name of knowledge, except so far as he has either had forced upon him by others, or gone through of himself, the same mental process which would have been required of him in carrying on an active controversy with opponents.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II, 1859 ↗
Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon have given; forgetful that Cicero, Locke and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, The American Scholar, 1844 ↗
Remember, that to change thy mind upon occasion, and to follow him that is able to rectify thee, is equally ingenuous, as to find out at the first, what is right and just, without help.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.XIV, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Other men say wise things as well as he; only they say a good many foolish things, and do not know when they have spoken wisely. He knows the sparkle of the true stone, and puts it in high place, wherever he finds it.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Shakspeare; or, The Poet (section 7), 1844 ↗
appoint for thyself a teacher, and acquire for thyself a companion and judge all men with the scale weighted in his favor.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 1:6, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
Even in our counsels and deliberations there must, certainly, be something of chance and good-luck mixed with human prudence; for all that our wisdom can do alone is no great matter; the more piercing, quick, and apprehensive it is, the weaker it finds itself, and is by so much more apt to mistrust itself.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Essay II (On military enterprises), tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 7.21, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
Even progress, which ought to superadd, for the most part only substitutes one partial and incomplete truth for another; improvement consisting chiefly in this, that the new fragment of truth is more wanted, more adapted to the needs of the time, than that which it displaces.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II, 1859 ↗
let thy house be a house of meeting for the Sages and sit in the very dust of their feet, and drink in their words with thirst.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 1:4, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II, 1859 ↗
Engage but little in business, and busy yourself with the Torah. Be of humble spirit before all men. If you have neglected the Torah, you shall have many who bring you to neglect it, but if you have labored at the study of Torah, there is much reward to give unto you.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:10, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side; if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter II (excerpt 3, para. 5), 1859 ↗
The mind That gives itself to follow shows of sense Seeth its helm of wisdom rent away, And, like a ship in waves of whirlwind, drives To wreck and death. Only with him, great Prince! Whose senses are not swayed by things of sense-- Only with him who holds his mastery, Shows wisdom perfect.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 2, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Who, unto friend and foe Keeping an equal heart, with equal mind Bears shame and glory; with an equal peace Takes heat and cold, pleasure and pain; abides Quit of desires, hears praise or calumny In passionless restraint, unmoved by each; Linked by no ties to earth, steadfast in Me, That man I love!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 12, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
The sage does not accumulate (for himself). The more that he expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more that he gives to others, the more does he have himself.
He unto whom--self-centred--grief and joy Sound as one word; to whose deep-seeing eyes The clod, the marble, and the gold are one; Whose equal heart holds the same gentleness For lovely and unlovely things, firm-set, Well-pleased in praise and dispraise; satisfied With honour or dishonour; unto friends And unto foes alike in tolerance; Detached from undertakings,--he is named Surmounter of the Qualities!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 14, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
There is no satisfying lusts, even by a shower of gold pieces; he who knows that lusts have a short taste and cause pain, he is wise.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 14.v.186, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
You yourself must make an effort. The Tathagatas (Buddhas) are only preachers. The thoughtful who enter the way are freed from the bondage of Mara.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 20.v.276, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Who doeth duties so, Unvexed if his work fail, if it succeed Unflattered, in his own heart justified, Quit of debates and doubts, his is 'true' act
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 18, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Abstaining from attachment to the work, Abstaining from rewardment in the work, While yet one doeth it full faithfully, Saying, 'Tis right to do!' that is 'true' act And abstinence!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 18, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
A man is not learned because he talks much; he who is patient, free from hatred and fear, he is called learned.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 19.v.258, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Let no one forget his own duty for the sake of another's, however great; let a man, after he has discerned his own duty, be always attentive to his duty.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 12.v.166, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
If one man conquer in battle a thousand times thousand men, and if another conquer himself, he is the greatest of conquerors.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 8.v.103, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Self is the lord of self, who else could be the lord? With self well subdued, a man finds a lord such as few can find.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 12.v.160, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Yet, the right act Is less, far less, than the right-thinking mind. Seek refuge in thy soul; have there thy heaven! Scorn them that follow virtue for her gifts!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 2, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
For self is the lord of self, self is the refuge of self; therefore curb thyself as the merchant curbs a good horse.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 25.v.380, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Yea! whoso, shaking off the yoke of flesh Lives lord, not servant, of his lusts; set free From pride, from passion, from the sin of "Self," Toucheth tranquillity!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 2, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
We can look at our self in its two different aspects. The self which displays itself, and the self which transcends itself and thereby reveals its own meaning. To display itself it tries to be big, to stand upon the pedestal of its accumulations, and to retain everything to itself. To reveal itself it gives up everything it has; thus becoming perfect like a flower that has blossomed out from the bud, pouring from its chalice of beauty all its sweetness.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, Chapter 4 (The Problem of Self), 1913 ↗
Fearlessness, singleness of soul, the will / Always to strive for wisdom; opened hand / And governed appetites; and piety, / And love of lonely study; humbleness, / Uprightness, heed to injure nought which lives, / Truthfulness, slowness unto wrath, a mind / That lightly letteth go what others prize; / And equanimity, and charity / Which spieth no man's faults; and tenderness / Towards all that suffer; a contented heart, / Fluttered by no desires; a bearing mild, / Modest, and grave, with manhood nobly mixed, / With patience, fortitude, and purity; / An unrevengeful spirit, never given / To rate itself too high;--such be the signs, / O Indian Prince! of him whose feet are set / On that fair path which leads to heavenly birth!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 16, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
He who with equanimity surveys Lustre of goodness, strife of passion, sloth Of ignorance, not angry if they are, Not wishful when they are not: he who sits A sojourner and stranger in their midst Unruffled, standing off, saying--serene-- When troubles break, "These be the Qualities!"
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 14, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
The sovereign soul Of him who lives self-governed and at peace Is centred in itself, taking alike Pleasure and pain; heat, cold; glory and shame.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 6, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Never say: 'O Lord, I am a miserable sinner.' Who shall help you? You are the help of the universe. What in this universe can help you? Never help came from anywhere but from yourself.
— The turn of the century · Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, The Absolute and Its Manifestations, 1907 ↗
But, if in this Thy faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure! find Refuge in Me! let fruits of labour go, Renouncing hope for Me, with lowliest heart, So shalt thou come.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 12, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
His aim was not to acquire but to realise, to enlarge his consciousness by growing with and growing into his surroundings. He felt that truth is all-comprehensive, that there is no such thing as absolute isolation in existence, and the only way of attaining truth is through the interpenetration of our being into all objects.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, I. THE RELATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE UNIVERSE, 1913 ↗
The gift selfishly given, where to receive Is hoped again, or when some end is sought, Or where the gift is proffered with a grudge, This is of Rajas, stained with impulse, ill.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 17, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Who hateth nought Of all which lives, living himself benign, Compassionate, from arrogance exempt, Exempt from love of self, unchangeable By good or ill; patient, contented, firm In faith, mastering himself, true to his word, Seeking Me, heart and soul; vowed unto Me,-- That man I love!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 12, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Humbleness, truthfulness, and harmlessness, Patience and honour, reverence for the wise. Purity, constancy, control of self, Contempt of sense-delights, self-sacrifice, Perception of the certitude of ill In birth, death, age, disease, suffering, and sin; Detachment, lightly holding unto home, Children, and wife, and all that bindeth men; An ever-tranquil heart in fortunes good And fortunes evil, with a will set firm To worship Me--Me only! ceasing not; Loving all solitudes, and shunning noise Of foolish crowds; endeavours resolute To reach perception of the Utmost Soul, And grace to understand what gain it were So to attain,--this is true Wisdom, Prince! And what is otherwise is ignorance!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 13, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
He who knows other men is discerning; he who knows himself is intelligent. He who overcomes others is strong; he who overcomes himself is mighty. He who is satisfied with his lot is rich; he who goes on acting with energy has a (firm) will.
And like the ocean, day by day receiving Floods from all lands, which never overflows Its boundary-line not leaping, and not leaving, Fed by the rivers, but unswelled by those;-- So is the perfect one! to his soul's ocean The world of sense pours streams of witchery; They leave him as they find, without commotion, Taking their tribute, but remaining sea.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 2, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
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 friendships become exclusive, our families selfish and inhospitable, our nations insular and aggressively inimical to other races.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, II, 1913 ↗
That is the true Renouncer, firm and fixed, Who--seeking nought, rejecting nought--dwells proof Against the "opposites."
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 5, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
"Nought of myself I do!" Thus will he think-who holds the truth of truths--In seeing, hearing, touching, smelling; when He eats, or goes, or breathes; slumbers or talks, Holds fast or loosens, opes his eyes or shuts;
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 5, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
A man is not an elect (Ariya) because he injures living creatures; because he has pity on all living creatures, therefore is a man called Ariya.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 19.v.270, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Our moral faculty is the faculty by which we know that life is not made up of fragments, purposeless and discontinuous. This moral sense of man not only gives him the power to see that the self has a continuity in time, but it also enables him to see that he is not true when he is only restricted to his own self. He is more in truth than he is in fact.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, III — The Problem of Evil, 1913 ↗
He that abstains To help the rolling wheels of this great world, Glutting his idle sense, lives a lost life, Shameful and vain. Existing for himself, Self-concentrated, serving self alone, No part hath he in aught.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 3, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Let him not despise what he has received, nor ever envy others: a mendicant who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 25.v.365, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
There is no man who has not this feeling to some extent, who has never sacrificed his selfish desire for the sake of some other person, who has never felt a pleasure in undergoing some loss or trouble because it pleased somebody else. It is a truth that man is not a detached being, that he has a universal aspect; and when he recognises this he becomes great.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, III — The Problem of Evil, 1913 ↗
Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of relationships, Nirvana the highest happiness.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 15.v.204, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
When he has the power to see things detached from self-interest and from the insistent claims of the lust of the senses, then alone can he have the true vision of the beauty that is everywhere.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, VII (mid), 1913 ↗
To understand anything is to find in it something which is our own, and it is the discovery of ourselves outside us which makes us glad. This relation of understanding is partial, but the relation of love is complete. In love the sense of difference is obliterated and the human soul fulfils its purpose in perfection, transcending the limits of itself and reaching across the threshold of the infinite.
— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, II, 1913 ↗
One's own self conquered is better than all other people; not even a god, a Gandharva, not Mara with Brahman could change into defeat the victory of a man who has vanquished himself, and always lives under restraint.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 8.v.104–105, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
We seek other conditions, by reason we do not understand the use of our own; and go out of ourselves, because we know not how there to reside.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Book III (final chapter), tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy. He who has given up both victory and defeat, he, the contented, is happy.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 15.v.201, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Better thine own work is, though done with fault, Than doing others' work, ev'n excellently.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 18, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Courage, the reputation and glory of which men seek with so greedy an appetite, presents itself, when need requires, as magnificently in cuerpo, as in full armour; in a closet, as in a camp; with arms pendant, as with arms raised.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Essay II (On the nature of courage), tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
A simple and independent mind does not toil at the bidding of any prince. Genius is not a retainer to any emperor, nor is its material silver, or gold, or marble, except to a trifling extent.
— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗
Nature hates monopolies and exceptions. The waves of the sea do not more speedily seek a level from their loftiest tossing, than the varieties of condition tend to equalize themselves. There is always some leveling circumstance that puts down the overbearing, the strong, the rich, the fortunate, substantially on the same ground with all others.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Compensation, 1844 ↗
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.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Heroism §8, 1844 ↗
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 nor Cato, example nor precept; from these nature every day extracts effects of constancy and patience, more pure and manly than those we so inquisitively study in the schools.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, middle section, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
One piece of good sense would be more memorable than a monument as high as the moon.
— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗
The secret of success in society, is a certain heartiness and sympathy. A man who is not happy in the company, cannot find any word in his memory that will fit the occasion. All his information is a little impertinent.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Manners, §16, 1844 ↗
He that despiseth small things will perish by little and little.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Prudence, 1844 ↗
only by the jostlings of equality can we form a just opinion of ourselves.
— The Enlightenment · Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Chapter 12 (on national education), 1792 ↗
I am of opinion, that order, moderation, and constancy excepted, all things are to be done by a man that is very imperfect and defective in general. Therefore it is, say the Sages, that to make a right judgment of a man, you are chiefly to pry into his common actions, and surprise him in his everyday habit.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Chapter XXIX, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Proverbs 30:8-9, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
We know but few men, a great many coats and breeches.
— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗
They measure their esteem of each other by what each has, and not by what each is. But a cultivated man becomes ashamed of his property, out of new respect for his nature.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Self-Reliance, §4, 1844 ↗
With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow;-- I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honours acquired by unrighteousness, are to me as a floating cloud.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 7.15, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes. If there is not a new man, how can the new clothes be made to fit?
— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗
The stable being burned down, when he was at court, on his return he said, 'Has any man been hurt?' He did not ask about the horses.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 10.12, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?
— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗
Dost thou grieve that thou dost weigh but so many pounds, and not three hundred rather? Just as much reason hast thou to grieve that thou must live but so many years, and not longer. For as for bulk and substance thou dost content thyself with that proportion of it that is allotted unto thee, so shouldst thou for time.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.XLIV, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
There is no virtue which is final; all are initial. The virtues of society are vices of the saint. The terror of reform is the discovery that we must cast away our virtues, or what we have always esteemed such, into the same pit that has consumed our grosser vices.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Circles, 1844 ↗
And, true enough, in proportion as he appeared to humble himself was he exalted. It seemed that from such a basis of truth and frankness as the poor weak-headed pauper had laid, our intercourse might go forward to something better than the intercourse of sages.
— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Visitors, 1854 ↗
The fairest lives, in my opinion, are those which regularly accommodate themselves to the common and human model without miracle, without extravagance.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Book III (final chapter), tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of relationships, Nirvana the highest happiness.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 15.v.204, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
A man is but a little thing in the midst of the objects of nature, yet, by the moral quality radiating from his countenance, he may abolish all considerations of magnitude, and in his manners equal the majesty of the world.
— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Manners, §19, 1844 ↗