The serious attitude of man towards man is precious.
To ask life to happen what we want is the lowest thing.
May our main activity not be preaching, but our inner perfection.
Strive to be purer yourself, like the glass of the window through which the divine light shines. Keep yourself clean. Perhaps a little old lady's talk or deed will have a greater effect than preaching to thousands of people. How and by what we act does not depend on our power, but on God's power. Let not my will, but Your will be done, not what I want, but what You want.
We cannot unite two arts, poetry and music. I never pay attention to the words when they are sung.
It is dangerous to set a visible, determined goal, an ideal to be achieved. We just need to know that there is a path to follow, but I don't know where it will lead... The problem is not getting into a certain situation, but how you fight.
Forms change, and slavery and power remain. Naturally, a little weaker.
The older I get, the more I dislike it when serious things are made fun of.
In youth there is a desire for danger. When it is put to the service of truth, what strength and joy it brings you!
All wise men say that we must not talk about bad deeds, and the newspapers write about nothing else.
[About the Koran.] It's a mixture, with dates so unclear, it's incoherent, but everyone says it's wonderful in Arabic. It amazes me that such a large part of humanity is conquered by the Koran.
The law of living in love with everyone is good because it can always be fulfilled, even when we don't have time, and when our liver hurts.
It's hard to write a biography, it requires artistic talent and you have to get into the soul of the person you're writing about.
It is absolutely useless to talk much. Any speech can be shortened, but you have to work hard to say something briefly.
I read in Swami Vivekananda * : some people came to a hermit and talked to him about his wife. He asked, “What does my wife mean? I forgot." They explained to him who his wife was. Who is Lev Nikolaevich? To forget your "I". It's an ideal, I must try to forget.
I love everything that is accessible to everyone's understanding, everything that is repeated by all the teachers of the world.
The Russian language is suitable for precision of expression, but very long words are not beautiful: samootrecenie *, samosoversenstvovanie **. The most beautiful is the French language.
Once upon a time, being a vegetarian was a great feat, but now many have stopped eating meat. And just as simple, of course, is not to argue.
I still don't know how to do good, and it's about time.
The kingdom of God is won by effort. I know from my own experience, to always keep God in you, to keep Him in mind permanently, we have to make efforts, practice...
Love without non-resistance is inconceivable... Non-resistance is the indispensable condition of love, and love is the fundamental law of our life.
The problem is not in what conditions you live, but to lead a simple life in the conditions you are in. It lies in man's power, he can become free and act upon fellow men even in the worst conditions. But it is not in everyone's power to change the conditions.
In your youth you have the desire to resist to change the course of things. In old age you see that you don't have to resist, that everything leads to the increase of love in us.
In old age you see that all the evil in the world is perpetuated. In youth, even people with Christian views want to order the lives of others, and the old man sees that this is useless and that we just need to turn away from evil.
Anarchism is only the manifestation of Christianity in the political field. The spatial expansion of Christianity is huge, but only a very small part of it coincides with political anarchism.
I can't stand representations of Christ, and I don't know any that I like at all. I feel revulsion towards everything.
... Not only in Christ, but also in Lao Tzu and Buddha there is non-resistance. Confucius doesn't exist, he says: "If we repay evil with good, what will be the reward for good?"
We are used to thinking that life is something in which we can set goals. It's an illusion. It is as if the worker put to work gives work the meaning of life.
People who have a frivolous attitude towards religion are further away from religion than atheists. (August 7)
We are just as Christians and we don't understand each other. Christ did not help or perform charitable deeds. The apostles did not help, but taught people what life is. I have great respect for people who genuinely help.