Work

if we imagine, on the one hand, an act of honesty done with steadfast mind, apart from every view to advantage of any kind in this world or another, and even under the greatest temptations of necessity or allurement, and, on the other hand, a similar act which was affected, in however low a degree, by a foreign motive, the former leaves far behind and eclipses the second; it elevates the soul and inspires the wish to be able to act in like manner oneself.

— The Enlightenment · Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, SEC_2, tr. Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, 1873 ↗

The second proposition is: That an action done from duty derives its moral worth, not from the purpose which is to be attained by it, but from the maxim by which it is determined, and therefore does not depend on the realization of the object of the action, but merely on the principle of volition by which the action has taken place, without regard to any object of desire.

— The Enlightenment · Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Second Proposition, tr. Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, 1873 ↗

That no burdened soul shall bear the burdens of another, And that nothing shall be reckoned to a man but that for which he hath made efforts: And that his efforts shall at last be seen in their true light: That then he shall be recompensed with a most exact recompense.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 56.53:38-41, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

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 ↗

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 ↗

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 ↗

Therefore, who doeth work rightful to do, Not seeking gain from work, that man, O Prince! Is Sanyasi and Yogi--both in one

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 6, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

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) ↗

Verily the hour is coming — I all but manifest it — That every soul may be recompensed for its labours.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 20:15, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

Every soul shall know what it hath produced.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 87-81.81:14, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

Pledged to God is every man for his actions and their desert.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 52:21, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

But they who are awed with the dread of their Lord, And who believe in the signs of their Lord, And who join no other gods with their Lord, And who give that which they give with hearts thrilled with dread because they must return unto their Lord, These hasten after good, and are the first to win it.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 23:57-61, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

Shall the reward of good be aught but good?

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 55:60, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

For its own works lieth every soul in pledge.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 74:38, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

Such votaries, renouncing fruit of deeds, Gain endless peace: the unvowed, the passion-bound, Seeking a fruit from works, are fastened down.

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 5, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

Therefore, thy task prescribed With spirit unattached gladly perform, Since in performance of plain duty man Mounts to his highest bliss.

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 3, 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 ↗

Whoso performeth--diligent, content-- The work allotted him, whate'er it be, Lays hold of perfectness!

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 18, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

Freed In all his works from prickings of desire, Burned clean in act by the white fire of truth, The wise call that man wise; and such an one, Renouncing fruit of deeds, always content, Always self-satisfying, if he works, Doth nothing that shall stain his separate soul.

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 4, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

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 ↗

The sacrifice which Knowledge pays is better than great gifts Offered by wealth, since gifts' worth--O my Prince!-- Lies in the mind which gives, the will that serves.

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 4, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

do not be like servants who serve the master in the expectation of receiving a reward, but be like servants who serve the master without the expectation of receiving a reward, and let the fear of Heaven be upon you.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 1:3, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

Whate'er thou doest, Prince! / Eating or sacrificing, giving gifts, / Praying or fasting, let it all be done / For Me, as Mine. So shalt thou free thyself / From Karmabandh, the chain which holdeth men / To good and evil issue, so shalt come / Safe unto Me-when thou art quit of flesh--

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 9, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

According to the labor is the reward.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 5:23, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

He that acts in thought of Brahm, Detaching end from act, with act content, The world of sense can no more stain his soul Than waters mar th' enamelled lotus-leaf.

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 5, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

Despair not! give Me lower service! seek To reach Me, worshipping with steadfast will; And, if thou canst not worship steadfastly, Work for Me, toil in works pleasing to Me! For he that laboureth right for love of Me Shall finally attain!

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 12, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

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) ↗

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) ↗

There is 'right' Action: that which being enjoined-- Is wrought without attachment, passionlessly, For duty, not for love, nor hate, nor gain.

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 18, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

There is a task of holiness to do, Unlike world-binding toil, which bindeth not The faithful soul; such earthly duty do Free from desire, and thou shalt well perform Thy heavenly purpose.

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 3, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

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 ↗

And ye shall not be rewarded but as ye have wrought.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 37:39, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

But thou, want not! ask not! Find full reward Of doing right in right! Let right deeds be Thy motive, not the fruit which comes from them. And live in action! Labour! Make thine acts Thy piety, casting all self aside, Contemning gain and merit; equable In good or evil: equability Is Yog, is piety!

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 2, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

And good works which abide, are in thy Lord's sight better in respect of guerdon, and better in the issue than all worldly good.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 19:76, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

If ye do well, to your own behoof will ye do well: and if ye do evil, against yourselves will ye do it.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 17:7, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

Whatever good works ye send on before for your own behoof, ye shall find with God. This will be best and richest in the recompense.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 73:20, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

And whoso shall do the things that are right, and be a believer, his efforts shall not be disowned: and surely will we write them down for him.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 21:94, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

Well-makers lead the water (wherever they like); fletchers bend the arrow; carpenters bend a log of wood; wise people fashion themselves.

— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 6.v.80, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗

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 ↗

By rousing himself, by earnestness, by restraint and control, the wise man may make for himself an island which no flood can overwhelm.

— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 2.v.25, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗

Books have not so much served me for instruction as exercise.

— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, early paragraph, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗

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 ↗

I might have made it better elsewhere, but then the work would have been less my own; and its principal end and perfection is to be exactly mine.

— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Book II, On Some Verses of Virgil, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗

Let a wise man blow off the impurities of his self, as a smith blows off the impurities of silver one by one, little by little, and from time to time.

— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 18.v.239, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗

The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout; the tower of nine storeys rose from a (small) heap of earth; the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step.

— Taoism · Tao Te Ching, 57-64.64, tr. James Legge, 1891 ↗

Turn it over, and [again] turn it over, for all is therein. And look into it; And become gray and old therein; And do not move away from it, for you have no better portion than it.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 5:22, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

Such as thy thoughts and ordinary cogitations are, such will thy mind be in time. For the soul doth as it were receive its tincture from the fancies, and imaginations. Dye it therefore and thoroughly soak it with the assiduity of these cogitations.

— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.XV, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗

Everything of the nature of freedom, elegance, boldness, dance, and masterly certainty, which exists or has existed, whether it be in thought itself, or in administration, or in speaking and persuading, in art just as in conduct, has only developed by means of the tyranny of such arbitrary law.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 188, tr. Helen Zimmern, 1907 ↗

He who learns in order to teach, it is granted to him to study and to teach; But he who learns in order to practice, it is granted to him to learn and to teach and to practice.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:5, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

make your [study of the] Torah a fixed practice; speak little, but do much; and receive all men with a pleasant countenance.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 1:15, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

Excellent is the study of the Torah when combined with a worldly occupation, for toil in them both keeps sin out of one's mind; But [study of the] Torah which is not combined with a worldly occupation, in the end comes to be neglected and becomes the cause of sin.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 2:2, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

Through zeal knowledge is gotten, through lack of zeal knowledge is lost; let a man who knows this double path of gain and loss thus place himself that knowledge may grow.

— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 20.v.282, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗

Activity!--doing something, if possible creating something, at any rate learning something--how fortunate it is that men cannot exist without that! A man wants to use his strength, to see, if he can, what effect it will produce; and he will get the most complete satisfaction of this desire if he can make or construct something--be it a book or a basket. There is a direct pleasure in seeing work grow under one's hands day by day, until at last it is finished.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section 17, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗

The force of character is cumulative. All the foregone days of virtue work their health into this.

— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Self-Reliance, 1844 ↗

chiefly, the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands.

— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Fortune, 1625 ↗

Such is the way [of a life] of Torah: you shall eat bread with salt, and rationed water shall you drink; you shall sleep on the ground, your life will be one of privation, and in Torah shall you labor. If you do this, "Happy shall you be and it shall be good for you": "Happy shall you be" in this world, "and it shall be good for you" in the world to come.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 6:4, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

The essential thing "in heaven and in earth" is, apparently, that there should be long OBEDIENCE in the same direction, there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living; for instance, virtue, art, music, dancing, reason, spirituality--anything whatever that is transfiguring, refined, foolish, or divine.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 188, tr. Helen Zimmern, 1907 ↗

From Claudius Maximus, in all things to endeavour to have power of myself, and in nothing to be carried about; to be cheerful and courageous in all sudden chances and accidents, as in sicknesses: to love mildness, and moderation, and gravity: and to do my business, whatsoever it be, thoroughly, and without querulousness.

— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1.XII, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗

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 ↗

one whose wisdom exceeds his deeds, to what may he be compared? To a tree whose branches are numerous but whose roots are few, so that when the wind comes, it uproots it and overturns it… But one whose deeds exceed his wisdom, to what may he be compared? To a tree whose branches are few but roots are many, so that even if all the winds in the world come and blow upon it, they cannot move it out of its place.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 3:17, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

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) ↗

Our thoughts must be arranged, as it were, in little drawers, so that we may open one without disturbing any of the others. In this way we can keep the heavy burden of anxiety from weighing upon us so much as to spoil the little pleasures of the present, or from robbing us of our rest; otherwise the consideration of one matter will interfere with every other, and attention to some important business may lead us to neglect many affairs which happen to be of less moment.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section 15, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗

But if the force of custom simple and separate, be great, the force of custom copulate and conjoined and collegiate, is far greater. For there example teacheth, company comforteth, emulation quickeneth, glory raiseth.

— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Custom And Education, 1625 ↗

The day is short, and the work is plentiful, and the laborers are indolent, and the reward is great, and the master of the house is insistent.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 2:15, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

Contract thy whole life to the measure and proportion of one single action. And if in every particular action thou dost perform what is fitting to the utmost of thy power, let it suffice thee. And who can hinder thee, but that thou mayest perform what is fitting?

— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.XXX, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗

Lofty spirituality itself exists only as the ultimate product of moral qualities, that it is a synthesis of all qualities attributed to the 'merely moral' man, after they have been acquired singly through long training and practice, perhaps during a whole series of generations.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 219, tr. Helen Zimmern, 1907 ↗

The prosecution of learning may be compared to what may happen in raising a mound. If there want but one basket of earth to complete the work, and I stop, the stopping is my own work. It may be compared to throwing down the earth on the level ground. Though but one basketful is thrown at a time, the advancing with it is my own going forward.

— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 9.18, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗

Learn as if you could not reach your object, and were always fearing also lest you should lose it.

— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 8.17, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗

Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction,—a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the Muse. So will help you God, and so only. Every nail driven should be as another rivet in the machine of the universe, you carrying on the work.

— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Conclusion, 1854 ↗

It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 2:16, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

In all negotiations of difficulty, a man may not look to sow and reap at once; but must prepare business, and so ripen it by degrees.

— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Negotiating, 1625 ↗

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at; as railroads lead to Boston or New York.

— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗

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.

— Taoism · Tao Te Ching, 41-48.46, tr. James Legge, 1891 ↗

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 ↗

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 ↗

The difference between talents and character is adroitness to keep the old and trodden round, and power and courage to make a new road to new and better goals.

— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Circles, 1844 ↗

The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement, being in unceasing antagonism to that disposition to aim at something better than customary, which is called, according to circumstances, the spirit of liberty, or that of progress or improvement.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Ch. III, 1859 ↗

Better thine own work is, though done with fault, Than doing others' work, ev'n excellently.

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 18, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

The difference between willing and merely wishing, between having ideals that are creative and ideals that are but pinings and regrets, thus depends solely either on the amount of steam‐pressure chronically driving the character in the ideal direction, or on the amount of ideal excitement transiently acquired.

— The turn of the century · William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lectures XI, XII, XIII — psychological generalities, 1902 ↗

Man, they thought, being born for action, his happiness must consist, not merely in the agreeableness of his passive sensations, but also in the propriety of his active exertions.

— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Ch. II (contrast with Epicurus), 1759 ↗

Happy is it when people have the cares of life to struggle with; for these struggles prevent their becoming a prey to enervating vices, merely from idleness!

— The Enlightenment · Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Chapter 4, 1792 ↗

Let not to get a living be thy trade, but thy sport. Enjoy the land, but own it not. Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and selling, and spending their lives like serfs.

— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Baker Farm, 1854 ↗

The fruit which virtue gives, is the recompence of toil: and, gradually seen as it ripens, only affords calm satisfaction; nay, appearing to be the result of the natural tendency of things, it is scarcely observed. Bread, the common food of life, seldom thought of as a blessing, supports the constitution, and preserves health.

— The Enlightenment · Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Chapter 4, 1792 ↗

It is most important for everyone who is capable of higher and nobler thoughts to keep their mind from being so completely engrossed with private affairs and vulgar troubles as to let them take up all his attention and crowd out worthier matter; for that is, in a very real sense, to lose sight of the true end of life.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section 15, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗

Let a man keep the law--any law,--and his way will be strown with satisfactions. There is more difference in the quality of our pleasures than in the amount.

— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Prudence, 1844 ↗

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 ↗

The human character has ever been formed by the employments the individual, or class pursues; and if the faculties are not sharpened by necessity, they must remain obtuse.

— The Enlightenment · Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Chapter 3 (closing), 1792 ↗

He that hath not one and the self-same general end always as long as he liveth, cannot possibly be one and the self-same man always.

— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 11.XIX, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Ecclesiastes 1:2-3, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗

The soul that has no established aim loses itself, for, as it is said—'Quisquis ubique habitat, Maxime, nusquam habitat.'—'He who lives everywhere, lives nowhere.'

— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Chapter VIII, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗

This spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it, reminds me of the Englishman who went to India to make a fortune first, in order that he might return to England and live the life of a poet. He should have gone up garret at once.

— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗

If there is any merit or importance attaching to a man's career, if he lays himself out carefully for some special work, it is all the more necessary and advisable for him to turn his attention now and then to its plan, that is to say, the miniature sketch of its general outlines. He must know what is his real, chief, and foremost object in life,—what it is that he most wants in order to be happy.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section 4, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗

Nevertheless, a man should economize his strength even when he is young. Those infant prodigies--_ingenia praecoda_--the fruit of a hot-house education, who surprise us by their cleverness as children, afterwards turn out very ordinary folk.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section on vital energy and age, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗

I am wont to think that men are not so much the keepers of herds as herds are the keepers of men, the former are so much the freer.

— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗

There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.

— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Ecclesiastes 2:24, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗

The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Ecclesiastes 5:12, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗

The highest price you can pay for a thing is to ask for it.

— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, GIFTS, 1844 ↗

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) ↗

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 ↗

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 ↗

Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Ecclesiastes 4:6, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Matthew 6:24, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗

If you would serve your brother, because it is fit for you to serve him, do not take back your words when you find that prudent people do not commend you. Adhere to your own act, and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant, and broken the monotony of a decorous age.

— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Heroism §14, 1844 ↗

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 ↗

All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be.

— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗

Finally, this is better, that one do His own task as he may, even though he fail, Than take tasks not his own, though they seem good. To die performing duty is no ill; But who seeks other roads shall wander still.

— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 3, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗

knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.

— Transcendentalism · Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, Chapter X, 1855 ↗

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 ↗

Where, not the person's own character, but the traditions or customs of other people are the rule of conduct, there is wanting one of the principal ingredients of human happiness, and quite the chief ingredient of individual and social progress.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter III, paragraph 1, 1859 ↗

They do best, who if they cannot but admit love, yet make it keep quarters; and sever it wholly from their serious affairs, and actions, of life; for if it check once with business, it troubleth men's fortunes, and maketh men, that they can no ways be true to their own ends.

— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Love, 1625 ↗

One class lives to the utility of the symbol, esteeming health and wealth a final good. Another class live above this mark of the beauty of the symbol, as the poet and artist and the naturalist and man of science. A third class live above the beauty of the symbol to the beauty of the thing signified; these are wise men. The first class have common sense; the second, taste; and the third, spiritual perception.

— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Prudence, 1844 ↗

whosoever hath his mind fraught with many thoughts, his wits and understanding do clarify and break up, in the communicating and discoursing with another; he tosseth his thoughts more easily; he marshalleth them more orderly, he seeth how they look when they are turned into words: finally, he waxeth wiser than himself; and that more by an hour's discourse, than by a day's meditation.

— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Friendship, 1625 ↗

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) ↗

Books have not so much served me for instruction as exercise.

— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, early paragraph, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗

there is no improving an understanding by halves, nor can any being act wisely from imitation, because in every circumstance of life there is a kind of individuality, which requires an exertion of judgment to modify general rules.

— The Enlightenment · Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Chapter 12 (on national education), 1792 ↗

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) ↗

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.

— Taoism · Tao Te Ching, 65-72.71, tr. James Legge, 1891 ↗

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 ↗

TRAVEL, in the younger sort, is a part of education, in the elder, a part of experience.

— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Travel, 1625 ↗

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) ↗

Even though a speech be a thousand (of words), but made up of senseless words, one word of sense is better, which if a man hears, he becomes quiet.

— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 8.v.100, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗

Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.

— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 2.15, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗

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 ↗

This natural disposition to accommodate and to assimilate, as much as we can, our own sentiments, principles, and feelings, to those which we see fixed and rooted in the persons whom we are obliged to live and converse a great deal with, is the cause of the contagious effects of both good and bad company. The man who associates chiefly with the wise and the virtuous, though he may not himself become either wise or virtuous, cannot help conceiving a certain respect at least for wisdom and virtue; and the man who associates chiefly with the profligate and the dissolute, though he may not himself become profligate and dissolute, must soon lose, at least, all his original abhorrence of profligacy and dissolution of manners.

— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part VI (preceding Chap. II), 1759 ↗

Such negative criticism would indeed be poor enough as an ultimate result; but as a means to attaining any positive knowledge or conviction worthy the name, it cannot be valued too highly; and until people are again systematically trained to it, there will be few great thinkers, and a low general average of intellect, in any but the mathematical and physical departments of speculation.

— 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) ↗

They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.

— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 6.18, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗

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) ↗

Without knowledge there is no meditation, without meditation there is no knowledge: he who has knowledge and meditation is near unto Nirvana.

— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 25.v.372, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗

Be quick in performing a minor commandment as in the case of a major one, and flee from transgression; For one commandment leads to another commandment, and transgression leads to another transgression; For the reward for performing a commandment is another commandment and the reward for committing a transgression is a transgression.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:2, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

He was of an active nature and yet fond of learning, and he was not ashamed to ask and learn of his inferiors!

— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 5.14, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗

If a fool be associated with a wise man even all his life, he will perceive the truth as little as a spoon perceives the taste of soup.

— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 5.v.64, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗

In actual formal content their curriculum was doubtless old-fashioned, but in educational power it was supreme, for it was the contact of living souls.

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Training of Black Men, 1903 ↗

Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire. I had better never see a book than to be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system.

— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, The American Scholar, 1844 ↗

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) ↗

The fact is, that men expect from education, what education cannot give. A sagacious parent or tutor may strengthen the body and sharpen the instruments by which the child is to gather knowledge; but the honey must be the reward of the individual's own industry. It is almost as absurd to attempt to make a youth wise by the experience of another, as to expect the body to grow strong by the exercise which is only talked of, or seen.

— The Enlightenment · Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Chapter 5 (pre-Ch.6 section), 1792 ↗

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) ↗

To read with diligence; not to rest satisfied with a light and superficial knowledge, nor quickly to assent to things commonly spoken of.

— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1.IV, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗

One must be an inventor to read well. As the proverb says, 'He that would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry out the wealth of the Indies.' There is then creative reading as well as creative writing.

— Transcendentalism · Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, The American Scholar, 1844 ↗

all my days I grew up among the sages, and I have found nothing better for a person than silence. Study is not the most important thing, but actions; whoever indulges in too many words brings about sin.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 1:17, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗

Where there is no Torah, there is no right conduct; where there is no right conduct, there is no Torah. Where there is no wisdom, there is no fear of God; where there is no fear of God, there is no wisdom. Where there is no bread, there is no Torah; where there is no Torah, there is no bread.

— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 3:17, 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 ↗

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 ↗

In the race for wealth, for honours, and preferments, he may run as hard as he can, and strain every nerve and every muscle, in order to outstrip all his competitors. But if he should justle, or throw down any of them, the indulgence of the spectators is entirely at an end. It is a violation of fair play, which they cannot admit of.

— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Sect. II, Chap. II, 1759 ↗

In general, what praise is implied in the simple epithet USEFUL! What reproach in the contrary!

— The Enlightenment · David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Section II, Part II, 1751 ↗

The labourer is worthy of his hire.

— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Luke 10:7, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗

Celibacy, fasting, penance, mortification, self-denial, humility, silence, solitude, and the whole train of monkish virtues; for what reason are they everywhere rejected by men of sense, but because they serve to no manner of purpose; neither advance a man's fortune in the world, nor render him a more valuable member of society; neither qualify him for the entertainment of company, nor increase his power of self-enjoyment? We observe, on the contrary, that they cross all these desirable ends; stupify the understanding and harden the heart, obscure the fancy and sour the temper.

— The Enlightenment · David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Section IX (or surrounding context), 1751 ↗

Just balances will we set up for the day of the resurrection, neither shall any soul be wronged in aught; though, were a work but the weight of a grain of mustard seed, we would bring it forth to be weighed: and our reckoning will suffice.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 21:47, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

all contracts and promises ought carefully to be fulfilled, in order to secure mutual trust and confidence, by which the general INTEREST of mankind is so much promoted.

— The Enlightenment · David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Part II, 1751 ↗

Women have seldom sufficient serious employment to silence their feelings; a round of little cares, or vain pursuits, frittering away all strength of mind and organs, they become naturally only objects of sense. In short, the whole tenor of female education (the education of society) tends to render the best disposed, romantic and inconstant; and the remainder vain and mean.

— The Enlightenment · Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Chapter 4, 1792 ↗

"White man sit down whole year; Nigger work day and night and make crop; Nigger hardly gits bread and meat; white man sittin' down gits all. It's wrong."

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Black Belt, 1903 ↗

Free! The most piteous thing amid all the black ruin of war-time, amid the broken fortunes of the masters, the blighted hopes of mothers and maidens, and the fall of an empire,—the most piteous thing amid all this was the black freedman who threw down his hoe because the world called him free. What did such a mockery of freedom mean? Not a cent of money, not an inch of land, not a mouthful of victuals,—not even ownership of the rags on his back.

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Black Belt, 1903 ↗

Render possessions ever so equal, men's different degrees of art, care, and industry will immediately break that equality. Or if you check these virtues, you reduce society to the most extreme indigence; and instead of preventing want and beggary in a few, render it unavoidable to the whole community.

— The Enlightenment · David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Part II, 1751 ↗

And on that day shall no soul be wronged in the least: neither shall ye be rewarded but as ye shall have wrought.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 36:54, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

And who are true to their trusts and their engagements, And who witness uprightly.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 70:32-33, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

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) ↗

Yet he attempted not the steep. And who shall teach thee what the steep is? It is to ransom the captive, Or to feed in the day of famine, The orphan who is near of kin, or the poor that lieth in the dust.

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 90-80.90:11-16, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

whatever is produced or improved by a man's art or industry ought, for ever, to be secured to him, in order to give encouragement to such USEFUL habits and accomplishments.

— The Enlightenment · David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Part II, 1751 ↗

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Matthew 7:12, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗

Mere justice is, upon most occasions, but a negative virtue, and only hinders us from hurting our neighbour. The man who barely abstains from violating either the person, or the estate, or the reputation of his neighbours, has surely very little positive merit. We may often fulfil all the rules of justice by sitting still and doing nothing.

— The Enlightenment · Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Sect. II, Chap. I, 1759 ↗

Woe to those who STINT the measure: Who when they take by measure from others, exact the full; But when they mete to them or weigh to them, minish-

— Qur’an · Qur'an, 83-69.83:1-3, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗

The grand, leading principle, towards which every argument unfolded in these pages directly converges, is the absolute and essential importance of human development in its richest diversity.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Epigraph, 1859 ↗

This does not lead us to power, as knowledge does, but it gives us joy, which is the product of the union of kindred things.

— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, I. THE RELATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE UNIVERSE, 1913 ↗

How shall man measure Progress there where the dark-faced Josie lies? How many heartfuls of sorrow shall balance a bushel of wheat? How hard a thing is life to the lowly, and yet how human and real!

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Meaning of Progress, 1903 ↗

Law is the first step towards freedom, and beauty is the complete liberation which stands on the pedestal of law. Beauty harmonises in itself the limit and the beyond, the law and the liberty.

— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, V, 1913 ↗

Generation after generation have pleaded with a headstrong, careless people to despise not Justice, Mercy, and Truth, lest the nation be smitten with a curse. Our song, our toil, our cheer, and warning have been given to this nation in blood-brotherhood.

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Sorrow Songs, 1903 ↗

It is perfectly well understood at the south, that to educate a slave is to make him discontented with slavery, and to invest him with a power which shall open to him the treasures of freedom; and since the object of the slaveholder is to maintain complete authority over his slave, his constant vigilance is exercised to prevent everything which militates against, or endangers, the stability of his authority.

— Transcendentalism · Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, Excerpt 9, opening section, 1855 ↗

Work, culture, liberty,—all these we need, not singly but together, not successively but together, each growing and aiding each, and all striving toward that vaster ideal that swims before the Negro people, the ideal of human brotherhood.

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of Our Spiritual Strivings, 1903 ↗

Compulsion is not indeed the final appeal to man, but joy is.

— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, V (preceding chapter VI), 1913 ↗

The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it; and a State which postpones the interests of their mental expansion and elevation, to a little more of administrative skill, or of that semblance of it which practice gives, in the details of business; a State which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial purposes, will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter V, 1859 ↗

there is also irreparable loss,—a loss of that peculiarly valuable education which a group receives when by search and criticism it finds and commissions its own leaders.

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, III. Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others, 1903 ↗

Through our sense of truth we realise law in creation, and through our sense of beauty we realise harmony in the universe. When we recognise the law in nature we extend our mastery over physical forces and become powerful; when we recognise the law in our moral nature we attain mastery over self and become free.

— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, VII (late), 1913 ↗

Our nature is obscured by work done by the compulsion of want or fear. The mother reveals herself in the service of her children, so our true freedom is not the freedom from action but freedom in action, which can only be attained in the work of love.

— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, Chapter 4 (The Problem of Self), 1913 ↗

Here we have brought our three gifts and mingled them with yours: a gift of story and song—soft, stirring melody in an ill-harmonized and unmelodious land; the gift of sweat and brawn to beat back the wilderness, conquer the soil, and lay the foundations of this vast economic empire two hundred years earlier than your weak hands could have done it; the third, a gift of the Spirit.

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Sorrow Songs, 1903 ↗

The price of culture is a Lie.

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Faith of the Fathers, 1903 ↗

strength of body and mind are sacrificed to libertine notions of beauty, to the desire of establishing themselves, the only way women can rise in the world--by marriage.

— The Enlightenment · Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Introduction, 1792 ↗

As joy expresses itself in law, so the soul finds its freedom in action. It is because joy cannot find expression in itself alone that it desires the law which is outside. Likewise it is because the soul cannot find freedom within itself that it wants external action.

— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, VI, 1913 ↗

In actual formal content their curriculum was doubtless old-fashioned, but in educational power it was supreme, for it was the contact of living souls.

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Training of Black Men, 1903 ↗

"White man sit down whole year; Nigger work day and night and make crop; Nigger hardly gits bread and meat; white man sittin' down gits all. It's wrong."

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Black Belt, 1903 ↗

Free! The most piteous thing amid all the black ruin of war-time, amid the broken fortunes of the masters, the blighted hopes of mothers and maidens, and the fall of an empire,—the most piteous thing amid all this was the black freedman who threw down his hoe because the world called him free. What did such a mockery of freedom mean? Not a cent of money, not an inch of land, not a mouthful of victuals,—not even ownership of the rags on his back.

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Black Belt, 1903 ↗

When man cuts down the pestilential jungle and makes unto himself a garden, the beauty that he thus sets free from within its enclosure of ugliness is the beauty of his own soul: without giving it this freedom outside, he cannot make it free within. When he implants law and order in the midst of the waywardness of society, the good which he sets free from the obstruction of the bad is the goodness of his own soul: without being thus made free outside it cannot find freedom within.

— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, VI, 1913 ↗

We gain our freedom when we attain our truest nature. The man who is an artist finds his artistic freedom when he finds his ideal of art. Then is he freed from laborious attempts at imitation, from the goadings of popular approbation. It is the function of religion not to destroy our nature but to fulfil it.

— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, Chapter 4 (The Problem of Self), 1913 ↗

A government cannot have too much of the kind of activity which does not impede, but aids and stimulates, individual exertion and development. The mischief begins when, instead of calling forth the activity and powers of individuals and bodies, it substitutes its own activity for theirs; when, instead of informing, advising, and, upon occasion, denouncing, it makes them work in fetters, or bids them stand aside and does their work instead of them.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter V, 1859 ↗

It really is of importance, not only what men do, but also what manner of men they are that do it. Among the works of man, which human life is rightly employed in perfecting and beautifying, the first in importance surely is man himself.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter III, paragraph 4, 1859 ↗

"I says, 'Look up! If you don't look up you can't get up,'" remarks Jackson, philosophically. And he's gotten up.

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Black Belt, 1903 ↗

The teachers in these institutions came not to keep the Negroes in their place, but to raise them out of the defilement of the places where slavery had wallowed them.

— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Training of Black Men, 1903 ↗

It is the function of our intellect to realise the truth through untruths, and knowledge is nothing but the continually burning up of error to set free the light of truth. Our will, our character, has to attain perfection by continually overcoming evils, either inside or outside us, or both.

— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, III — The Problem of Evil, 1913 ↗

knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.

— Transcendentalism · Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, Chapter X, 1855 ↗

To be truly united in knowledge, love, and service with all beings, and thus to realise one's self in the all-pervading God is the essence of goodness, and this is the keynote of the teachings of the Upanishads: Life is immense!

— The turn of the century · Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life, I, 1913 ↗

Where, not the person's own character, but the traditions or customs of other people are the rule of conduct, there is wanting one of the principal ingredients of human happiness, and quite the chief ingredient of individual and social progress.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter III, paragraph 1, 1859 ↗

An education established and controlled by the State, should only exist, if it exist at all, as one among many competing experiments, carried on for the purpose of example and stimulus, to keep the others up to a certain standard of excellence.

— Nineteenth-century philosophy · John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter IV, 1859 ↗